Do PSUs need regular replacing? Or only if it stops working?

[GamerBlake]

Does anyone happen to know if PSUs should be replaced every X years? Like fire alarm batteries? Or will my PSU ( RM850x Gold) be good until it stops working one day?

 

I just don’t want my PC (or home) to catch fire or anything. Nor do I want my PSU to be risking damaging my PC or components.

[Deli]

A good quality PSU should be good for at least 10 years, in many cases longer before need to be replaced.

[GamerBlake]

Just now, Deli said:

A good quality PSU should be good for at least 10 years.

But like..what about after those 10 years? Will it just die eventually? Or will it degrade to a point where it’s endangering the rest of the PC or worse, catching fire?

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, GamerBlake said:

Or will my PSU ( RM850x Gold) be good until it stops working one day?

it's hard to say what will happen in future

maybe we need new standards for PSU? like ATX12v, or like previously when intel introduced their super low power mode, some PSU on the market fail to regulate voltages for wattages that low, so it needs replacing.

 

but generally if it works, it works, it may one day become a sub par unit as PSU standards gets higher and higher, but you shouldnt have to worry about it, it's not like it's gonna get any less safe over time (unless it is? o.O)

 

Just now, GamerBlake said:

Or will it degrade to a point where it’s endangering the rest of the PC or worse, catching fire?

the safety in the PSU in built to catch these faults

but they arent perfect and failures do happen, but dont worry too much about it, nothing you can do except buying a good unit PSU

[Deli]

3 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

But like..what about after those 10 years? Will it just die eventually? Or will it degrade to a point where it’s endangering the rest of the PC or worse, catching fire?

It'll degrade a bit, so it will provide less than maximum capacity in term of wattage. But it won't blow up or anything like that.

 

I don't know what will happen for like super long like 30 years.

[GamerBlake]

Just now, Moonzy said:

it's hard to say what will happen in future

maybe we need new standards for PSU? like ATX12v, or like previously when intel introduced their super low power mode, some PSU on the market fail to regulate voltages for wattages that low, so it needs replacing.

 

but generally if it works, it works, it may one day become a sub par unit as PSU standards gets higher and higher, but you shouldnt have to worry about it, it's not like it's gonna get any less safe over time (unless it is? o.O)

 

the safety in the PSU in built to catch these faults

but they arent perfect and failures do happen, but dont worry too much about it, nothing you can do except buying a good unit PSU

Oh ok thanks! That definitely helps my anxiety on this issue since I just couldn’t afford risking ruining a $4K PC because I was stupid and didn’t replace the PSU. But it sounds like that won’t be an issue.

 

Would you say my PSU is a good one? Or should I get a better one?

[For Science!]

I think only somebody who has actually been dealing with many PSUs like @jonnyGURU can answer this confidently. How do PSUs die in an ideal scenario?

[Tan3l6]

ATX12VO is one thing that might happen. (If talking about new connectors/standard)

[GamerBlake]

Just now, For Science! said:

I think only somebody who has actually been dealing with many PSUs like @jonnyGURU can answer this confidently. How do PSUs die in an ideal scenario?

It’s more the NOT ideal scenarios I’m concerned about.

 

Im just wondering how much safety goes into ensuring a PSU dies without damaging something else.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, GamerBlake said:

Would you say my PSU is a good one? Or should I get a better one?

if it's the rig in your signature, it's golden

[Deli]

2 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

Oh ok thanks! That definitely helps my anxiety on this issue since I just couldn’t afford risking ruining a $4K PC because I was stupid and didn’t replace the PSU. But it sounds like that won’t be an issue.

 

Would you say my PSU is a good one? Or should I get a better one?

RM850x is a very solid good PSU.

[GamerBlake]

Just now, Moonzy said:

if it's the rig in your signature, it's golden

Yeah that’s my only rig. I know it’s Gold rated & modular so if you’re saying it’s good I will save some money and keep it. Thanks

[GamerBlake]

2 minutes ago, Deli said:

RX850x is a very solid good PSU.

Oh ok whew!  

 

I remember in Linus’s cheap vs expensive gaming PC video he said how important it was to get a reliable quality PSU but I’m not very familiar with PSUs.

[MaximusAlpha]

I think it doesn’t matter until u don’t have enough watts 

[Moonzy]

Just now, GamerBlake said:

Yeah that’s my only rig. I know it’s Gold rated & modular so if you’re saying it’s good I will save some money and keep it. Thanks

yeap, but it's a single-rail PSU if im not mistaken

meaning the OCP will trigger much later if there's a short

 

if safety is your concern, you might want to look at multi-rail PSU

but honestly, i wouldnt bother personally

[GamerBlake]

1 minute ago, MaximusAlpha said:

I think it doesn’t matter until u don’t have enough watts 

Well that should be okay then right? Someone once told me my PC wasn’t drawing anywhere near 850W even with a 2080 Ti OCed.

[Moonzy]

Just now, GamerBlake said:

Well that should be okay then right? Someone once told me my PC wasn’t drawing anywhere near 850W even with a 2080 Ti OCed.

CPU ~200W, GPU ~300W, rest of the system ~100W

you're good

[GamerBlake]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

yeap, but it's a single-rail PSU if im not mistaken

meaning the OCP will trigger much later if there's a short

 

if safety is your concern, you might want to look at multi-rail PSU

but honestly, i wouldnt bother personally

Well it’s not like I want to go out of my way for super safety. I just don’t want to do anything dumb and then have something go wrong and I didn’t know it could happen.

 

If it’s as safe as 90% of the rest of the gaming PCs out there I’m okay with it.

[quan289]

How regularly you will need to replace it depends on the quality of the power supply and its usage. Typically, a power supply should be able to output its rated wattage 24/7 continuously at its rated operating temperature for the span of its warranty. In the case of your Corsair, it should be able to do 850w continuously at 50C ambient temperature for 10 years, and it should do so while staying in ATX specification.

[SupaKomputa]

From experience, if the PSU died, they just dead. Not responding to the power button.

[MaximusAlpha]

1 minute ago, GamerBlake said:

Well it’s not like I want to go out of my way for super safety. I just don’t want to do anything dumb and then have something go wrong and I didn’t know it could happen.

 

If it’s as safe as 90% of the rest of the gaming PCs out there I’m okay with it.

A corsair 80+ Gold is just fine for a decent rig

[GamerBlake]

2 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

From experience, if the CPU died, they just dead. Not responding to the power button.

No not CPU I said PSU. 

[GamerBlake]

2 minutes ago, MaximusAlpha said:

A corsair 80+ Gold is just fine for a decent rig

So it doesn’t even matter what model? As long as it’s Corsair 80+ gold?

[SupaKomputa]

Just now, GamerBlake said:

No not CPU I said PSU. 

Edited, i mean PSU.

[GamerBlake]

3 minutes ago, quan289 said:

How regularly you will need to replace it depends on the quality of the power supply and its usage. Typically, a power supply should be able to output its rated wattage 24/7 continuously at its rated operating temperature for the span of its warranty. In the case of your Corsair, it should be able to do 850w continuously at 50C ambient temperature for 10 years, and it should do so while staying in ATX specification.

Oh ok thanks! I think 10 years or lifetime is the warranty period so does that mean if it does in 10 years I can just send it in for another?