2011 SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W: still using it - any concerns?

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prasvt

Gawd
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Just wanted to get some input from folks. I have a Ryzen 3800xt system and the one component that has survived the last decade is my power supply:

SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W​


I purchased this new in 2011 and it's been chugging along without any problems since then. Just wondering if there's any concrete reason to pro-actively replace it with something newer or not. I do plan on upgrading my 1080 FTW Hybrid to an RTX 3080 some time this year, but it seems 1200W is still mostly overkill :)

Just wondering if I'm ok sticking with the current PSU for a while more (say til the end of the year).
 
As a very rough guideline, as long as it's been in constant use (not continuous, but regular), and it isn't being run on the ragged edge, I don't think you have to worry.

PSU's that have been run for too long too close to the limit tend to die of heat death. PSU's that may otherwise be in fine shape, if left unpowered for months or years, sometimes succumb to shorted capacitors at power-on.
 
Okay thanks. Yeah it has not been pushed hard much over the years. Just light gaming and office type stuff. It's never been off for more than a week, so at least I've avoided the extremes.
 
I tend to aim for "7 years" on a PSU, but ... that's a personal rule of thumb, nothing else. At that point I move the PSU along into a server (tends to line up with the life of the system too) till it croaks. But I've got some that are 12 years old that I did that with that are still going just fine.
 
Okay good to hear :). Yeah I think because the need never came up and it's been fine, I didn't even think about it. After I finished my build, I suddenly realized how long I'd been using it. lol. But hey, kudos to Silverstone I guess
 
Age is hardly the most important variable when it comes to PSU health. More important would be - Was it a good PSU to begin with? Was it kept clean and cool, or was it allowed to roast in a hot ambient environment while coated in dust and pet hair? Did it have an easy life or was it constantly pushed to it's limits?

Also, evaluate the fan. A good PSU will usually use a quality ball-bearing fan that can last 15+ years easily, but some cheaper units use sleeve-bearing fans that can fail after only a few years, ultimately causing heating issues with the PSU. It's rare to see a sleeve-bearing fan in a quality PSU, but many of the companies that make these PSUs also make cooling fans. Sleeve-bearing fans are so much cheaper to produce than ball-bearing fans that there has been a constant flood of "new" bearing technologies over the years ("hydro-dynamic bearing", "fluid-dynamic bearing", etc) that promise longer lifespan but are really just re-labeled, slightly modified sleeve bearings. Some of these companies believe their own marketing a bit too much and actually do put these terrible fans into some of their PSUs. Thankfully a fan can be easily replaced if you catch it before the PSU cooks itself.

There was a bad batch of capacitors that plagued the industry 15-20 years ago, and caused many PSUs to die early deaths. I think that contributed greatly to this idea that a PSU more than a handful of years old is a liability. But those PSUs didn't die due to "age", they died due to those bad capacitors. There are also tons of cheap Chinese power supplies out there, that weigh about as much as an empty aluminum soda can, use 22-gauge wire, and are good for about 100-150w max but are labeled as 400w+ units. Yeah, when you start out with a ticking time-bomb, then age does become a big concern.

Your Silverstone PSU seems like a good PSU. If you are maintaining it (keeping it dust-free, etc) and it's still working well, I'd keep using it. My main computer is still using a PSU from 2007.
 
I registered for this topic.
I NEED TO spreak some INFO on this specific power supply

I run it now for over 10 years!!

Eventually Its fan will run out and make terrible noices! Remove the grill, GRAB the blade with your hand, PULL IT OUT WITH SOME FORCE... use special OIL (LIKE WD40) and spray it in the fan, PUT fan back.. YEARS to come without problems.
The FANS mechanismn dried up = making the noises


THE SPECIFICATIONS ON THIS POWER SUPPLY IS 100.000 HOURS / EQUALS ABOUT 25 YEARS OF POTETIAL USE, it even saved my ass when Thunder did struck outside!
 
Last edited:
jaja said:
I registered for this topic.
I NEED TO spreak some INFO on this specific power supply

I run it now for over 10 years!!

Eventually Its fan will run out and make terrible noices! Remove the grill, GRAB the blade with your hand, PULL IT OUT WITH SOME FORCE... use special OIL (LIKE WD40) and spray it in the fan, PUT fan back.. YEARS to come without problems.
The FANS mechanismn dried up = making the noises


THE SPECIFICATIONS ON THIS POWER SUPPLY IS 100.000 HOURS / EQUALS ABOUT 25 YEARS OF POTETIAL USE, it even saved my ass when Thunder did struck outside!
Click to expand...
Or just replace it entirely with a quality fan of your choice. My corsair PSU's fan started making noise (this was many years ago) so I opened it, cleaned it and installed a noctua fan in there that I just connected to my mobo. I was able to set it at a constant rpm that kept it cool and quiet.
 
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