How long should you use a power supply?

[RAZ0RLIGHT]

Is it safe to use a good power supply (be quiet straight power 10 CM 600W) beyond the 5 year warranty, how long can and should you use a PSU?

 

[GuiltySpark_]

There is no written rule to answer that. 

 

I am still using my Corsair HX750 i bought new in 2009 in a low priority home server and its perfectly fine. 

[Chris Pratt]

As with anything, the warranty period mostly defines its expected lifespan, for normal usage. If you push it harder, it will die sooner, while if your usage is light, it could last much longer. However, until you run into issues, you can keep using it indefinitely. As long as everything is still performing as normal, you're not hearing additional fan noise from it, there's no random reboots or BSODs, etc., it's still fine. I'd just start planning for a replacement if it's out of warranty, but no need to pull the trigger until you have to.

[trag1c]

If it ain't broke don't fix it. I still have mine from like 2012-2013 going strong in my daily driver system. One of my servers has a power supply from like 2008 still going strong. Like many products or parts if they make it past the first few years chances are they're going to survive well past the time where they're useful. 

[SupaKomputa]

As long as no errors, crashing, freezing in game, there's nothing to worry about.

Those are signs of your psu going bad.

[RAZ0RLIGHT]

Thanks for all the comments so far.

So, it is safe to still use the PSU, which was my main concern. Haven't pushed it hard (mainly gaming, Isle, some work stuff) and no noise from the fan, but i will check, when i have put it into the new case etc.

I already plan to replace it but i guess you all know the current market situation and therefore prices.

[Chris Pratt]

26 minutes ago, RAZ0RLIGHT said:

Thanks for all the comments so far.

So, it is safe to still use the PSU, which was my main concern. Haven't pushed it hard (mainly gaming, Isle, some work stuff) and no noise from the fan, but i will check, when i have put it into the new case etc.

I already plan to replace it but i guess you all know the current market situation and therefore prices.

PSUs are actually fairly normalized on price now. The issue was never one of production, just literally shipping them from Asia, where they're produced. Stores have standard orders for things like PSUs, and the demand at the start of the pandemic was unprecedented. Air travel was mostly shut down, so the typical practice of buying up unused cargo space on flights was out. That left only much slower ship freight, which was now being prioritized for PPE and other necessities like sanitizers, toilet paper, etc. Since PSUs are bulky, not many could be shipped at a time, so it took a longer than normal time for stock to normalize. However, that's pretty much all over now. There's plenty of PSU supply for the most part. The only thing that's still out of stock or priced crazily is very high wattage units, because those are being bought up for mining purposes. Anything under 1000W is easily available and normal price, for the most part.

[electropical]

3 hours ago, RAZ0RLIGHT said:

Is it safe to use a good power supply (be quiet straight power 10 CM 600W) beyond the 5 year warranty, how long can and should you use a PSU?

 

Sadly, it's not safe to do it.
When PSUs die, they tend to kill PC components in the process.
And the cheaper they are, the more likely they are to fail prematurely.

Try to buy something solid, this way you don't have to pay more unnecessarily, especially now that GPUs are this hard to buy.
Personally, I would rather pay ~$120 for a solid 650W unit that will give me 10 years of excellent performance and silence than pay  ~$180 ($90 twice) for 2 meh 600W units that will give me 10 years (5 each) of lackluster performance and noise.
 

[RAZ0RLIGHT]

I never buy cheap PSUs, the Be Quiet Straight Power 10 CM is a pretty good unit if i am not totally wrong (second highest tier of Be Quiet PSUs).and never stressed it, mostly gaming with a i5 3570 and 1080ti/2070super.

 

My next PSU will be an A Tier unit for sure, problem is,i don't know which one, favorite is still the 750/850 RMx (dunno if 2018 or 2021 revision).

 

Tomorrow i will build a new PC with a new plattform (5800X + 32GB DDR4) in a different chassis, only the GPU (since you can't buy a new one for reasonable prices), soundcard and the PSU will stay.

 

Would use it a few more months until the PSU prices in my region (germany) settle a bit more (downward trend atm.) and i finally decide which unit i want to buy lol.

 

Will check the PSU for bloated stuff inside and remove the dust (without opening it) and after i installed it in the new chassis, will also check if the fan is doing some weird noises.

 

However, it should still be relatively safe to operate, or not?
If you think how long some pre built PCs cheap PSUs are beeing  used and nothing happened...

 

Maybe @jonnyGURU can leave a few words in here?