How long do PSU's last?

scoobert

scoobert

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
353
Let me start with i know nothing about psu's. My last build was early 2017 and to find my psu i went to johnny guru website and looked at the top tier list and found something on sale at the egg that was on the list.
I ended up with a evga 850 G2 gold.


Its been great but now i am starting a new build, should i be looking to replace the psu because its 3+ years old?
 
scoobert said:
Let me start with i know nothing about psu's. My last build was early 2017 and to find my psu i went to johnny guru website and looked at the top tier list and found something on sale at the egg that was on the list.
I ended up with a evga 850 G2 gold.


Its been great but now i am starting a new build, should i be looking to replace the psu because its 3+ years old?
Click to expand...
no, its fine. ive only had two psus in the last 10 years. a TT one i had blew up, my current silver stone is 5-6 i think.
 
Awesome, thank you guys.

These things have went up in price a little :)
 
Both my main and secondary computers are using 1000w PSUs from 2007-2008. There have been some models over the years that cut corners or used cheap/bad capacitors, but good PSUs are more likely to die due to neglect or abuse than age. Good electronics can last 40+ years if treated well, but a PSU that is clogged with dust and pet hair won't last nearly as long...
 
scojer said:
I have a BFG Tech 1000w PSU I've been running since 2010/2011.
The only thing I've had to do was open it up a couple of times to dust it, and once to re-oil the fan. I'm going to use it until it dies, or I die.
Click to expand...
LMAO
 
My last power supply to go was a cooler master v430s, it died about a month ago and had been in service for about 6 years running 24/7 for that time.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, keep them clean/dust free and they'll last a long time. Man, I have had PSU's last > 15 years.. I had to open it up and solder in new connectors because it didn't have the right ones anymore :). I don't recommend being as cheap as me, but just giving you an idea.
 
scojer said:
I have a BFG Tech 1000w PSU I've been running since 2010/2011.
The only thing I've had to do was open it up a couple of times to dust it, and once to re-oil the fan. I'm going to use it until it dies, or I die.
Click to expand...

Nice.
I have an old BFG Tech 1200w that has been assigned to be a test PSU because some of the SATA connectors on the modular cables have a loose enough connection now that they have trouble keeping a connection with the drives.

My current PSU is a Seasonic 1050w that I have been using for probably about 3 years now.
 
GotNoRice said:
Both my main and secondary computers are using 1000w PSUs from 2007-2008. There have been some models over the years that cut corners or used cheap/bad capacitors, but good PSUs are more likely to die due to neglect or abuse than age. Good electronics can last 40+ years if treated well, but a PSU that is clogged with dust and pet hair won't last nearly as long...
Click to expand...

PSUs don't have to use crap caps to have a compromised lifespan. I've seen plenty of designs with caps thermally coupled to heatsinks by either touching them or being installed under them. Those things cook off in just a few years if the machine is frequently heavily loaded. Both Antec and Cooler Master are the worst about cramming caps in tiny smokin' hot spaces.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
PSUs don't have to use crap caps to have a compromised lifespan. I've seen plenty of designs with caps thermally coupled to heatsinks by either touching them or being installed under them.
Click to expand...

Hence the "cut corners" part of my quote. Bad/lazy PCB layout certainly qualifies as cutting corners. The last part of my post also qualifies. If there are potential thermal issues due to a poor PCB layout, it will only be further exacerbated by things such as dust and pet hair that collect as a result of neglect.
 
Plus a lot of stuff died from the bad cap plague in the 2000s. I had a couple antec PSUs fail from that while ones that are 5-10 years older are still going strong.
 
I've also had a few last over a decade with no issues. I'm pretty sure I'm still running an Antec PSU from 2008~ in my fiance's system.
 
Starfalcon said:
Plus a lot of stuff died from the bad cap plague in the 2000s. I had a couple antec PSUs fail from that while ones that are 5-10 years older are still going strong.
Click to expand...

Antec stuff from 2000-2006 was horrible, they used counterfeit or shitty cap brands like OST, Fuhjyyu and Teapo. Exacerbating the issues is the units from that time were packed so tightly that parts of the supply got no adequate ventilation and would cause the caps to fail even faster. Recapping them was a nightmare, both because of the tight nature of the design, and because the junk caps were non-standard sizes. I still remember these pencil thin 8x40mm 3300uF 16v Fuhjyyu caps where you had to run wires and mount the replacement cap sideways above other caps because it wouldn't fit. Normal 3300uF 16v caps are either 10x25 or 12.5x20mm usually.

I recapped so many Antec power supplies back in the day, it was ridiculous.
 
My PSU and PC turned eight years old recently. Still going strong. I have an OCZ 1000 watt 80 Plus Gold PSU which I recently heard OCZ PSU's aren't the most reliable. I plan to get a new PSU for my next build.
 
