Obsolete but unused PSU

Konstantinos G. · May 3, 2023

Hey everyone!

I'm planning to build my first gaming PC and the only part I have yet to pick is the PSU. Initially, my build will be based on the Ryzen 5 5600G as I currently care only about indie games but might upgrade with a GPU later on.

Here's my dilemma regarding the power supply: my father had an older PSU lying around. It's the Corsair HX620W Modular, which is a 2006 model and has a standard 80+ efficiency rating. Although it is in its box completely unused, I'm not sure it's a good idea to use such an old unit and risk damaging my new PC. So what should I do? Should I just let this psu die and buy a current model, or use it despite its age?

Thanks for your help in advance!

bezza... · May 3, 2023

12 minutes ago, Konstantinos G. said:

Hey everyone!

I'm planning to build my first gaming PC and the only part I have yet to pick is the PSU. Initially, my build will be based on the Ryzen 5 5600G as I currently care only about indie games but might upgrade with a GPU later on.

Here's my dilemma regarding the power supply: my father had an older PSU lying around. It's the Corsair HX620W Modular, which is a 2006 model and has a standard 80+ efficiency rating. Although it is in its box completely unused, I'm not sure it's a good idea to use such an old unit and risk damaging my new PC. So what should I do? Should I just let this psu die and buy a current model, or use it despite its age?

Thanks for your help in advance!

i mean it should be fine. im not sure about what safty precautions old psus had. but tbh i would recomend getting a new one as psus are not that expensive

Ashleyyyy · May 3, 2023

i wouldn't risk it. capacitors do age so...

SorryBella · May 3, 2023

7 minutes ago, Konstantinos G. said:

I'm not sure it's a good idea to use such an old unit and risk damaging my new PC. So what should I do? Should I just let this psu die and buy a current model, or use it despite its age?

Honestly not really? That model is from a decade ago and capacitor do rot even when its ceramic-based. But yeah, if this is gonna be a doorstop, anything is better than nothing.

mariushm · May 3, 2023

It should be fine.

I'd suggest you open the box and leave it at room temperature for a few hours.

Other than that, the risk would be that lubricant oil in the fan may be settled down and not lubricate the axle of the fan, but as soon as the fan starts spinning the oil should be spread around the axel by the fan's rotation ... so it would be just some minor wear on the fan.

Plastic of the fan blades may be going bad, making blades crack or break, if the psu was kept in a hot area (enough to dry out the plastic) .. so this is unlikely.

Capacitors can go bad by themselves over time, but the ultra low esr electrolytic capacitors which use water based electrolytes and are most susceptible to going bad just by being unused were mostly used on motherboards. On power supplies, they don't need that ultra low esr , so whatever electrolytic capacitors are still used in power supplies (because these days solid/polymer capacitors tend to be used, and these don't have electrolyte) in general are more stable and shouldn't leak or degrade in such short period of time, especially if the psu was stored in reasonable environment.

It's just theoretical, if you're in a hot and humid or even just humid environment, it's possible for water, humidity to be absorbed into the packaging of silicon chips over time and when such chip starts working and gets hot the first time after long period of no usage, the water particules inside can boil and turn to gass exploding the chip. This is usually fixed by keeping the chips in an oven running at 50-80c for maybe a day or so, to get the humidity inside slowly get out.

But like I said, it's very rare and it would have to be really humid, and not in a more or less sealed box, and so on... unlikely to be the case here.