CMPSU-850TX is 11 years old, time to replace?

[layarion]

Question 1, it's time to replace the PSU right?

I've been getting random BSOD, and about once a day I have to do a song and dance before my computer will POST. Without the song and dance, it goes into a loop, never posting. (unplug one RAM stick, turn PC on, wait for the BEEP, turn PC off, put stick back in, and continue about my day)

After some years of this happening without consistency - in the past the song and dance wouldn't work everytime, but for some reason now it does - I'm now suspecting the PSU. It's 11 years old now, and I live in America. The power goes out maybe once a year, and the lights dim or flicker maybe once every 6 months. Memtest says ram is fine, perma storage is healthy, and windows logs does show lots of errors/criticals. Some of the criticals being kernal power. 

Spoiler

 

Question 2, should I get a quality UPS?

Most people seem to say "yes", but after looking into more of what @jonnyGURUsays -based on snippets I got from Gn videos, I don't know that i'll benefit from it much. I say this because it's rare when the lights flicker or dim, and rarer still when the power goes out. I haven't lost any work to the power going out, and part of that is because the power usually goes out with such a short duration that my computer doesn't even notice - even when I'm gaming. All the devices in the house turn off, but my computer doesn't react to it in the slightest. The UPS I'm looking at buying would be the https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500AVRLCD-Intelligent-Outlets-Mini-Tower/dp/B000FBK3QK , I already have a tipp-lite surge protector.

Question 2.1, with power outs and sags this sparse, will an UPS/AVR combo increase the life of my PSU?

People seem to be telling me that if I had been using such a combo the entire time, I wouldn't need to replace this PSU today. This one guy that I think lives in America (just someone I talk to in Discord), says they recommend it anyway because they swear they have to replace PSU's less often now. (no idea what quality of PSU he buys, but his UPS is the CP1500AVRLCD which isn't the cheapest thing in the world so his PSU might be up there as well)

System Specs
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Layarion/saved/#view=X2hgnQ

[--SID--]

57 minutes ago, layarion said:

I've been getting random BSOD, and about once a day I have to do a song and dance before my computer will POST. Without the song and dance, it goes into a loop, never posting. (unplug one RAM stick, turn PC on, wait for the BEEP, turn PC off, put stick back in, and continue about my day)

Seems like a motherboard issue to me. What are the system specs?

[layarion]

54 minutes ago, --SID-- said:

What are the system specs?

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Layarion/saved/#view=X2hgnQ

[Hybris5112]

Given the age of your equipment I would think this is more of a motherboard trying to tell you that its finally dying. My previous rig from about the same era as yours suffered from a hit or miss motherboard that would sometimes fail to post until I restarted it two or three times.

 

Like it or not there comes a time when its best to do a ground up rebuild of everything. Besides the drives, GPU, and your CPU cooler there is nothing else within the computer itself that is salvageable in a modern build.

[layarion]

On 2/20/2022 at 4:36 PM, Hybris5112 said:

Given the age of your equipment I would think this is more of a motherboard trying to tell you that its finally dying. My previous rig from about the same era as yours suffered from a hit or miss motherboard that would sometimes fail to post until I restarted it two or three times.

 

Like it or not there comes a time when its best to do a ground up rebuild of everything. Besides the drives, GPU, and your CPU cooler there is nothing else within the computer itself that is salvageable in a modern build.

Ya I'm waiting to see what Zen4 offers before I do that, especially since it's APU will have RDNA2. I have a gpu already, but my GTX770 died and it wasn't even that old. So I think eitherway, I want an APU as a backup.

I should be able to get a head start on the PSU though, I just don't know if it's actually the PSU. I originally did think it was the MOBO failing, but those kernel power critical logs have me wondering about the PSU as well. I wish I could just borrow a PSU somehow to find out.

[Pandur]

If your PSU is acting up, then your motherboard will act up. Can't eliminate a motherboard issue like this without first eliminating a dying PSU.

 

I would replace the PSU with something that is in the ballpark of what you'd need for the new build later on.

 

If that doesn't fix your issues then it is probably the motherboard. Although it can also be stuff like the CPU growing old and needing a bit more vcore to work properly and so on. But I am honestly getting ahead of myself now.

 

Borrowing a PSU is the cheapest way to check, if that is an option.

[SolarNova]

I wouldnt be surprised if it is the PSU.

 

I recently replaced my Seasonic Platinium 1000W which was ~10 years old as way to try and solve an on going issue, which coincidentally was also random crashes, resets, and occasional BSOD, even after a fresh OS install.

I've been running the new PSU, a Corsair RM 750w Gold (2021) for almost a week now without any further crashes (touch wood).

I hope very much this was the cause because the alternative causes are very costly. So far it seems the PSU was the culprit.

 

PSU's generally Die in 2 ways.

 

1)They outright stop working. Hopefully failing safely without taking anything with it.

2)They start causing random crashes caused by unstable power delivery.

 

the 2nd is apparently more common.