Do PSUs need replacing over time?

[Nuclear Fusion]

Might be a silly question but is there a general time limit you'd give for using a PSU before replacing it? It occurred to me that my AX860 is over 10 years old now, while it's a good quality unit and doesn't seem to have any issues, it did get me wondering if there's a risk to other components as time goes on (especially if I upgrade my GPU). Thoughts?

 

[edGfaCTor]

No if it is a good quality unit it should last decades.

Most of the time the issue ends up being the fan.

The downside of very old PSU to modern tech may be the connections types and other specs.

 

[Tetras]

If you're using it with an old PC, no, but I'd buy a new one if I was buying an expensive new PC.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

OK, sounds like I'm all good for now then at least- thanks!

 

[tamzzy]

If you're using it with an old PC, no, but I'd buy a new one if I was buying an expensive new PC.

this

 

[Firegod]

Might be a silly question but is there a general time limit you'd give for using a PSU before replacing it? It occurred to me that my AX860 is over 10 years old now, while it's a good quality unit and doesn't seem to have any issues, it did get me wondering if there's a risk to other components as time goes on (especially if I upgrade my GPU). Thoughts?

If you do come to upgrade your GPU then yes, I'd upgrade an old PSU such as yours. As mentioned above, your going to benefit from new connections, specifications and standards. And, you'll get a shiny new 10-12 year warranty.

 

[alexp999]

They do de-rate over time as the electrolitic capacitors and other components age, but I wouldn't change mine unless I was having issues.

My last PSU stopped being able to deliver peak power under load but it was about 10 years old. It started causing hard resets and crashes when my GPU and CPU demanded peak power. It just couldn't deliver it like when it was new. It should have been a high enough rating for my hardware, and it's why typically most decent PSUs can actually run beyond their rated power when new. But over time they do derate a bit.

 

[Rroff]

The mean failure on many of the better brands these days is ~17 years, though some especially cheaper ones can be half that (I can't remember off the top of my head if that is ~17 years of 24x7 operation or ~17 years under "typical" operating conditions).

It used to be advised to replace by about 10 years max due to the whole "capacitor plague" thing of the early 2000s but that shouldn't be a factor any more unless you are putting a very old PSU back into use, etc. although I still lean towards over-speccing a bit and probably not running them beyond 10 years if a higher end setup that gets some decent usage.

 

[tamzzy]

I'm still using an OG superflower leadex platinum from 2014 on my main PC, powering a 7800X3D and a 7900XT

 

[Gray2233]

I'm still using an OG superflower leadex platinum from 2014 on my main PC, powering a 7800X3D and a 7900XT

My spaghetti monster Bitfenix Formula Gold launched around 2014 funnily enough, 650w and it's doing a fine old job with a 5800X3D and 4070.

Higher quality power supplies are unlikely to damage components if they should fail from OAP syndrome, they have a lot of built in protections. If I was building entirely new rather than incremental upgrades I've done to AM4 at this point in time? I'd absolutely buy new, but mostly for the new ATX 3.0/3.1 standard and a necessity for more power for a substantial performance bump. Regardless, I'll keep using this thing on at least one of my rigs for as long as it lasts.