Is it a good idea to connect a 9-10 yeard old PSU in a new build?

[Rabolisk]

I built a PC in late 2011/ early 2012 at the time with a Sandy Bridge Intel (Still running great!). I still have a PSU, a cooler master 650W ATX Bronze, and I believe it has a 2 x 6 pin connector for my very old GPU. Would it be a bad idea to connect it to a modern motherboard? If I connect it to a GPU would have to use an adapter.

[WhitetailAni]

No, you should not.

Standard PSU lifetime is 7-10 years, and it's not advised to use adapters from Molex/SATA to PCIe/EPS power connectors.

 

[8tg]

It will be fine, it was a decent psu for its time and if it’s still handling that system fine it’ll handle modern, less power hungry hardware now. It’s not recommended but if you’ve got a basic system then I don’t see why not. 
A quality power supply is rarely affected by age.

T. Still uses a psu from 2004 in a system running hardware from 2010

[Ankerson]

1 hour ago, Rabolisk said:

I built a PC in late 2011/ early 2012 at the time with a Sandy Bridge Intel (Still running great!). I still have a PSU, a cooler master 650W ATX Bronze, and I believe it has a 2 x 6 pin connector for my very old GPU. Would it be a bad idea to connect it to a modern motherboard? If I connect it to a GPU would have to use an adapter.

 

It would be best to replace it if building a new system.

 

 

[akio123008]

Would it be harmful to new components? No, so it's fine for say testing out if your new hardware works, or short term use, but I wouldn't I  I wouldn't advise you to install it in a new rig and run it for another 5 years.

[Ankerson]

32 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Would it be harmful to new components? No, so it's fine for say testing out if your new hardware works, or short term use, but I wouldn't I  I wouldn't advise you to install it in a new rig and run it for another 5 years.

 

And you know this how?

 

Did you hook up the said PSU to professional testing equipment to see if it's still in specs?

 

And no, you can't just hook up a regular power meter to it either because it won't really tell you anything that matters.

 

And NO a PSU isn't a freaking toaster were it still turns on it's fine.

[CotyDlux]

I wouldn't think twice about it if it was an A class PSU. EVGA has 10 year warranty on some of theirs. My guess is they would be fine for many more years. High grade units from Corsair, Super Flower, Seasonic and others would not bother me. Low end old units would not cut it for my builds. These are my opinions. I look to jonnyguru for anything I'm on the fence about.

[akio123008]

4 minutes ago, Ankerson said:

And you know this how?

Because he's running it in a system right now and there's no reason to assume there's anything spectacularly wrong with it?

 

 

 

 

[Ankerson]

44 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Because he's running it in a system right now and there's no reason to assume there's anything spectacularly wrong with it?

 

 

 

 

 

Which means ZERO.

 

 

[--SID--]

10 year old Cooler Master Bronze, almost for sure is a groupregulated unit. Don't use that in a new system because of the bad voltageregulation.

[akio123008]

9 hours ago, Ankerson said:

Which means ZERO.

Which means a lot; it works. No need to overcomplicate it.

 

It runs in a working machine, and has been for a long time, so clearly it's not doing anything that kills hardware, therefore running it in a new computer is fine. Sure I haven't done any kind of official lab testing to verify this, but when a PSU runs just fine (in a computer!) for years, and is still in use, and is also less than 10 years old, I see little to no risk using it. 

 

Again I never said it's a good idea to do that as a long term solution, but for a test, or to cover the shipping time of the new PSU, it's fine.

[MigasTigas]

[Beerzerker]

6 hours ago, --SID-- said:

10 year old Cooler Master Bronze, almost for sure is a groupregulated unit. Don't use that in a new system because of the bad voltageregulation.

The age of it does not mean it automatically has bad power regulation.
If that were true I should have had one of my setups blowup years ago and the PSU in question is from 2007......
Yet it just goes on without issue.

However;
There is the issue of older PSU's showing their age too.

Many older units have caps in them that will start to swell/leak over time and once it starts, that's when you'd need to worry about it.
As indicated, before hooking it up look inside the unit and see if you spot any caps if it has them for swelling/leaking, if so it's time to retire it and I mean on the spot.
Had one not too long ago I was forced to retire for that very reason even though it was working well otherwise.

If all looks OK, just using it to power on a newer system for testing shoudn't hurt it or the system being tested as long as power draw is within the limits of the PSU itself, that in itself you must be sure of regardless of what it is or how old.

I will also say if doing a new build, you'd best get a new PSU because that just makes sense.
Cheaping out on the one thing that's at the heart of the system is just asking for it.

Good luck.

[freeagent]

If it was a good PSU to begin with and it wasn't abused (overloaded) it should be ok. I just replaced an 8 or 9 year old PSU and everything was still tight. It was old and my pc is new

 

It is not out of service though, it drives my old Intel rig now. Watch your voltages, even if its just software. If your 12, 5, and 3.3v are floating all over the place probably not a good idea to use it. IE. under 12v, under 3v.. at 11.2-3v your pc will shut down, at 2.8-9v your pc will shut down.

[Ankerson]

3 hours ago, akio123008 said:

Which means a lot; it works. No need to overcomplicate it.