5 to 7 years shouldn't be a major issue for a quality unit. I've run some for longer than that, but I'm not saying that it was a good idea. My current PC's PSU is over 5 years old now and I ran a Thermaltake ToughPower 1300 for 10 years and a PC Power&Cooling 1kw SR on my test bench for about 9 years before it started acting funny.
 
PSUs last as long as at least 7 years if they are from reliable brands.
My last one from Fractal Designs lasted one whole decade.
So do not worry about a 3-year-old PSU.
 
20 years? IMHO, it takes a bad PSU to not last the lifetime of "whatever". I mean, bad PSUs happen, but generally speaking they last as long as needed.

Usually you're disposing of the "whatever" before the PSU gives out. However, component DIY builders might hang on to a PSU (likely making mods along the way) for longer.

I just got rid of my old workstation from 2007-2008. Nothing wrong with its PSU, it came from HP.
 
My Corsair HX750 in my current machine is from 2009. Honestly, it needs to be replaced, the cables look like shit with the window in my new build.
 
cjcox said:
I just got rid of my old workstation from 2007-2008. Nothing wrong with its PSU, it came from HP.
Click to expand...

Very lucky. Dell and HP use the same PSU vendors like Liteon, Delta and Bestec. Liteon and Bestec units are firecrackers and like to randomly cook off the primary side mosfets and PWM controller. Delta is very slightly better, but often uses shitty capacitors from OST, Teapo or UCC.

PSU longevity of decent brands depends on the environment. If the PSU is kept cool, it will last a very long time. If it's in a hot box in a hot room, it generally won't. What goes first are usually the tiny caps between the transformers and on the control board because they get cooked from lack of airflow. The big line caps and output filtering stage gets more airflow and lasts longer.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Very lucky. Dell and HP use the same PSU vendors like Liteon, Delta and Bestec. Liteon and Bestec units are firecrackers and like to randomly cook off the primary side mosfets and PWM controller. Delta is very slightly better, but often uses shitty capacitors from OST, Teapo or UCC.

PSU longevity of decent brands depends on the environment. If the PSU is kept cool, it will last a very long time. If it's in a hot box in a hot room, it generally won't. What goes first are usually the tiny caps between the transformers and on the control board because they get cooked from lack of airflow. The big line caps and output filtering stage gets more airflow and lasts longer.
Click to expand...
Interesting, my experience with Delta's OEMs have been top notch, I would rate them as good as top tier brand such as Seasonic in term of quality & design. Maybe you were thinking of Enhance? They would be the one around LiteON's level of quality.
 
David-Duc said:
Interesting, my experience with Delta's OEMs have been top notch, I would rate them as good as top tier brand such as Seasonic in term of quality & design. Maybe you were thinking of Enhance? They would be the one around LiteON's level of quality.
Click to expand...

Naah, they were Delta units. Delta brand on the sticker and Delta brand on the PCB. Their designs may be OK, but their choice of capacitors is not.
 
This thread reminds me of old mechanics advising Mustang guys to install a tranny cooler if they wanted their stock AOD to take racetrack nights and still get them home.
 
My Corsair TX750 V1 lasted for over 10 years and went through three builds. I only replaced it because I connected a fan to the motherboard with one pin off the connector on accident and it smoked it up and modular is nice. Still worked but I replaced it anyways after that. Would've went with another corsair but the Seasonic I got was a steal.
 
Happy to say I pulled the trigger on an SF750 Platinum to replace my 11 year old HX750. It's on its 4th system and those old cables are looking really bad in this new windowed case. The SF750 will also allow more room for the GPU to breath.
 
As others have stated, if the PSU isn't coated in dust (especially the sticky nicotine dust from smoking), it should last a long time, assuming it isn't hit by lightning or a power surge.

I had an old Enermax 350 watt PSU die after ~ 8 years, but that was in my Dad's computer and he loved smoking around it, plus he lives in the country and stopped using the UPS I bought him once the batteries went bad... So who knows what killed that one, smoking couldn't help, it was gross...

I personally had my ~9 year old Corsair AX850 go out a couple days ago. I have had my machine on a pure sine wave APC Smart UPS since day one. It was odd, because I had some weird issues over the last year or so, where the standby lights would be on, on the motherboard, but hitting the power button didn't do anything. Up until this point, if this happened, I unplugged the power and internal power connections (trying to connect just ATX and CPU only for troubleshooting). Ultimately after waiting for a day or so, plugged back in and for some reason it worked. I think that happened about 3 times. This time, that wasn't the case. Weird part is, if I jumper the pwr pins on the ATX connector, the PSU turns on and all the voltages are there on the ATX connector and CPU connector... If it is plugged into a mobo (tested on two systems), it doesn't turn on, so I'm guessing something must be shorted internally or something.

