Should I replace my PSU simply because it’s old?

[mattheginger]

Hey guys, I have a Corsair HX650w from around 2013. It’s don’t at least a couple of thousand hours of battlefield, plus light duties and ~2 years total of boinc/folding.

 

I’m now thinking of swapping in a new mid level cpu/mb/ram combo into the case.

 

My gut is telling me I should also replace the PSU, but if I’m only going to use around 50% (max) of it’s output, do I really need to replace it?

 

It’s been flawless it’s whole life. How likely is it that it’ll damage my new components if it fails?

[Somerandomtechyboi]

It problably still has a few more years left in it, wouldnt be surprised if it hits or surpasses the 15 year mark

 

Reccomended but not obligatory, and i would personally not bother replacing it, id just let it run till it peacefully dies and then swap it out

[Skiiwee29]

My personal opinion is a PSU should be swapped out when the warranty expires. Could it continue to be serviceable beyond? Absolutely, but if it ends up causing a catastrophic failure, you're out of luck getting any support for replacing hardware etc. 

[Supersonicwolfe]

19 minutes ago, mattheginger said:

Hey guys, I have a Corsair HX650w from around 2013. It’s don’t at least a couple of thousand hours of battlefield, plus light duties and ~2 years total of boinc/folding.

 

I’m now thinking of swapping in a new mid level cpu/mb/ram combo into the case.

 

My gut is telling me I should also replace the PSU, but if I’m only going to use around 50% (max) of it’s output, do I really need to replace it?

 

It’s been flawless it’s whole life. How likely is it that it’ll damage my new components if it fails?

I think you can continue to use it.

 

Most likely component that may fail is a capacitor. And when a capacitor fails it usually fails by losing capacitance, which means no power/unstable power. So it usually don't drag the rest of your entire system.

 

But if you want to play it safe? Replace it.

[Alex Atkin UK]

19 minutes ago, mattheginger said:

It’s been flawless it’s whole life. How likely is it that it’ll damage my new components if it fails?

Nobody can really predict that, but a brand new PSU could also be a bad batch and immediately fail, however unlikely.

Generally I will continue to run PSUs into the ground for older builds with hardware I care less about, but not want to risk it on something relatively new.

 

3 minutes ago, Supersonicwolfe said:

I think you can continue to use it.

 

Most likely component that may fail is capacitor. And when a capacitor fails it usually fails by losing capacitance, which means no power/unstable power. So it usually don't drag down your entire system.

That's not strictly true, as a failing capacitor means more ripple going to other components which can cause their capacitors to fail as they are being asked to work harder, it depends where in the PSU it actually is.  It might not be immediately obvious, but a bad PSU can indeed cause other components to prematurely age.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

That's not strictly true, as a failing capacitor means more ripple going to other components which can cause their capacitors to fail as they are being asked to work harder, it depends where in the PSU it actually is.  It might not be immediately obvious, but a bad PSU can indeed cause other components to prematurely age.

I mean ive run my p5q on several shit oem units that kept having awful volt regulation and 12v becomes 14v and that kept up for problably more than half a year till i went and bought my now 12yo dazumba 450w yet it has not shown any signs of ageing or failiure and this is a 15 year old board so clearly it does not have that dramatic of an effect

 

maybe your stuff will age abit faster but does that matter if you arent gonna be keeping it for over 5 years?

 

also ive seen many trash grey box oem psus on those ancient core 2 office prebuilts and they havent died yet (not oem dells, more like trash china brands like power up, and yes i still have that "500w" power up and its trash)

 

 

But how obvious is a capacitor failiure anyways? i dont think ive encountered any capacitor failiures yet on broken boards, anything remotely close would be nuked mosfets on vrms, but never the caps themselves unless its not obvious

[Alex Atkin UK]

10 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

But how obvious is a capacitor failiure anyways? i dont think ive encountered any capacitor failiures yet on broken boards, anything remotely close would be nuked mosfets on vrms, but never the caps themselves unless its not obvious

The MOSFETS likely failed due to the capacitors.  I've had several motherboards fail without visible damage back when I was using cheap PSUs, as I didn't know any better.  Can't firmly place the blame on the PSUs of course, given the VRMs used on modern boards are night/day better than the old days when they were burying electrolytic capacitors right under the CPU heatsink where they cooked.

[mattheginger]

15 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

My personal opinion is a PSU should be swapped out when the warranty expires. Could it continue to be serviceable beyond? Absolutely, but if it ends up causing a catastrophic failure, you're out of luck getting any support for replacing hardware etc. 

Would you actually get support under warranty (from the PSU manufacturer) for your other damaged components? 

[Supersonicwolfe]

1 hour ago, mattheginger said:

Would you actually get support under warranty (from the PSU manufacturer) for your other damaged components? 

If it's out of warranty, then no.

 

Most oversupply don't cover downstream components even in warranty, that is why you should check reports from Cybenetics Labs which at minimum list the protection IC from the particular PSU, where you can then look up how good/bad it is. (Also, 80Plus don't test stuff voltage ripples, which is why 80Plus now is being overshadowed by Cybernetics. Even Corsair is using Cybernetics' markings to advertise their PSU instead of 80Plus) 

OR look up reviews from GamersNexus / Hardware Busters /Aris

Or just use this tier list https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

[mattheginger]

@Supersonicwolfe yeah I’ll definitely check out the tier ratings, and probably buy another Corsair model tbh. 
 

I’ve decided I won’t replace my current power supply immediately, but set a goal of replacing it in the next 3-4 months. I’m thinking about upgrading my gpu around then, so it seems like an opportune time to replace the PSU (perhaps even for a larger model). 

 

Thanks to all who offered their advice

[Smugel]

I have a Cooler Master v700 from 2014 I think. Still running strong. Warranty expired many years ago.

I've been thinking about replacing it though simply because it's a very tight fit in my new case and I could fit my ssd's differently with a smaller form factor psu.

On 7/7/2023 at 5:29 PM, Supersonicwolfe said:

 you should check reports from Cybenetics Labs which at minimum list the protection IC from the particular PSU, where you can then look up how good/bad it is.

What precisely am I looking for in the reports? I don't see any mention of protection IC in this random psu I picked.

[Supersonicwolfe]

On 7/9/2023 at 4:58 PM, Smugel said:

I have a Cooler Master v700 from 2014 I think. Still running strong. Warranty expired many years ago.

I've been thinking about replacing it though simply because it's a very tight fit in my new case and I could fit my ssd's differently with a smaller form factor psu.

What precisely am I looking for in the reports? I don't see any mention of protection IC in this random psu I picked.

Try see if you can find a review of that.

To be honest that was the most frustration part, because almost no one actually tests the protection...

[Smugel]

Yeah no one tested that from what I can tell. Maybe Johnnyguru did but his site is lost forever.

It does have all the protections in the spec sheet though so I'll just keep running it.