 

It runs in a working machine, and has been for a long time, so clearly it's not doing anything that kills hardware, therefore running it in a new computer is fine. Sure I haven't done any kind of official lab testing to verify this, but when a PSU runs just fine (in a computer!) for years, and is still in use, and is also less than 10 years old, I see little to no risk using it. 

 

Again I never said it's a good idea to do that as a long term solution, but for a test, or to cover the shipping time of the new PSU, it's fine.

 

But is it running just fine, or is it slowly frying the MB and GPU?

 

Put that in a new machine and it is actually a risk.

[--SID--]

4 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

The age of it does not mean it automatically has bad power regulation.
If that were true I should have had one of my setups blowup years ago and the PSU in question is from 2007......
Yet it just goes on without issue.

However;
There is the issue of older PSU's showing their age too.

Many older units have caps in them that will start to swell/leak over time and once it starts, that's when you'd need to worry about it.
As indicated, before hooking it up look inside the unit and see if you spot any caps if it has them for swelling/leaking, if so it's time to retire it and I mean on the spot.
Had one not too long ago I was forced to retire for that very reason even though it was working well otherwise.

If all looks OK, just using it to power on a newer system for testing shoudn't hurt it or the system being tested as long as power draw is within the limits of the PSU itself, that in itself you must be sure of regardless of what it is or how old.

I will also say if doing a new build, you'd best get a new PSU because that just makes sense.
Cheaping out on the one thing that's at the heart of the system is just asking for it.

Good luck.

You don't understand half of what I'm saying or you don't want to understand.

 

A groupregulated unit in a new system gives a bad voltage regulation.

 

Search yourself for crossloads tests in reviews from groupregulated en indepentent regulated units.

[akio123008]

1 hour ago, --SID-- said:

A groupregulated unit in a new system gives a bad voltage regulation.

A group regulated power supply may not be ideal, but it's not the recipe for disaster you make it seem either.

[seon123]

39 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

A group regulated power supply may not be ideal, but it's not the recipe for disaster you make it seem either.

Their claim was bad voltage regulation, not immediate disaster.

[akio123008]

Just now, seon123 said:

Their claim was bad voltage regulation, not immediate disaster.

That's true. But given it said "don't use it", (in bold text) that sort of implied it's harmful to do so.

[Beerzerker]

4 hours ago, --SID-- said:

You don't understand half of what I'm saying or you don't want to understand.

 

A group regulated unit in a new system gives a bad voltage regulation.

 

Search yourself for crossloads tests in reviews from group regulated en indepentent regulated units.

I'm not arguing about a group regulated unit itself, your statement makes it look like any and all PSU's of a certain age or older are automatically bad because they are old and for no other reason. 
Context with such a statement matters.

And BTW tell all that to my old PSU.....
Apparently it hasn't heard the news yet to know to blowup already.

[Elisis]

2 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

And BTW tell all that to my old PSU.....
Apparently it hasn't heard the news yet to know to blowup already.

Well, given that this is entirely anecdotal evidence, this says nothing. Personal experience does not matter in an area where consumers cannot judge performance.

[Ankerson]

3 minutes ago, Elisis said:

Well, given that this is entirely anecdotal evidence, this says nothing. Personal experience does not matter in an area where consumers cannot judge performance.

 

Exactly.

 

Unless that PSU is hooked up to the proper testing equipment and fully tested one doesn't actually know if it's good or not.

 

Just because something turns on and seems to power something means nothing.

[akio123008]

12 hours ago, Ankerson said:

Unless that PSU is hooked up to the proper testing equipment and fully tested one doesn't actually know if it's good or not.

If you've been running something in a computer and it's been fine for years, there's no reason to assume there's anything wrong with it.

 

I know what can be wrong with power supplies, I know they aren't a "toaster", but there's such a thing as being too cautious. The risk involved in using that power supply in a new system (short term, or even just, single test run) is incredibly small, given it's proven to be ok for literally years. Combine that with a visual inspection of the internals, and you're basically fine.

 

 

 

[Ankerson]

19 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

If you've been running something in a computer and it's been fine for years, there's no reason to assume there's anything wrong with it.

 

I know what can be wrong with power supplies, I know they aren't a "toaster", but there's such a thing as being too cautious. The risk involved in using that power supply in a new system (short term, or even just, single test run) is incredibly small, given it's proven to be ok for literally years. Combine that with a visual inspection of the internals, and you're basically fine.

 

 

 

 

They degrade over time, there is no way around it.

 

I don't care what PSU it is, THEY ALL degrade.

 

And until one hooks it up to a PSU testing equipment NOBODY KNOWS how much.

 

They don't even know how much power it could output safely and if the protections actually still work. 

 

If it's in an old system then fine, it likely won't matter if something happens.

 

But to even think about hooking up NEW equipment to one..... AH, NO.... NEVER.

[akio123008]

13 minutes ago, Ankerson said:

I don't care what PSU it is, THEY ALL degrade.

Everything degrades. That's not the point. The point is, is it likely to have degraded so much that there is significant risk to using it short term; I don't think so.