Just how long is a PSU expected to last?

[trparky]

I have a Corsair TX750 Watt power supply and it's been through a couple of builds. I've had it for the last five years (I think). Just how long are these things expected to last?

 

[alucasa]

It can last 10+ years or it may last a minute.

It's like us, humans. Some die just as they are born. Some die really old.

 

[AhokZYashA]

5-7 years is pretty much the norm,
but i've seen power supplies go to 10 years.

 

[trparky]

I'm thinking about building a new machine soon. Do you think the power supply should be one of the parts that I replace as part of the new build simply due to the age of it? Or do you think I can get away with reusing it?

 

[alucasa]

If you've had it for 5 years and more, I'd replace it. But that's just me. One of my SFX PSU is 7+ years now. But it's in a less important build.

You could keep that PSU as a backup in case things go wrong and you need extra components to test things out.

 

[trparky]

Thinking about this one.

Edit: Luckily I have a Microcenter right across town. I love the fact that I have the geek's equivalent of Toys-R-Us near me.

 

[m1dg3t]

A quality PSU that is run well within spec and kept clean can last indefinately. Efficiency will suffer over time. Just my opinion...

People will say 'the caps degrade' and they do, but... ^^^

I have electronics that are older than me still in service, without being serviced - apart from cleaning & lubing the knobs/switches. I also have pieces from the same era/MFG that required some caps being replaced, my guess is it was ran harder/longer. So hotter. Heat kills electrics, especially when running at the limit.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Depends on quality of parts, esp caps, how robust the heatsinks are, and how well they pass properly done torture tests. Other than that it's up to how much headroom if any in wattage it has (how much more than GPU requires). Caps put out less wattage as they age. If you can check all those points, it will likely last over 7 years. A good place to check for reviews on PSUs is JonnyGURU.

 

[RejZoR]

Quality and temperature at which it operates. The lower it is (temperature), the longer it'll work. Usually.

 

[Ruru]

My old Corsair HX620 was over 10 years old, I'd still use it, but its connectors weren't that modern. Its only real problem was very loud coil whine.

 

[Komshija]

It's hard to tell, but good quality PSU's from reputable manufacturers should last longer. If it doesn't fail in the first two years, it's unlikely that it will fail afterwards. I expect good PSU's to last up to 10 years.

 

[PLAfiller]

Well, depends on lots of things, but my real life example - my parent's PC has a CoolerMaster M500 Silent Pro unit, for over 7 years now ( they still use it every day). But we are talking office work all the time, no gaming, OC-ing or crunching. I guess if you continuously stress the unit, it won't last that long. But generally, well built PSU, can easily pass 5 years or so.

 

[JalleR]

I have A Corsair tx650 and a 850 and they are bouth 10+ years and are running well with no wierd sounds, the tx850 has been running a I7-5930k@4.2Ghz system with R9 390X/GTX1080HOF/gtx770 for the last 2 years with no issues.

So maybe Expect that you need to change it in 2 years and have the money ready but if the system you are building doesn't exceed 600watt then the tx750 should be good.

 

[Ebo]

normally i change my PSU every 3-4 years, no matter if it works perfect or not.

 

[Frick]

Until the warranty runs out.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I have 2 older PSUs, one is 22 years old (Maddog 450w)and other is 14 years old (OCZ 700w).

Both still work just fine.

 

[jboydgolfer]

a good rule of judging life span of any item is as follows. expect a minimum of the warranty period , then once the warranty period has been reached, it could die at any minute, or ;ast another 5 years or more. but all bets are off for real once warranty has lapsed, which is why you'll find PSU's with 10 years warranties are Uber pricey, and ones with short warranties are Mega cheap.

 

[Aquinus]

The real question is: Do you really want to skimp on the component that provides power to every other component? I have a Corsair 850HX that used to be in my tower over 5 years ago. It's probably 7 or 8 years old at this point. It's probably safe but, as others have said, the older and hotter a PSU is run, the less reliable it's going to be in the future. You could always use the current one and replace it if you encounter any problems with the understanding that it's an older PSU.

 

[jboydgolfer]

The real question is: Do you really want to skimp on the component that provides power to every other component? I have a Corsair 850HX that used to be in my tower over 5 years ago. It's probably 7 or 8 years old at this point. It's probably safe but, as others have said, the older and hotter a PSU is run, the less reliable it's going to be in the future. You could always use the current one and replace it if you encounter any problems with the understanding that it's an older PSU.

I also have a corsair (CX 600 tho), from 2011 ,and I don't like to depend on it but it still works beautifully . so what I do is keep it ,and use it to prime water cooling ,test PCs ,or in a pinch I have a back up. But I never depend on it for a day-to-day basis

 

[Aquinus]

I also have a corsair (CX 600 tho), from 2011 ,and I don't like to depend on it but it still works beautifully . so what I do is keep it ,and use it to prime water cooling ,test PCs ,or in a pinch I have a back up. But I never depend on it for a day-to-day basis

After I pulled the 850 out of my tower, I put it into my gateway server which has been running 24/7 for years. It still works well.

 

[Melvis]

Knowing Corsair, about half the time of there warranty...

 

[Kanan]

You could use it until it dies, but I'd say about 5-7 years is fine if it's a high(er) end model. I replaced my last PSU after 7 1/2 years and sold it in eBay for 30 bucks. It wasn't even a top line PSU, a OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W but i guess my usage was nowhere near extreme that's why it never failed. Some guys here gave really good advice, listen to them.

 

[Cvrk]

It can last 10+ years or it may last a minute.

It's like us, humans. Some die just as they are born. Some die really old.

But yeah, i have a Corsair CX 600. Not so good anymore, but still working, going strong on almost 8 years.

 

[trparky]

So the general consensus is to replace it.

 

[Kanan]

So the general consensus is to replace it.

What did you do with the PSU? Long gaming sessions for years? Crunching? PC constantly on? How much was it used power wise? Need more info.