Do I need to replace my PSU which is 9 years old?

[VyacheslavKs]

Hey guys!

 

A little backstory: In 2011, I (my mom, actually) bought me a PC with parts that I chose. I wasn't very aware of what parts do I need (I was choosing the ones with the highest numbers, lol), and I ended up building a pretty decent for 2011 times PC, with a PSU of... 950W.

 

So, for today I use my Chieftec Nitro BPS-950C, and I use it for almost ten years (January 2021 will be its birthday). Luckily, it's still working pretty well. I also had zero issues with it for all these years.

 

Thus, I wonder – when do I need to replace the PSU? When it'll refuse to start anymore? Or when it's too old, and it's dangerous to use it? 

[OrionFOTL]

Your Chieftec was a high end PSU when you bought it, but 9 years of use is too long for the design it uses. 

 

5 minutes ago, VyacheslavKs said:

Luckily, it's still working pretty well.

You don't know that unless you have expensive measuring equipment. I don't want to fear monger, but your PSU may be already silently damaging your other parts after all these years. 

 

5 minutes ago, VyacheslavKs said:

Or when it's too old, and it's dangerous to use it? 

Your PSU is close to, or past this point already. 9 years is a really long time. 

[shoutingsteve]

Nah, PSU's don't degrade like that.  Although I've never had one for that long, so I might be wrong.

[Ralf]

I still use my Chieftec GPS-550AB to this day(bought in 2010) and Codegen 300W psu(20 years old), they work perfectly fine.

[VyacheslavKs]

4 minutes ago, OrionFOTL said:

may be already silently damaging your other parts after all these years. 

But how? I plan to buy a new CPU and mobo, along with (probably) switching to 2070 S from 1080 Non-ti, and don't want to get damaged anything new, haha

 

6 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

Nah, PSU's don't degrade like that.  Although I've never had one for that long, so I might be wrong.

You buy new PSUs when you reach the limits with your current one, right? If yes, can I know why?

Are there any downsides of buying a "big" PSU (like the one with 950W, etc.)? Except for its current price, of course. Just curious!

[mariushm]

PSUs do degrade, but mostly if they run for long periods of time at close to 100% where they produce a lot of heat due to efficiency losses.

The heat can degrade components, especially electrolytic capacitors, over time.

You probably ran that 950w power supply at less than 50% of its capabilities, let's say 300-400w at most, so the psu most likely produced little heat and therefore most components are probably as good as new.

 

 

I'd be concerned only about the fan... I'd open the psu and clean the fan, get the dust off... I'd replace it with a higher quality one if it's noisy.

 

 

[5x5]

19 minutes ago, VyacheslavKs said:

Hey guys!

 

A little backstory: In 2011, I (my mom, actually) bought me a PC with parts that I chose. I wasn't very aware of what parts do I need (I was choosing the ones with the highest numbers, lol), and I ended up building a pretty decent for 2011 times PC, with a PSU of... 950W.

 

So, for today I use my Chieftec Nitro BPS-950C, and I use it for almost ten years (January 2021 will be its birthday). Luckily, it's still working pretty well. I also had zero issues with it for all these years.

 

Thus, I wonder – when do I need to replace the PSU? When it'll refuse to start anymore? Or when it's too old, and it's dangerous to use it? 

An upgrade is extremely highly recommend. That unit is utter garbage by today's standards and may be out of ATX spec already

[5x5]

Just now, mariushm said:

PSUs do degrade, but mostly if they run for long periods of time at close to 100% where they produce a lot of heat due to efficiency losses.

The heat can degrade components, especially electrolytic capacitors, over time.

You probably ran that 950w power supply at less than 50% of its capabilities, let's say 300-400w at most, so the psu most likely produced little heat and therefore most components are probably as good as new.

 

 

I'd be concerned only about the fan... I'd open the psu and clean the fan, get the dust off... I'd replace it with a higher quality one if it's noisy.

 

 

That's not a true 950W nor are the components high quality. It uses pretty average caps for 2010 and shit tier ones by 2020 standards. It's not as good as new as, even new, it's worse than an entry level model you can buy today

[jaslion]

19 minutes ago, VyacheslavKs said:

Hey guys!

