Would you use a PSU for 10 years?

OpenToSuggestions · 12 Oct 2020 at 22:38

Justintime said:
Funny thing is I've seen more psus have capacitor problems when sat for years rather than be in use.

On-off cycles are what kills electronics it seems, rather than continuous use

.

chaparral · 12 Oct 2020 at 22:38

OpenToSuggestions said:
Only just replaced my Corsair TX750, because I wanted a zero rpm mode.

That one the reasons why i want to buy a new PSU..

OpenToSuggestions · 12 Oct 2020 at 22:47

chaparral said:
That one the reasons why i want to buy a new PSU..

I added a water loop and wanted silence at idle. The PSU was really loud in comparison, albeit not loud overall.
It was surprising how much of a difference a 0 rpm mode made.

OvEr_KiLL · 13 Oct 2020 at 10:12

chaparral said:
Even if it not that then i guess with most PSU warranties being around 7 to 10 years it not going be that bad to fork out for a new PSU just once every 7 to 10 years

I bought my PSU in Jan 2011
I just replaced the 140mm fan in my PSU a few days ago
(I don't think the fan in it was even working anymore as there been no dust at all on the PSU fan filter for a few years)

im probably just being over cautious i guess

3t3P · 15 Oct 2020 at 10:42

Still using mine, gotta be 9 years old now. Solid, don't see reason to change. Seasonic internals. Will last longer than the pyramids.

EsaT · 15 Oct 2020 at 15:07

OpenToSuggestions said:
On-off cycles are what kills electronics it seems, rather than continuous use .

More or less frequent light use does good to capacitors by helping to maintain aluminium oxide layer at top shape.
(leakage current literally regenerates it)
But again heavier continuous use certainly shortens life span in comparison.

OpenToSuggestions said:
I'd still use it if it all looks good. Perhaps for piece of mind have a visual check at the capacitors to check they are not leaking (they won't be). For goodness sake do not give yourself a shock though, as a PSU can hold charge for many months since being last used.

Increase of ESR or drying up don't show externally so looking OK is no guarantee of fully working capacitors.
And good PSUs have bleeder resistors to discharge primary cap in reasonable time after disconnecting from power.

pp111 · 16 Oct 2020 at 14:17

No. Switched mode PSU's degrade over time. I would not use one beyond it's warranty. Some do have long warranties of course.

james.miller · 16 Oct 2020 at 14:19

Sure, if it's working within spec then why not?

Grimley · 16 Oct 2020 at 15:06

Over the years I've bought various makes of PSU, in 2004 I started looking at buying makes that were quiet after buying a crappy Hiper PSU (not the exploding 580 watter) the fan kept ramping up & that was annoying as hell. I bought my 1st Seasonic in 2006 I think. That lasted in various rigs until late last year & it would still be working had not one of the sata connectors melted. Since then I've bought Corsair, (50% failure rate but that was almost 10 years ago) a few more Seasonics & a good one failed too (X560?) About 3 Superflowers (2 golden greens & a 550w platinum which I have now for just over a year) Also 1 EVGA G2 which is coming up for about 5 years old & couple of BeQuiets which I've bought this year.

What I tend to do is buy new for myself & what I previously owned goes in a rig I build for a family member when they want an upgrade. I've RMA'd 3 PSU's in 15 years & I've not stressed them either.

I think @pp111 suggestion of keeping a PSU for the length of its warranty is reasonable advice, or when you buy new & your PSU is getting on a bit say 7/8 years old, then you wipe the slate clean so to speak.

BUDFORCE · 16 Oct 2020 at 18:21

I'm going to re-use my 10 year old of Corsair HX850 in my new Ryzen 5 build.

Seems to work fine it did have dual GPU for probably first 5 - 6 years of its life until I changed to a 1070 it's probably well over in terms of headroom now.

As one poster said about fixing 100's of PCs with failed PSU and no other hardware damage, being a high quality unit I'm happy enough to reuse it.

Could get a new PSU which could then be faulty.

Troezar · 18 Oct 2020 at 07:41

I bought two AX750 in 2011, sold them about a year ago working perfectly fine. Made by Seasonic and very well made according to Johnny Guru. Put a new 750 Seasonic Ti in my new PC with a 12 year warranty. I don't expect to change it before 2032

BananaDunka · 19 Oct 2020 at 00:41

My Super Flower Leadex 850W from 2014 (bought from OcUK) has recently started to output electrical buzzing noises randomly for a short second or two at a time. Totally random so cannot replicate on tap. It's in a gaming/editing system that is on 24/7 so I think given it's a 2014 PSU and under load/always on, 6 years seems fair cop of life to get out of it.

I am looking at a new PSU now between the 750 and 850 range, any recommendations?

The Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W is due in stock today at OcUK so may place that order if no better options are recommended!. I like the spec and look of the Revolt Pro, made in conjunction with Seasonic too and 12yr warranty.

RTX 2070S, 6700K 4.4GHz, 2x HDDs, 1x SSD and on a Z170X Gaming-5 mobo.

arknor · 19 Oct 2020 at 10:28

I'm using the same psu for 7 years, probably has an uptime of about 5 years.
not had any issues apart from one of the sata power cables I think has a broken wire from being crushed by my side panel for so long

CFC-420 · 22 Oct 2020 at 21:13

It depends on the quality, PSU's do degrade over time like all other hardware.
It also depends on the hardware that will be upgraded within that time.

Those variables a side, yes I would happily use my PSU for 10yrs.

CaptainRAVE · 22 Oct 2020 at 21:18

Sure, I did. Lasted about 12 years I think, but then couldn’t keep my 1080Ti happy on release. Bought a new PSU, problem solved.

andy_mk3 · 22 Oct 2020 at 21:23

Still running a Corsair HX520W PSU in my wife's PC that I bought second hand on the MM in here in 2011, assuming it was already 2/3 years old when I bought it, it's still doing just fine.

Rofflay · 17 Nov 2020 at 10:34

100% keeping this PSU then seems others do the same. So thats a nice little saving on my next platform i will keep my case too the Air540 so all in all it looks like Zen 3 or 4 is going into this base setup with a Pioneer 128GB Bluray drive. And this will last for another 6 years i guess so near the end i will be out of warranty i am already 5 years into the Corsair warranty.

If it kills anything, I will be screwed big time though.

3t3P · 23 Nov 2020 at 21:12

My PSU blew up today so I'd suggest changing it out!

_lecro_ · 24 Nov 2020 at 15:18

HX850 still going strong after 10 years.

Cyber-Mav · 25 Nov 2020 at 20:06

Lot of psus made by seasonic and delta seem to last forever. Got old servers with 15 year old delta psus still going at it.

A good quality unit will have protection circuits so if it pops its just the psu that goes and not the rest of the hardware so let it keep on chugging.