When do YOU replace a PSU?

[jboydgolfer]

5 years or so

I've never had a power supply die on me though but I tend to buy better products rather than taking a risk. Even my corsair 600 CX last six years, it didn't die until I put it in the storage unit that got wet

 

[Random Murderer]

That's the thing. While in theory, a PSU can take out anything connected to it, any good PSU will have protection circuits just to prevent that sort of thing. In fact, that is one of the reasons engineers and designers use AC to low voltage power supplies today.
I mean I have seen and had client machines come in where power supplies truly have gone "poof" with loud bangs, sparks flying out the back, and smoke and stink filling up the room. Slap in a new PSU and the computers come back to full life as if nothing happened at all.

In many cases there's just no way to isolate the exact cause but I suspect when a supply does take out other components, it often is due to an EXTREME surge or spike coming off the grid, taking out everything in its path.

On the flip side, I have seen a couple cases where I am sure (but cannot prove ) an overclocked, power hungry graphics card failed first, taking the PSU out with it.

Agreed that any decent PSU should trip protections before harming any other hardware, but as I stated, the 1200W unit I was using was of good quality(CoolerMaster Silent Gold Pro 1200W, scored a 9/10 on JG, had a 5 year warranty and great spec sheet) and still was only providing a scant 11V on the 12V rails and was not triggering UVP. Personally, I view protection circuits in PSUs the way I view locks. Just like locks won't keep a thief out but instead keep an honest person honest, I don't trust protection circuits to be a 100% safety net. Just like I'm not going to live in a house without locks no matter how little faith I have in them keeping out the unwanted(if somebody wants in badly enough, they will get in), I want my PSU to have the protection circuits, but I'm definitely not putting all of my faith into those circuits saving me. Once a PSU starts showing any signs of failure or malfunction, it gets pulled from my system until I can determine if the PSU is alright or not. This is one of those cases where I go by "better safe than sorry."

 

[slozomby]

each build gets a new psu. when it gets replaced so does the psu.

 

[m0nt3]

Haven't seen that in my country yet.

Example: eVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80 plus platinum at €287,30 just 5 years here...

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=120-G2-1000-XR

it is listed under specs, 10 year limited warranty with registration, which I did.

 

[P4-630]

6 years and my Silverstone ST1000-P is still running like new, silent and efficient.

When do you plan to replace it?

 

[Recon-UK]

When do you plan to replace it?

When i remember.. see if it's working i don't think about it lol.

 

[P4-630]

but I tend to buy better products rather than taking a risk.

Well if you read the OP, that PC had an Enermax PSU in it which isn't bad, it had a warranty of 3 years, ran about 5 and it was suddenly "poof" when my dad switched it on.
Once the warranty period has passed you'll never know how much longer it will work.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't trust protection circuits to be a 100% safety net.

You can't. Even with a perfect design from the best maker, a tiny impurity in the raw materials to make any one of the components in a PSU, to a tiny error on the production line, to damage during handling and transport - any number of things can result in failure - hopefully not a cascading failure.

 

[Random Murderer]

You can't. Even with a perfect design from the best maker, a tiny impurity in the raw materials to make any one of the components in a PSU, to a tiny error on the production line, to damage during handling and transport - any number of things can result in failure - hopefully not a cascading failure.

My point exactly

 

[Recon-UK]

Well if you hear on the news that some guy died in a tragic fire, you can all take your hats off to me allowing my PSU to live a full life.

 

[Beastie]

Up till now I've ran PSUs untill they became redundant but my last PSU failed quite extravagantly and took out some hard drives..

So I voted "until it goes poof" but in future I'm looking to be a bit more careful.

 

[thesmokingman]

5-6 year is when they start to degrade, not to mention standards changing. A top end psu 5 years ago is only mediocre today. There have been a couple articles testing psu then vs today. And can you say degradation? In one test a 1000 watt psu could only make 800w six years later if I recalled the years correctly. Then there's the voltage regulation... yowzers.

 

[Recon-UK]

5-6 year is when they start to degrade, not to mention standards changing. A top end psu 5 years ago is only mediocre today. There have been a couple articles testing psu then vs today. And can you say degradation? In one test a 1000 watt psu could only make 800w six years later iirc the years later correctly. Then there's the voltage regulation... yowzers.

So i'm fine then since my PSU is rated at 1140w peak lol, so i can still drive around 900 watts?

Sick!

 

[thesmokingman]

So i'm fine then since my PSU is rated at 1140w peak lol, so i can still drive around 900 watts?

Sick!

The kicker is if it degraded and you never actually required the max draw, you'd be inside the bubble and never know it degraded. However if you were outside that safety bubble, you'd probably notice the power overload shutdown at some point.

 

[Recon-UK]

The kicker is if it degraded and you never actually required the max draw, you'd be inside the bubble and never know it degraded. However if you were outside that safety bubble, you'd probably notice the power overload shutdown at some point.

Was bought to power high end systems, i ran GTX 480 SLi overclocked with a 5ghz+ 2500k for 2 months... that's the largest load it ever pushed.

 

[biffzinker]

so i can still drive around 900 watts?

Willing to test that for us @Recon-UK?

 

[thesmokingman]

Was bought to power high end systems, i ran GTX 480 SLi overclocked with a 5ghz+ 2500k for 2 months... that's the largest load it ever pushed.

I don't know how much that is so I can't say. But as I wrote above if you're comfortably in that bubble, it doesn't affect you yet or isn't a problem until it becomes one.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/09/silverstone_olympia_1000w_power_supply_7_year_redux

 

[Recon-UK]

Willing to test that for us @Recon-UK?

No not particularly as i don't have the required equipment.

I would say i possibly draw around 450 watts peak with x58 system, 80w TDP XEON overclocked.
GTX 670 overclocked.


@thesmokingman That's a completely different PSU.

Here is mine.


http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=238&area=en

 

[dj-electric]

i try to use high quality PSUs, always.
Mine dont go poof, they just wont start up, or have issues dealing with load - that's where i replace em

 

[thesmokingman]

@thesmokingman That's a completely different PSU.

Here is mine.


http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=238&area=en

lmao, that went right over your head.

 

[Recon-UK]

lmao, that went right over your head.

Don't use a review of 1 PSU for all, it's not how it works.

 

[thesmokingman]

Don't use a review of 1 PSU for all, it's not how it works.

Are you saying tech gear does not degrade? What makes psu's so magical that they retain 100% of their specs 7 years later??

 

[Recon-UK]

Are you saying tech gear does not degrade? What makes psu's so magical that they retain 100% of their specs 7 years later??

Never said this, my PSU might only be capable of pushing 700 watt right now.. don't go off 1 review for every PSU out there, it's not a good guide and is heavily dependent on the build and design.

 

[thesmokingman]

Never said this, my PSU might only be capable of pushing 700 watt right now.. don't go off 1 review for every PSU out there, it's not a good guide and is heavily dependent on the build and design.

Is that what I wrote? I gave an example of an article to support my point that old ass psus can and do degrade. Does that mean I said yours will? No. Does that mean I said all psus will, no? Are you getting defensive because [H] tested a freaking silverstone??? WTF?

 

[Recon-UK]

lmao, that went right over your head.

Is that what I wrote? I gave an example of an article to support my point that old ass psus can and do degrade. Does that mean I said yours will? No. Does that mean I said all psus will, no? Are you getting defensive because [H] tested a freaking silverstone??? WTF?

Supporting your point is great i was going at it that don't use that as a basis to judge all units.

I think most people with a brain know PSU's degrade.