5 years out of a PSU?

bainbridge · 2 Jan 2011 at 22:23

Is this a fair estimate before seeing about a replacement?

Bought an OCZ 600W Stealth Xtreme in mid 2007, of course as time has passed it's been working harder as I've uprgraded other components & pushed my overclock further. Voltages under load still look good in HW monitor.

The reason I ask is when they die they can take out other components & if I need to get a new PSU now to avoid this I will, however I still want to get the most out of this one. If I could afford an upgrade to new technology I would do so.

According to a PSU calculator I'm using 513 watts with my current system, I want to try & get another 18mths - 2yrs without upgrading anything else so would my current 3 & a half yr old PSU be good for another couple of years?

whitecrook · 2 Jan 2011 at 22:28

should be. PSUs will last years and years just make sure its clean and free from dust.

Aretenon · 2 Jan 2011 at 22:36

I think it is unlikely that you would ever draw 513 watts with your system. So I agree that you should be fine with it for a while longer.

MikeHunt79 · 2 Jan 2011 at 22:43

bainbridge said:
Is this a fair estimate before seeing about a replacement?

Using a 10 year old Tagan 480W here, still works (touch wood!).

bainbridge said:
Bought an OCZ 600W Stealth Xtreme in mid 2007, of course as time has passed it's been working harder as I've uprgraded other components & pushed my overclock further. Voltages under load still look good in HW monitor.

The reason I ask is when they die they can take out other components & if I need to get a new PSU now to avoid this I will, however I still want to get the most out of this one. If I could afford an upgrade to new technology I would do so.

When a PSU dies it should not take out components...

bainbridge said:
According to a PSU calculator I'm using 513 watts with my current system, I want to try & get another 18mths - 2yrs without upgrading anything else so would my current 3 & a half yr old PSU be good for another couple of years?

500+W is a lot of juice, instead of using an online calculator you are much better off measuring how much power your system is using. Most systems pull less than 400W from the mains...

coldfused · 2 Jan 2011 at 22:58

When I heard my six year old 350w seasonic psu squeal due to it's capacitor I knew it was dying and replaced it. I think you should be fine unless there is reason to replace it

bainbridge · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:05

whitecrook said:
should be. PSUs will last years and years just make sure its clean and free from dust.

It's situated in an old style case & therefore at the top, the case fans must deal with most of the dust as they require frequent cleaning but the PSU fan blades are always spotless.

bainbridge · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:11

Aretenon said:
I think it is unlikely that you would ever draw 513 watts with your system. So I agree that you should be fine with it for a while longer.

This is what I used to estimate my usage (coming out slightly higher this time):

I'm aware I can add up the usage of the individual components but I didn't know how much the overclock would consume.

Is the above incorrect then?

bainbridge · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:25

MikeHunt79 said:
Using a 10 year old Tagan 480W here, still works (touch wood!).

Haha that Tagan 480w would have been a beast 10 yrs ago, must have set you back a few bob

MikeHunt79 said:
When a PSU dies it should not take out components...

I've read several threads on here to the contrary, usually it's the motherboard that gets taken out too, however maybe it's just the failing PSU's which take out other components that reported.

LaurenceGough · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:35

I think it will depend on how it fails and the safety measures of the PSU.

In other words by a good brand with all the safety features you can find and then when/if it does fail will save you lots of wonga!

My new Cooler Master PSU has 5 years warranty but due to the excellent design, build quality and cooling it should last a good few years more.

bainbridge · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:42

LaurenceGough said:
I think it will depend on how it fails and the safety measures of the PSU.

In other words by a good brand with all the safety features you can find and then when/if it does fail will save you lots of wonga!

My new Cooler Master PSU has 5 years warranty but due to the excellent design, build quality and cooling it should last a good few years more.

Good point, just checked for warranty on this one & it is, or rather was, guaranteed for 3 yrs. Also says there is overvoltage protection so if it does go out with a bang hopefully it won't send nastiness down the wires to other components.

Aretenon · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:50

bainbridge said:
This is what I used to estimate my usage (coming out slightly higher this time):

Image

I'm aware I can add up the usage of the individual components but I didn't know how much the overclock would consume.

Is the above incorrect then?

That is 90% TDP, which would only occur during stress testing or folding, or massive multi-tasking. So I guess it depends how often you do that, as to how accurate it is.

Mr-White · 3 Jan 2011 at 00:45

I used a 550w Enermax from 2002 to 2008 when I sold it on still working

MW

Elma · 3 Jan 2011 at 09:14

i used a hiper R-type 480 for 5 years only changed it last year when the fan stopped working due to dust clogging it up . then to get buy while i was looking for another pc i used to put an ice block on top of it and blow to cool it down . i realy dont recomend it but was playing scrimms most nights and was the only think i could think of doing

pastymuncher · 3 Jan 2011 at 13:19

That psu calculator does not show the power usage of your components. It show's the reccomended wattage for a suitable psu. Your rig will be using somwhere around 300w at full load (cpu and gpu).

PhillyDee · 3 Jan 2011 at 13:43

Don't forget, PSU's lose power over their lifetime! A certain percentage per year, though I cannot remember offhand!

MikeHunt79 · 3 Jan 2011 at 13:49

PhillyDee said:
Don't forget, PSU's lose power over their lifetime! A certain percentage per year, though I cannot remember offhand!

Lol, are you serious? Does that mean my 10 year old Tagan 480W now only outputs out 150W?

Chisuka · 3 Jan 2011 at 13:57

i have a Tagan 480W no idea how old it is though, had it for 3 years myself and i bought it from someone else

strumpusplunket · 3 Jan 2011 at 14:23

Is there something wrong with the wiring in my house or something?

I'm on my 5th PSU in about 6 years!

One old competitor's cheap own brand lasted about 8 months, but died peacefully.
One Antec Truepower 480W from 2005 didn't die, but did stop outputting enough power to power my gaming system after about 18 months or so. Then carried on serving in my wife's PC.
One Thermaltake Toughpower 750W died after only 5 months and took my mobo with it.
My Be Quiet! 600W lasted almost 3 years before a peaceful death.
Now using an Antec Truepower 750W and it's been going well for about 4 months (touch wood...)

I do use surge protectors (quality ones). Guess I just don't have much luck with PSUs!

Mr-White · 3 Jan 2011 at 14:27

The problem I found with an old psu was that it only had half the connectors I needed, only had a 20 and a 4-pin mobo connectors and no sata, or gfx so had to use various converter connectors on it. It also only had a single 16A 12v rail, which back then was pretty big, but these days they have multiple rails.

MW

PhillyDee · 3 Jan 2011 at 19:21

MikeHunt79 said:
Lol, are you serious? Does that mean my 10 year old Tagan 480W now only outputs out 150W?

It probably never outputted 480W to begin with

.

Seriously though, they do lose a certain amount of efficiency over time, though I am damned if I can find the source of the article! My google-fu skills are weak.