Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000W PSU 10 Year Redux @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,599
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000W PSU 10 Year Redux

Doing computer power supply reviews for over a decade, and keeping full documentation on those, gives us ability to do something that whets computer PSU enthusiasts' appetites. We get to take some of those PSUs that have been in service for 10 years and retest those. An old Cooler Master is back on the load bank! How does it look after a decade of service?
 
Wow, ten years? That’s like 7 lifetimes in pc years.

What do you think the average load on the psu was for the last ten years? Being “office use”, I picture under 100w load most of the day with 250-300w spikes?
 
I'm a bit confused with the testing, and it is possible I've missed something even though I've read through both sections twice each, ...

If the PSU would not restart after failing on 120v test 4, how was it able to do any of the tests at 100v?
 
trick0502 said:
Wow, ten years? That’s like 7 lifetimes in pc years.

What do you think the average load on the psu was for the last ten years? Being “office use”, I picture under 100w load most of the day with 250-300w spikes?
Click to expand...

It's hard to say. The components are listed on page one, except I seem to have forgotten the Ultra ChillTEC cooler for the CPU.

AceGoober said:
I'm a bit confused with the testing, and it is possible I've missed something even though I've read through both sections twice each, ...

If the PSU would not restart after failing on 120v test 4, how was it able to do any of the tests at 100v?
Click to expand...

The tests are intertwined. So the order is Test #1 @ 120v, Test #1 @100v, Test #2 @ 120v, Test #2 @ 100v, etc.
 
trick0502 said:
Wow, ten years? That’s like 7 lifetimes in pc years.
Click to expand...
Not for a quality unit.
My Corsair AX750 (Seasonic X750) is 7 years old next month and has been running 24/7 since new.
It hasnt put a foot wrong and behaves as if new with a clocked 6700K and 1080ti.
I dont know its max output now but I bought a 750W unit knowing I was only going to need around 2/3 of its max.
Plenty of headroom.

The most interesting part of the review for me was the max power it can supply after 10 years.
It failed the 800W torture test but passed the 750W load tests at 120V and 100V.
Thats 75% viable still, impressive.
It would have been nice to see the max torture test it could pass, but no complaints :)
 
Great article.
Basically the 1000 watt power supply became a 750 watt power supply for load purposes over the ten years.
Something to keep in mind if you build a system to keep for a long time.
 
Thanks for doing this kind of review. These stories are gold and hard to come by with the detailed credible testing you do.

I take pride that my rigs, while not necessarily the best of the best, usually last around 10 years. I don't, however, have the skills or equipment to test their current state of being.

This was especially cool to see since I have a corsair 1200w 80% gold psu that's getting very close to 10 years now. Originally it was for the z68/2 raid/SLI rig. Next it was moved into my original x79 cluster f**k design I had going for a while with 3 raids, 3 GPU's. Now that design has been simplified to the 1080 SLI and mostly SSD's(no raids now) but I did add a NZXT fan controller and swapped out a 200mm fan for 4 120mm on the side(noisier for sure but they do help the cpu/gpu's). I bought a 1000w platinum spare last year that's waiting just in case.
 
Last edited:
trick0502 said:
Wow, ten years? That’s like 7 lifetimes in pc years.

What do you think the average load on the psu was for the last ten years? Being “office use”, I picture under 100w load most of the day with 250-300w spikes?
Click to expand...

probably closer to 250w idle.. the p4 EE's were power hungry as hell even at idle because intel's TDP rating was 100% bullshit at the time along with the fact that it only dropped the idle multiplier to 14x without changing the voltage. the 7 series also had no power saving features so it was probably pulling some where around 80-90w idle.

i think people forget just how efficient modern systems are compared to hardware even 5 years ago let alone 10 years ago.
 
That's a very interesting article.
I had one of the Stacker cases and used it for at least 10 years. It was modified so many times it finally became
un-usable.

believe it or don't, I have an old PC Power and Cooling 510 Watt SLi PSU that I've been using > 10 years.
loud as hell due to the 80mm fans, but still works.

Some of this stuff you just can't kill.......
 
Now someone needs to see where the AX 1500i sits after 20 or 30 years. I'll be waiting patiently
 
magoo said:
That's a very interesting article.
believe it or don't, I have an old PC Power and Cooling 510 Watt SLi PSU that I've been using > 10 years.
loud as hell due to the 80mm fans, but still works.

Some of this stuff you just can't kill.......
Click to expand...

PCP&C Baby. My 910w Silencer I have had for around 10 years. Also has a 80mm fan I believe. I believe it served me first in a SLI 640MB 8800GTS on a C2D to begin with, went through a C2Q, Phenom II X4, X6, and my current i7. Blown it out a few times with the air compressor. All systems have been on 24/7 and OC'd since day one. Recently grabbed a friends Strix 980 for SLI just to mess with and it powered it all with no issues. Thinking about replacing my Antec 1200 as its as old as the power supply with no USB 3.0. Both of those are my oldest components still in use. May have to open it and look at the fan. I have replaced all but the top fan in the Antec due to failures. Would not want that 80mm to fail.
 
WOW! I am still using this power supply to this day in my gaming rig. I still remember buying it at Fry's for $300 probably just about 10 years ago. I cannot believe it is still working.
 
Had a PCP&C 750w powering 12HDD's 24/7 up until about 2 months ago. I remember I bought 2 of them when [H] reviewed them initially. At one time I had 2x295GTX's and 12HDD's running benchmarks to see how much draw it could handle. It hit 870w at the meter. Those were some damn good power supplies.
 
