Capacitor aging?

K

King Icewind

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
5,442
I tried searching and I didn't find much.

I have a 4+ year old Corsair TX850. I want to get a second R9 290. I read that,

When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years
Click to expand...

Am I really down approximately 170+ watts at 20%? I did run two 5850s for 3ish years.

Specs of my computer:

Intel Xeon L5639 @ 3.2ghz (is a 60W TDP processor at stock speeds)
12GB of RAM (6x2)
2 hard drives, and 1 SSD
4 x 120mm fans
1 watercooling pump
1 R9 290 + want to add 1 more

Am i okay to run this for awhile? Otherwise I was going to get a Seasonic power supply around 1000watts.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
If I looked at this right, the 5850's would not have been a big hit in the longevity of the TX850. 2 R9 290's require more watts so a new PS is needed anyhow.
 
mtrupi said:
If I looked at this right, the 5850's would not have been a big hit in the longevity of the TX850. 2 R9 290's require more watts so a new PS is needed anyhow.
Click to expand...

Really? I plan on getting one eventually within the next few months anways just because I want a modular PSU, but HardOCP had Xfire 290x system wattage at 780, and Guru had xfire 290s at 603.
 
Last edited:
King Icewind said:
Really? I plan on getting one eventually within the next few months anways just because I want a modular PSU, but HardOCP had Xfire 290x system wattage at 780, and Guru had xfire 290s at 603.
Click to expand...

Im betting your CPU pulls abit more juice then the HardOCP bench unit, but still, the number from H is from the wall, so you have to equate some efficiency into that.

Like I said before, you're most likely fine.
 
King Icewind said:
Really? I plan on getting one eventually within the next few months anways just because I want a modular PSU, but HardOCP had Xfire 290x system wattage at 780, and Guru had xfire 290s at 603.
Click to expand...

That sounds about right. Maybe I would spend too much money but I am pretty conservative.

edit: Now having time to look at the TX, one reviewer overloaded it. Looks like there is a lot margin as others have suggested, so it should hold up just fine.
 
Last edited:
Fast capacitor aging is mostly a myth in quality power supplies, which your TX is. At most, your power supply may have lost 5% capacity after 5 years. Also, keep in mind quality power supplies are conservatively rated. Its real capacity is somewhere around 900-950 watts.
 
Well, that's good to hear it hasn't degraded that much. My only concern is being able to fit all those monster long and thick cables into a Fractal Design R4. Just have to see, I guess.

Let's say I was going to replace it. Would the XFX ProSeries P1-1050-BEFX (yes I know it's out of stock on Newegg) be a good replacement? I read that Seasonic makes their power supplies. Or should I go with Corsair again and get the Corsair HX1050? I see the SILVERSTONE Strider Gold Evolution SST-ST1200-G is a 1200w with a 86% efficiency for the same price, but there's no power switch.
 
Last edited:
I am somewhat partial to the Silverstone power supplies because of their small size relative to other power supplies of the same wattage.

Two R9 290s and a hexacore Nehalem would require at most an 850 watt power supply. I would suggest looking for a 750-850 watt replacement unless you're looking to go tri-fire.
 
King Icewind said:
I tried searching and I didn't find much.

I have a 4+ year old Corsair TX850. I want to get a second R9 290. I read that,

Am I really down approximately 170+ watts at 20%? I did run two 5850s for 3ish years.
Click to expand...
Did you search the obvious places -- Rubycon, Nichicon, Panasonic, United Chemicon/Nippon Chemicon?

I have two 14 year-old Delta PSUs, and a year ago I sampled 6 caps from each, and the worst measured 20% below nominal, which was still within spec. Those caps were Rubycon, Chemicon, just like your TX850's, and maybe there was a Nichicon in there..
 
Well, those names are completely new to me. It never occurred to me to look up the capacitor manufacturer. I suppose I should just try to do that for any new power supply I might buy.
 
If you are worried that much about the ps, you can
always buy new quality capacitors to put in it, but
if you want to really preserve your ps. The best thing
would be to change the fan out to a much better one.
The cooler you keep it, the more efficient it will stay,
and the longer it will last.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top