 

A little backstory: In 2011, I (my mom, actually) bought me a PC with parts that I chose. I wasn't very aware of what parts do I need (I was choosing the ones with the highest numbers, lol), and I ended up building a pretty decent for 2011 times PC, with a PSU of... 950W.

 

So, for today I use my Chieftec Nitro BPS-950C, and I use it for almost ten years (January 2021 will be its birthday). Luckily, it's still working pretty well. I also had zero issues with it for all these years.

 

Thus, I wonder – when do I need to replace the PSU? When it'll refuse to start anymore? Or when it's too old, and it's dangerous to use it? 

Over time psu's wear down and will lose the power to drive their original intended goal thats why sometimes you have those units that were just fine powering a system suddenly all be it a bit close having issues after 5 years. The main reason you'd want to replace it is wear and tear and it just not being up to date with the modern protections and whatnot that psu's have now. That and certain protections are expected by the motherboard nowadays and if you don't have them it could cause a lot more damage than on an older board that did not expect those.

[Bartholomew]

7 minutes ago, Ralf said:

I still use my Chieftec GPS-550AB to this day(bought in 2010) and Codegen 300W psu(20 years old), they work perfectly fine.

In sub saharan africa rural areas they drive 30 year old cars their whole lifes without doors, seatbelts, and think that the roof is an appropriate extra few seats.

 

It works, but doesnt make for solid advice of usage.

 

And aside from capacitor lifespan, 20yo psu id worry more about topology and protections than wear. When using other components of lets say 3 to 5 years and younger, load types have significantly changed, not just draw but shifts in what rails power is needed on.

 

Using 10 to 20 year old psus on new components is bad advice; if it works for you fine and its your risk to take, but dont pass it on as "the way to go".

[Spotty]

22 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

That's not a true 950W nor are the components high quality. It uses pretty average caps for 2010 and shit tier ones by 2020 standards. It's not as good as new as, even new, it's worse than an entry level model you can buy today

What caps does it use?

What do you mean by "not a true 950W"?

 

47 minutes ago, VyacheslavKs said:

So, for today I use my Chieftec Nitro BPS-950C, and I use it for almost ten years (January 2021 will be its birthday). Luckily, it's still working pretty well. I also had zero issues with it for all these years.

 

Thus, I wonder – when do I need to replace the PSU? When it'll refuse to start anymore? Or when it's too old, and it's dangerous to use it? 

Since you're looking at replacing parts in your system I would replace it now. 9-10 years is a good run for a PSU. Get another quality unit and it should last you another 10 years.

[5x5]

13 minutes ago, Spotty said:

What caps does it use?

What do you mean by "not a true 950W"?

 

Since you're looking at replacing parts in your system I would replace it now. 9-10 years is a good run for a PSU. Get another quality unit and it should last you another 10 years.

It can't really remain stable above 800 concurrent draw from what I remember. Unless I'm thinking a different unit. I also remember teapo caps unless there are multiple revisions.

[Jason 57]

OK. So this has me second guessing as I get ready for my upgrade.

I currently have a Cooler Master Silent 750W. Basically around 2011 like this threads topic.

 

I recently purchased a used GTX 1070, and am planning to put in a Ryzen 5 3600 setup.

 

So even if it is 80+ Bronze (from back in 2011) it should be replaced with this new upgrade?

 

Granted it would be nice to get modular cables this time around.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

OK. So this has me second guessing as I get ready for my upgrade.

I currently have a Cooler Master Silent 750W. Basically around 2011 like this threads topic.

 

I recently purchased a used GTX 1070, and am planning to put in a Ryzen 5 3600 setup.

 

So even if it is 80+ Bronze (from back in 2011) it should be replaced with this new upgrade?

 

Granted it would be nice to get modular cables this time around.

Shouldn't this be a new thread?

[Jason 57]

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 2:44 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Shouldn't this be a new thread?

Oh it probably should be. But why not take over an old thread and make it your own???

 

Just kidding.

 

I'll make it a new thread for everyone to comment on.