Should I retire my 4-yo Corsair GS700 PSU?

[Skylinestar]

I have a 4 year-old Corsair GS700 which was purchased in year 2012 for my P45 build with Intel C2D E8400 & AMD HD6850. I have retired the rig & built a new Skylake (i5 6500) rig, hoping to pair with a new AMD Polaris 10 (480) or NV Pascal (GTX1080) graphics card. Since these newer cards have low TDP, can I extend the usage of my GS700? I've read the [H] review of the 7-yo PSU ( Conclusion - SilverStone Olympia 1000W Power Supply 7 Year Redux ). Should I be worried?

FYI, I'm now using the onboard Intel 530 graphics ... gotta wait for the new GPU or probably get a Fury if the Polaris/Pascal fail to impress me. Currently, the PC is rock stable.

This is the newegg page of the GS700:
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS700 700W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply - Newegg.com

 

[Tsumi]

I would say you're fine for a single GPU system for at least another 3-4 years.

 

[Meeho]

I've never replaced a PSU in any of my builds and some of them are going >15 years with daily usage. I only had one PSU failure and that was some crappy barely-name unit. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, especially since you're not going to be driving it hard.

 

[GotNoRice]

The "age" of a PSU, simply in terms of the time that has elapsed since it's manufacture, is not particularly significant. What kind of life has it seen? Has it been in a computer that was powered on for a couple hours a few times per week, or has it seen almost constant 24/7 service since new? What sort of ambient temperature has the PSU been subjected to, and how much airflow has it had? How often have you dusted it out? These are just a few considerations, all of which are more relevant than the PSUs calendar age.

Overall it's more about abuse than age, and in most cases electronics don't simply die due to age without other factors at play (especially not in terms of the single-digit ages you are talking about). I personally have numerous pieces of audio gear that are now over 40 years old, most of which have never seen anything beyond the most basic of maintenance yet continue to function great. Cheap PSUs can fail quick due to bad components but as long as we are talking about a good unit, user error/negligence/abuse is going to be by far the #1 cause of potential failure. Only you are in a position to be able to determine the level of negligence and/or abuse that the unit has seen.

A final consideration as to why PSUs have a reputation for having a short life; I believe this is partly due to changing/evolving standards over the years. It wasn't long ago that an "old" psu also meant that it didn't have what it needed to meet the latest standards (without significant compromise, tons of adapters, etc). The shift from 20-pin to 24-pin main power connector. The introduction of the 12v "P4" connector. The change in emphasis from the 5V to 12V rail. The addition of 6-pin videocard power connectors. The gradual transition from molex to SATA power connectors. Those are just a few examples, and many of those transitions only happened in the span of a few short years. It's only due to relatively recent stagnation in the industry that we have now found ourselves in a situation where a 5+ year old PSU can still be compatible with a modern PC in terms of standards.

 

[skeeder]

Based on online calculators, a single GPU like that of the 980Ti or R9 Fury, complete with a non-overclocking i5 should only use 450-475 watts.

A final consideration as to why PSUs have a reputation for having a short life; I believe this is partly due to changing/evolving standards over the years. It wasn't long ago that an "old" psu also meant that it didn't have what it needed to meet the latest standards (without significant compromise, tons of adapters, etc). The shift from 20-pin to 24-pin main power connector. The introduction of the 12v "P4" connector. The change in emphasis from the 5V to 12V rail. The addition of 6-pin videocard power connectors. The gradual transition from molex to SATA power connectors. Those are just a few examples, and many of those transitions only happened in the span of a few short years. It's only due to relatively recent stagnation in the industry that we have now found ourselves in a situation where a 5+ year old PSU can still be compatible with a modern PC in terms of standards.

Don't forget that pesky 8pin GPU connector