When to change PSU

[Zobbes]

When Should you change power supply?

 

The Antec 700w PSU in the computer I build Scrap for my little brother just has been having problems in my new house, I suspect the wall power is bad. Now I'm all worryed about my PSU.

 

I've used my Silversone 1000w since 2014 and have had a 9590 and a R9 290x, then a i7 930 and the R9 290x , then a X3450 and a 1060 and now a 1800X and the 1060, anyways like when should i think about buying a new one? I think my PC has been fine with the wall power because it is a fairly nice one and must filter out the power some watt. (Please pardon the pun)

[Gaussen]

no need you have the power you need

[YuriNator557]

11 minutes ago, Zobbes said:

because it is a fairly nice one and must filter out the power some watt.

I assume you're a father?
Anyways, switch it either:

• When you need more watts
• When your original PSU dies

[Stefan Payne]

After around 5 Years or the warranty runs out, wichever is longer.

 

PSU can go bad, you don't see id and kill the rest of the components, if you don't notice it quickly enough...

[mariushm]

Higher wattage power supplies are generally built a bit better and come with higher quality fans, because manufacturers sort of expect the power supply would be used with power hungry components so the psu must have bigger heatsinks to radiate heat away from components and more reliable/long life fans to push heat out of the psu case.

For example, most 450-550w psus will be used with computers barely using 200-250w (30-50% of psu's maximum capacity), while most 1000w psu users would have 2 video cards (500w+) or lots of hard drives.

 

There are some components in power supplies that degrade with TIME and HEAT, in particular capacitors are most susceptible... but they're usually chosen in such a way that even with degradation over time the psu would still function within acceptable parameters.

 

If the power supply wasn't a budget one (let's say what would be around $50-70 now), then if the fan seems to be running fine, the power supply should be perfectly fine for its warranty period plus at least a few years.

If the psu is older than warranty period I personally would open it up and visually inspect the components inside and maybe blow the dust, clean the fan or even replace the fan with a new one (but you have to be careful to replace it with one that does the same or more airflow or has equivalent air pressure... can't just replace the 3000rpm fan inside the psu with a 800rpm fan, the psu would cook itself due to lack of air flow)

 

Also keep in mind that modern components use less and less power, so for example if your 1000w psu was making 400w for your old system with 290x , now it may only do 300w with your gtx1070 system, so even if the psu is slightly "weakened", if it handled the old system it will definitely handle the new one.

 

//typing from bed on laptop with horrible keyboard, apologies for typos and lack of punctuation.

[Zobbes]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

Higher wattage power supplies are generally built a bit better and come with higher quality fans, because manufacturers sort of expect the power supply would be used with power hungry components so the psu must have bigger heatsinks to radiate heat away from components and more reliable/long life fans to push heat out of the psu case.

For example, most 450-550w psus will be used with computers barely using 200-250w (30-50% of psu's maximum capacity), while most 1000w psu users would have 2 video cards (500w+) or lots of hard drives.

 

There are some components in power supplies that degrade with TIME and HEAT, in particular capacitors are most susceptible... but they're usually chosen in such a way that even with degradation over time the psu would still function within acceptable parameters.

 

If the power supply wasn't a budget one (let's say what would be around $50-70 now), then if the fan seems to be running fine, the power supply should be perfectly fine for its warranty period plus at least a few years.

If the psu is older than warranty period I personally would open it up and visually inspect the components inside and maybe blow the dust, clean the fan or even replace the fan with a new one (but you have to be careful to replace it with one that does the same or more airflow or has equivalent air pressure... can't just replace the 3000rpm fan inside the psu with a 800rpm fan, the psu would cook itself due to lack of air flow)

 

Also keep in mind that modern components use less and less power, so for example if your 1000w psu was making 400w for your old system with 290x , now it may only do 300w with your gtx1070 system, so even if the psu is slightly "weakened", if it handled the old system it will definitely handle the new one.

 

//typing from bed on laptop with horrible keyboard, apologies for typos and lack of punctuation.

Yeah I purchased it with a crossfire upgrade in mind but ened up doing other stuff. Def going lower watt next time around.

[Zobbes]

rtyjy

[Zobbes]

2 hours ago, idiot42 said:

I assume you're a father?
Anyways, switch it either:

• When you need more watts
• When your original PSU dies

Sorry Lol, but thanks

2 hours ago, Zobbes said:

I build Scrap for my little brother