I have a very old power supply that still works, should I replace it anyways?

[MrZoraman]

The power supply in question is a thermaltake TR2-500W. I've had it for at least 9 years now, and it hasn't given me any problems. Do power supply components wear out? Is this thing a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, or is it still fine to use?

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

power supply components wear out?

Yes they do

 

4 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

Is this thing a ticking time bomb waiting to go off,

Probably considering it's quality

 

4 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

or is it still fine to use?

If it is maybe a SUPER low end of maaaaybe but nothing else

[Naul]

9 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

Is this thing a ticking time bomb waiting to go off,

The only thing that i saw of batteries explosions were samsung phones.

[mariushm]

Older models of power supplies have components (mostly electrolytic capacitors) which degrade over time, slowly ... the process is accelerated by high heat (for example if the fan is seized or running on purpose at low rpm and therefore letting components inside get hotter than needed)  and other factors like quality of the input power humidity, and other things.

 

At the most basic level, the rubber or plastic bottoms of such components is rated for around 25 years, so after around 20 years or so, the bottom that's supposed to seal the component and not allow the liquid inside to leak or evaporate can get cracks or break down and that part would degrade or fail.

 

The fan can also go bad, the ball bearings can be damaged, or the lubricant can dry out or more or less not lubricate the fan, so the fan may not work properly after some time..

 

So yeah, the power supply works but most likely doesn't work as well as it worked when you bought it. It probably still outputs acceptable voltages, but the atx standard is very tolerant, there's a lot of tolerance .. so for example if the psu was +/- 1% outside the ideal specifications now the psu could be +/- 5-8% outside the ideal specifications and it would still be ok because the standard says computer components have to tolerate up to 10% outside the ideal specifications.

 

So, your old computer would be happy with it,  the new computer could also still be happy with the power supply, but keep in mind that modern components expect higher quality power supplies, have more expectations, and they're also more aggressive when it comes to power ... components like video cards and processors use bursts of power and switch often between idle low core frequencies and going turbo all cores going at high frequencies... old models of power supplies sometimes can't handle such high fluctuations in power draw.

 

If it's some office pc, something to watch movie on , nothing power hungry or complex, the psu would probably be perfectly fine and safe to use.. I'd avoid using it with some power hungry video cards or very high power cpu like a 12core or 16core ryzen cpu.

 

Modern power supplies use higher quality fans and use less electrolytic capacitors and more solid polymer capacitors, which would not be affected by failures in rubber or whatever sealant is used, because these capacitors don't use liquid electrolyte in them anymore.... they're also much more efficient so they produce less heat and therefore in theory last for longer time.

[Haro]

18 minutes ago, Naul said:

The only thing that i saw of batteries explosions were samsung phones.

No the capacitors etc within a PSU will explode if it's old / or bad quality

[MrZoraman]

@mariushm Thanks for the insight! It's currently plugged into an i5 2400 that doesn't even have a GPU installed, and that's where I plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future. I might put my rx 560 in it at some point though.

 

I use this computer for folding@home stuff, so the cpu is constantly under load, so I assume the PSU is constantly under load as well, if that's anything to worry about...

[mariushm]

4 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

@mariushm Thanks for the insight! It's currently plugged into an i5 2400 that doesn't even have a GPU installed, and that's where I plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future. I might put my rx 560 in it at some point though.

 

I use this computer for folding@home stuff, so the cpu is constantly under load, so I assume the PSU is constantly under load as well, if that's anything to worry about...

No, because basically the cpu and whole system probably consumes less than 100w ... so you're using that psu at less than a third of its maximum output, which is well below what that psu was designed for.

[aranurea]

2 hours ago, TofuHaroto said:

No the capacitors etc within a PSU will explode if it's old / or bad quality

Old capacitors simply dry out. They slowly lose their capacitance. Only physical damage or extreme voltages (exceeding their rated voltage) can cause them to explode.