Wow 12 years with my Corsair HX 620w PSU...

Superficial · 28 Apr 2019 at 16:20

Bought in 2007 - I hadn't even realised that I had been using it that long and it's been running perfectly.

Q. But is it still a good idea to carry on with it?

Q. Are there newer features that should make me consider buying a new one in 2019?

Here's the review in 2006:

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Corsair-HX620W-Modular-Power-Supply-Review

Running on the rig in Sig..on an I7 920 @3.66 GHz and a Radeon 7970GHz edition (@1050/1300) - so sucking a fair amount of power.

Essentially I'm asking because, clearly, it's coming up to time for an upgrade and I don't want to be caught out with the power requirements for a new system.

Thing is, from what I'm seeing, power draws a far lower than they were when I built my system in 2010 (used the PSU from previous build).

Would be grateful for any opinions

Cheers,

Superficial · 28 Apr 2019 at 18:12

Radox-0 said:
EDIT: post made by mistake

I bought it in 2007. The WARRANTY is only 5 years but I never mentioned that.

edit: sorry just seen your edit

Superficial · 28 Apr 2019 at 19:57

EsaT said:
Still year short of Seasonic M12 I bought in summer 2006 and which was in use by neighbour until week ago.
(replaced by another former PSU of mine)

Efficienciency has improved good amount.
By todays standards that HX620 wastes lots of power at low loads:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/power-lost/Figure-5-Seasonic-idle.png
As you can see PSU's losses can increase power draw of PC by nearly 50% at idle.
Also during gaming it produces more extra heat:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/power-lost/Figure-6-Seasonic-load.png

And those graphs lack newer 80+ Platinum and 80+ Titanium efficiencies.
80+ Titanium would be wasting only about 15W at 300W load at least on European mains voltage.
Though it has notable luxury extra in price.

Also DC-DC designs have lot better voltage regulation.
Especially Seasonic has been having some crazy tight voltage regulations for few years.

If you don't have that much budget this Antec is pretty much steal for high performance 80+ Gold.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=antec+HCG+gold
Highly doubtful you can often find that good prices.

Seasonic Focus Plus Platinum is likely the cheapest quality 80+ Platinum:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=seasonic+focus+platinum

80+ Titanium again has that luxury pricing.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=seasonic+titanium

Such a great reply. Many thanks - pretty much just what I was hoping to get from this thread.

Essentially I am not worried about max wattage but all that wasted electricity is worrying.

Cheers,

Superficial · 1 May 2019 at 03:24

satchef1 said:
Why?

It's worth considering these efficiencies with a bit of perspective. The first graph suggests recent PSUs are 20W more efficient at best. The second, 35W. Say 30W average saving for a mixed workload. On a domestic electricity tariff, if you used the PC for an average 5 hours a day, you'd save about 16p a week on your electricity bill by changing PSU. It would take close to nine years for the Antec PSU to pay for itself...

Because he answered a good number of the queries I laid out in the OP both directly (regarding any new features that may be advantageous) and indirectly (by paying no mind to power requirements after I made clear I thought should not be a major concern bearing in mind my current power hungry setup).

FYI I'm not going to change my PSU due to efficiencies but I think you're under selling them a bit - he made clear that those graphs don't account platinum standards but more important is how lower heat, over time, ensures the components last longer and degrade less over time.

Long story short: New PSU's are better but not by enough to convince me to buy a new PSU for a few nice to haves.