How old is too old?

There are only two parts in my system over a decade old: My OCZ ZS 750W bronze-rated PSU, and my Corsair Hydro H90 AIO watercooler (original fan broke and replaced with a Noctua several years ago).

As far as I can tell they're both humming along nicely. These components originally powered an AM3 FX-8350 system :cry:

If I can get a compatible bracket for the water cooler, I'm honestly tempted to see if these two can keep on going with my next upgrade into AM5 probably in a couple of years time.

I got over the fear stage of 'are my parts too old?' a few years ago. Now wondering if these components are practically immortal like old school R12 refrigerant air con units :cry:
 
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Bubo said:
What is it that "goes" on old power supplies anyway? I was convinced to buy a new psu for a new system a while back on that basis of someone on here saying my 15 year old HX1000 would be rippling like a Cadbury's chocolate bar, but if I can simply buy a few components to "refresh" the old psu then it could be potentially be more reliably used as a backup or in a 2nd system. So is it mainly the capacitors which get tired in old psu's, or is it those and some of the more hard to get/hard to replace items? Obviously, this is with an acceptable level of competence assumed in doing any component swaps.
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I think some of the 'longevity' has to do with the environment it's in and the power cycles.
Environment factors are, PC on or off the floor, smoking, right operating temperature, humidity, pets in the vicinity, cleaning out dust etc. Switching on & off many times a day, consider that too.
 
I'll be a bit more specific about what was aid to me on here about running an old power supply. They said that due to its age there would be ripple on the voltages that the motherboard power regulation circuitry, mosfets or whatever, would have to compensate for, or otherwise would have to work harder than with a new power supply. So I took them at their word, but in the last few posts above I've not really seen this mentioned so much in this thread, hence my question, and whether this rippling could be corrected at the PSU level with new capacitors or whatever. The other argument put forward though was that that the vintage of HX1000 I have would not be as power efficient, which is probably the more relevant issue these days, assuming the cost of a new PSU will be paid for by the lower electric usage in the life of it.
 
Bubo said:
What is it that "goes" on old power supplies anyway? I was convinced to buy a new psu for a new system a while back on that basis of someone on here saying my 15 year old HX1000 would be rippling like a Cadbury's chocolate bar, but if I can simply buy a few components to "refresh" the old psu then it could be potentially be more reliably used as a backup or in a 2nd system. So is it mainly the capacitors which get tired in old psu's, or is it those and some of the more hard to get/hard to replace items? Obviously, this is with an acceptable level of competence assumed in doing any component swaps.
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A lot of the discretes in a PSU will actually last a very long time if the PSU isn't exposed to conditions outside of its nominal range. Power transistors/mosfets and regulators (often used on low power outputs like 3.3v) can fail prematurely if operated with insufficient cooling either due to the operating environment or design errors. Stuff like the op-amps and precision references, etc. should just go on and on.

Capacitors are the big one - less so with the use of solid state or better quality ones - where a lot of the recommendations as to PSU lifespan come from is the period from around 1999 to approx. 2008 manufacturing due to a problem called "capacitor plague" which meant a random chance of having substandard capacitors in a PSU.

The biggest issues really are design or manufacturing flaws, which aren't easily resolved, or capacitors as above - which might be easy to spot from a visual check.

Manufacturing issues where one component has been mounted in a way, not intended in the design, which causes heat issues with a nearby component actually aren't entirely unusual with PSUs even with a solid design :(

Bubo said:
I'll be a bit more specific about what was aid to me on here about running an old power supply. They said that due to its age there would be ripple on the voltages that the motherboard power regulation circuitry, mosfets or whatever, would have to compensate for, or otherwise would have to work harder than with a new power supply. So I took them at their word, but in the last few posts above I've not really seen this mentioned so much in this thread, hence my question, and whether this rippling could be corrected at the PSU level with new capacitors or whatever. The other argument put forward though was that that the vintage of HX1000 I have would not be as power efficient, which is probably the more relevant issue these days, assuming the cost of a new PSU will be paid for by the lower electric usage in the life of it.
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That will largely come down to capacitors, especially if exposed to insufficient cooling - I've seen a lot of PSU designs which were probably intended for 105C capacitors, where 85C ones are used :s
 
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Bubo said:
assuming the cost of a new PSU will be paid for by the lower electric usage in the life of it.
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I doubt it.

You can run the numbers yourself, but your pc still uses the same amount of power on the hardware side.

Example: When gaming say your PC uses 500w, on a 90% efficiency power supply you pull 550w from the wall.

On a 95% efficiency you pull 525w from the wall

Difference being 25w, or an hour 25wh.

You are charged in kWh (1000wh) typically 35 pence per at current energy prices.

That's less than 1 penny per hour.

If you did 35 hours of gaming per year, that's only going to equate to less than £20 a year.

That's 5 years on a £100 PSU.

But.... That's worse case scenario really, pulling 500w for 35 hours a week would be pretty extreme, realistically depending on use you'll be idling, and even when gaming most PCs pull less than 500w, so in reality far less.

Basically unless you kept the power supply for maybe 20 years it's never going to pay itself back.

Need to be careful it's becoming a big marketing thing, not just power supplies, everything, to try to make you think it's an investment or that it'll pay itself back.
 
The efficiency of the vintage 15 year old HW1000 I have was more like 85% at best when new, so the saving calc will be approximately double that, so not quite as cut and dried, but yes still unlikely to actually pay out in a reasonable timeframe. Just another nail in the argument that old psu's are automatically bad after a certain sell by date, which seems to be what some will argue they have. Maybe on ultra cheap power supplies due to them being more likely just to go pop regardless, but on quality supplies I've come to believe it probably wasn't necessary to replace my PSU, but I did anyway. But a it happens I'm going to build another PC to use for backup anyway so nothing lost in reality.
 
I'm rocking a super flower that is at least 10 years old, I can't find the order history on ocuk to double check but I think it's time to upgrade.

Is the psu tier list still regarded highly when choosing one?
 
Alasdairhurst said:
Snap. Both this and a 7 year old HX750 both turn off randomly when paired with a 3080ti so hoping it's not the GPU and may have to look at getting a more modern PSU
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I have noted that my computer has done that in the past. No blue screen or error code, just straight off. I have a feeling it was GPU related in the past e.g. PSU connectors to my gcard rubbing on the the hard disk drive cage.
 
I have tended to just stick with the PSU until i need something bigger. Last time i upgraded i found the extra cash to replace the CPU as i didnt want it going bang and taking things with it :(
From now on i'll prob replace it every 2-3 upgrade cycles, you can always punt the old one on gumtree for 30-50% of its value.
 
MrMacca said:
I'm rocking a super flower that is at least 10 years old, I can't find the order history on ocuk to double check but I think it's time to upgrade.

Is the psu tier list still regarded highly when choosing one?
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OCUK can find the date you purchased it if you msg/webnote them .I did same for an old psu,turns out it was 13b years old
 
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