Pretty much confirms you'll get about 80% of your original power after 10 years. Cap degrade is real.
 
AceGoober said:
I'm a bit confused with the testing, and it is possible I've missed something even though I've read through both sections twice each, ...

If the PSU would not restart after failing on 120v test 4, how was it able to do any of the tests at 100v?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing they did the power testing in order. 25% 120V 25% 100V, 50% 120V, 50% 100V. And that would make sense if the unit gave up the ghost.
 
My original PCP&C Crossfire Red 750W is still kicking in some rig out there after I donated it a little bit ago. I'm so glad planned obsolescence has not made it to the PSU world just yet. My Seasonics are going on 8 years now and because I used to buy to the rule of make sure the usage wattage was around 50% of the rated wattage the slight possible degradation of the unit shouldn't matter. Now for my main gaming rig I would really miss a few hundred watts as that one is being pushed even for a 1050w unit.
 
Sipster said:
WOW! I am still using this power supply to this day in my gaming rig. I still remember buying it at Fry's for $300 probably just about 10 years ago. I cannot believe it is still working.
Click to expand...

yup i bought my thermaltake TP 750w August 2006 from fry's for 285 dollars(which was a lot for me back then).. i finally retired it after 11 years of 24/7 use October 2017. i'm sure the wattage output is no where near the 750w it was rated for but the damn thing survived 5 different systems, 4 of which catastrophically failed due to either blown caps or blown VRM's on the motherboards. i may end up using it again though at some point with a new build, i can't bring myself to just let it sit there in a box being unused when it's in perfect working condition.
 
My Corsair HX1000W Psu was still working in my rig as of last December, having started life out in 2008 in my q6600 & dual gtx 260 core 216 rig. It saw one upgrade in 2013 to an amd 8350 and dual 560 tis. The last few years the fan had started getting noisy, so I flipped the unit over and that stopped it for quite a while. When I built my new pc in December (I know my sig is out of date) all I kept was my case and compatible water cooling parts. I opted to get a new psu this time around as I felt I had gotten my money's worth from the Corsair. I can't even find a record of where I bought it from, maybe zipzoomfly. It serves as a backup for me now.
 
Did you guys blow it out and make sure all the dust are out before the retest?

I'm very surprised and disappointed that the unit couldn't do 800W.
 
Not letting go of my 2x modded BFG EX1000s and 2x BFG ES800s.
They're collectors' items in my book.

RIP BFG :(

bfglogo.jpg
 
That's something Nice from them. Idk that's more of the miner supply anymore...average person now only need probably like a 550-650w unit. I still think you should just get some beater unit the Apevia wins there and have been reliable. The corsair CX would put in that category too.

Idk the units everyone thinks are gonna blow up and kill the cpu or gpu lol
 
I am running a ~10 yr old Enermax PSU and the only issue I have seen is the fan sometimes whines a bit. But taking it out of the case and cleaning out the dust usually fixes that entirely ;).

As for cases, since that was mentioned in the article, I still use my original CM Stacker and will hold onto that as long as I can. I just dont like the new cases at all.

s-l500.jpg
 
kju1 said:
I am running a ~10 yr old Enermax PSU and the only issue I have seen is the fan sometimes whines a bit. But taking it out of the case and cleaning out the dust usually fixes that entirely ;).

As for cases, since that was mentioned in the article, I still use my original CM Stacker and will hold onto that as long as I can. I just dont like the new cases at all.

View attachment 59055
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm still rocking my stacker too! This is the case I had from my 08 build, that I mentioned above just having retired my Corsair HX1000W. Need to get around to the cable management again...
0316180931.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: kju1
like this
kju1 said:
I am running a ~10 yr old Enermax PSU and the only issue I have seen is the fan sometimes whines a bit. But taking it out of the case and cleaning out the dust usually fixes that entirely ;).

As for cases, since that was mentioned in the article, I still use my original CM Stacker and will hold onto that as long as I can. I just dont like the new cases at all.

View attachment 59055
Click to expand...
+2

Still rocking two OG Stackers for my duplicate 2x 128TB HTPC / fileservers :)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: kju1
like this
kju1 said:
You can mod it for larger ;)
Click to expand...
I left it mesh from 08-17, I'm surprised I cared enough to dremel off the fan supports and slap that spare piece of plexi on there. Did it this way so I could re-use the screws and threads from the mesh to hold the window. Due to the rads & fans, there really isn't much else to see.
1226171145.jpg
 
I have a Corair HX520, which is around 11yrs old.

The one and only thing that failed were the 180d SATA cables.
I think it's the way the 180d connectors bite into the cables. The fact that power cables from that age were transitioning to low lead and were quicker to becoming brittle didn't help them.
All the other cables work just fine, if not a bit stiff
 
I have a seasonic x-750 close to 8 years old, and a seventeam old powersupply from the early-mid 90s still going strong. You cant deny quality.
 
I have a 12 year old Thermaltake tuffpower 1200w I would give up for testing if there's any interest. Still works but after reading this article I want a new PSU. Problem is there are not any available :(

I still have that same stacker above. I just gave one away to a friend and I'm about to throw the other one out because no one wants to give me even $10 for it.
The one I gave away is modded for a 120x3 fan radiator on the bottom with a nice thick aluminum plate done right! Also had the side panel laser cut to have a window but avoid showing the drive bays like the stock panel did. I loved that case!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top