As was said, it's all in the tune.

I ran 12-14 psi for a long time, on a 2.2 T1 setup. One day the turbo started blowing oil smoke so I put in my "spare" bigger turbo. Forgot to hook up the wastegate vacuum hose and on the test drive I rattled the engine for about 2 seconds (20+ psi boost is what I saw when I glanced at the boost gauge). Immediately got off it, pull off the road and shut it down. Hooked up the hose and went home. Next day going into work (75 mile drive) I started hearing a funny noise, rod knock.

The big end of the rod was out of shape and the rod bearing was hammered. Pistons were fine. So it doesn't matter how fancy the pistons are if it rattles at high boost you will damage something.

I had an intercooler that I was going to put in before I dialed up the boost, but alas, I hadn't done it yet and paid the price.

They say there are no such thing as a stupid question.
They say there is always the exception that proves the rule.
Don't be the exception.