Power supply going strong after 9 years...

M

mazeroth

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
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My Antec TP-750 Bronze power supply just hit 9 years of almost 24/7 use. I'm in the process of building a new computer with some used parts I just picked up cheap (5820k, ASUS X99 mobo) and will likely get a GTX 1070-esque video card for it. As well as this power supply was reviewed, I'm not so sure I want to chance one this old with a new build. What do you guys think? Time to drop about $100 on something new?

Here's the review from a long time ago. Scored very well!

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=140
 
If it ain’t broke, pop it in and see if it works :) if it dies, then get a new one
 
The problem is, I don't want it to cook stuff if it does fail. I've never kept a power supply this long, but this thing has been rock solid for 9 years. I'd hate to just throw it out.
 
Do you have a multi meter and some "expendable" parts you can build the system with to perform some stress tests? As you know, still working is one thing. Holding tight tolerance without fluctuations is another. No magic smoke need be seen to potentially shorten life of your new components.
 
Nine years is a pretty long in the tooth for electrolytic capacitors, especially when they've spent all that time in a poorly ventilated hot box. I wouldn't consider using the unit on any new equipment without a complete capacitor replacement. Though you'll need to factor in the parts cost and your time to see if doing such a thing is worth it.

I would open the unit up and do a visual inspection on the capacitors to see if any are leaking or swelling before considering continued use of the unit.
 
<------ *triple service life on PC parts crew member #8*

I have never had a PS kill parts because of it dying. Only had them shut off due to failure.
 
My PC Power And Cooling Silencer 750 has been running for early ten years. Every time I think of swapping it out I look at the prices for a 1k Seasonic and say 'it's lasted this long'
 
cheap50 said:
<------ *triple service life on PC parts crew member #8*

I have never had a PS kill parts because of it dying. Only had them shut off due to failure.
Click to expand...

I've seen plenty of failed PSUs detonate motherboards, hard drives, video cards and CPUs. It's not really that hard either, all it takes is the switching controller or mosfet to fail and you have a series of unfortunate events.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
I've seen plenty of failed PSUs detonate motherboards, hard drives, video cards and CPUs. It's not really that hard either, all it takes is the switching controller or mosfet to fail and you have a series of unfortunate events.
Click to expand...

So there ya go, anything is possible.
 
I still have two Seasonic-based power supplies working smoothly, that were from from almost 10 years ago. One is an Antec Truepower Trio 650 watt unit, and the other is a Corsair HX-620. Both are still running things within specs, and neither has ever failed to power up any system they've been in, as long as I was using just a single graphics card. No problems with a single 8800 GTX from all of that time ago...

I do give my power supplies a cleaning with canned air twice a year, and clean out my case as well.

That being said, I'd rather not use them in a new computer build. Older power supplies will die, and sooner rather than later.

Besides, a lot of motherboards are now demanding more than just the 8 pin connector, and the MSI x470 board that's supposed to be coming in today, has both an 8 pin plug and a 4 pin plug. I'm pretty sure that either of the above could power it up with just the 8 pin cable, though.
 
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