So by my limited experience, if I were building a system with a PSU older than 6 years or so, I would be trying to grab a new one since swapping a PSU is a huge pain IMHO. All that wire management is kind of a hassle to get everything looking nice, side panel to close nicely etc. I'd venture to say swapping the motherboard is less annoying...
 
Canon said:
Weird part is, if I jumper the pwr pins on the ATX connector, the PSU turns on and all the voltages are there on the ATX connector and CPU connector... If it is plugged into a mobo (tested on two systems), it doesn't turn on, so I'm guessing something must be shorted internally or something.
Click to expand...

Make sure you aren't using the PCIe power cable in place of the EPS12V power cable. Both are interchangeable, but the polarity is reversed. PSU is not going to power up because in the case of reversed cables, the +12v rail is directly shorted to ground.
 
scoobert said:
Let me start with i know nothing about psu's. My last build was early 2017 and to find my psu i went to johnny guru website and looked at the top tier list and found something on sale at the egg that was on the list.
I ended up with a evga 850 G2 gold.


Its been great but now i am starting a new build, should i be looking to replace the psu because its 3+ years old?
Click to expand...
Yeah, good to reuse, EVGA is a good brand and 850watts should be good for just about anything nowadays. 3 years old, I wouldn't worry. If it was pushing 8+ years (but that's just my arbitrary #, as you can see others have their own what they think is old), maybe just to be on the safe side replace it, especially if you're building an expensive system.
 
Canon said:
As others have stated, if the PSU isn't coated in dust (especially the sticky nicotine dust from smoking), it should last a long time, assuming it isn't hit by lightning or a power surge.

I had an old Enermax 350 watt PSU die after ~ 8 years, but that was in my Dad's computer and he loved smoking around it, plus he lives in the country and stopped using the UPS I bought him once the batteries went bad... So who knows what killed that one, smoking couldn't help, it was gross...

I personally had my ~9 year old Corsair AX850 go out a couple days ago. I have had my machine on a pure sine wave APC Smart UPS since day one. It was odd, because I had some weird issues over the last year or so, where the standby lights would be on, on the motherboard, but hitting the power button didn't do anything. Up until this point, if this happened, I unplugged the power and internal power connections (trying to connect just ATX and CPU only for troubleshooting). Ultimately after waiting for a day or so, plugged back in and for some reason it worked. I think that happened about 3 times. This time, that wasn't the case. Weird part is, if I jumper the pwr pins on the ATX connector, the PSU turns on and all the voltages are there on the ATX connector and CPU connector... If it is plugged into a mobo (tested on two systems), it doesn't turn on, so I'm guessing something must be shorted internally or something.

So by my limited experience, if I were building a system with a PSU older than 6 years or so, I would be trying to grab a new one since swapping a PSU is a huge pain IMHO. All that wire management is kind of a hassle to get everything looking nice, side panel to close nicely etc. I'd venture to say swapping the motherboard is less annoying...
Click to expand...
I route my cables nicely through the case, but not OCD. I would rather swap a PSU any day of the year, especially my modular ones, but even my non modulars it's just like a couple of wire bundles to move. Much better than un-mounting my CPU, pulling ram, disconnected all the front panels stuff (usb, audio, switches, etc) unplugging fans, removing case fans in the way, pulling GPU (And needing to unplug it's power) and depending on setup, maybe removing some water cooling components as well (my ITX desktop). I would not say a motherboard is less annoying :). I do agree though, it can still annoying to have to change out a PSU. In this case, 3 years, seems we are all in agreement that he's better off reusing it and spending the $ on other parts.
 
If you use the waybackmachine you can see a few times I looked at this here at [H]. In fact, the last review we posted was a rereview of a 10 year old Seasonic Prime 750W unit.
 
Bottom line, if you invested in a high quality PSU to begin with, you are probably good to go up until at least the 10 year point. If you are past the 6 year mark, you might want to consider swapping in a new fan just for piece of mind. So, if you are building a new rig from scratch, re-use them up to the 10 year mark. Otherwise, I'd consider it time to invest in something new. PSU's do tend to fade a bit in performance over time and the 10 year mark is a good run for a quality unit... at 3 years, you still have lots of life left.
 
I run quality PSUs (good brands, generally 1-2 tiers below the topmost 80+ standard) in boxes that are loaded 100% 24/7 for BOINC. Because the systems run CPU/GPU fully loaded I size them for ~2x full load to sit in the ~50% peak efficiency zone, which also gives headroom against the gradual decline in components that can chip away at the ability of old PSUs to still hit 100% rated max power. I think the earliest failure I had was around 7 or 8 years and have had some go as many as 12 before dying, with an average of around a decade. None of them have ever damaged the system they were in when they failed, so I just run them until they die and swap them then and there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top