Old high quality PSU, or semi-old mid-quality PSU?

[dirtyferret]

even those that are run 24/7

I know Corsair has stated previously they create their warranty expecting 24/7 use. I would assume most of the other top PSU brands do the same since they all offer similar terms. I can tell you when we offer a warranty, we know exactly how long each part should last and make sure the warranty period easily fits within the life span of parts. Last thing any company wants to deal with is shipping cost of products that eats up the margin of revenue.

Especially as capacitors age they start to lose their capacitance

while true, most people over estimate the time frame it takes for this to occur especially with quality caps

 

[Chrispy_]

while true, most people over estimate the time frame it takes for this to occur especially with quality caps

Can't remember what site it was, but they did a re-review of a couple of PSUs that they'd reviewed a decade ago and used in their studios for ten continuous years. One was an OCZ powerstream, the other was a SuperFlower IIRC.

Both comfortably exceeded their rated capacity in Watts when brand new, passing the 110% and 120% loads, and both passed their 100% load test after 10 years.

I'm fuzzy on the details but they either failed the 120% or both the 120% and 110% loads after a decade, likely due to capacitor ageing - but based on this sample size of 2 review units, it's fair to say that the Wattage rating on a (reputable-brand) PSU is what it's expected to still achieve at the end of its warranty period, and it will likely go on working much much longer as long as you don't demand 100% of it beyond the warranty period.

Given that it's good practice to spec a PSU at twice the typical load of the system, it's fair to say that most PSUs will sail past their warranty period by several years and failures aren't likely to be age-related unless they were pushed to 100% or beyond in their old age.

Edit:
I can't find the article. I've got a feeling it was the now-defunct [H]ardOCP site, or possibly TechReport, if anyone wants to go hunting on waybackmachine...

 

[dirtyferret]

Can't remember what site it was, possibly kitguru or Tweaktown, but they did a re-review of a couple of PSUs that they'd reviewed a decade ago and used in their studios for ten continuous years. One was an OCZ powerstream, the other was a SuperFlower IIRC.

Both comfortably exceeded their rated capacity in Watts when brand new, passing the 110% and 120% loads, and both passed their 100% load test after 10 years.

I'm fuzzy on the details but they either failed the 120% or both the 120% and 110% loads after a decade, likely due to capacitor ageing - but based on this sample size of 2 review units, it's fair to say that the Wattage rating on a (reputable-brand) PSU is what it's expected to still achieve at the end of its warranty period, and it will likely go on working much much longer as long as you don't demand 100% of it beyond the warranty period.

Given that it's good practice to spec a PSU at twice the typical load of the system, it's fair to say that most PSUs will sail past their warranty period by several years and failures aren't likely to be age-related unless they were pushed to 100% or beyond in their old age.

typically the fan will go first before the caps are no longer performing to spec which is why the fan has such a great impact on warranty. You now see 10yr warranties on units with semi-active cooling when a unit with similar parts but fully active cooling will only get 7 years.

 

[AnotherReader]

Can't remember what site it was, but they did a re-review of a couple of PSUs that they'd reviewed a decade ago and used in their studios for ten continuous years. One was an OCZ powerstream, the other was a SuperFlower IIRC.

Both comfortably exceeded their rated capacity in Watts when brand new, passing the 110% and 120% loads, and both passed their 100% load test after 10 years.

I'm fuzzy on the details but they either failed the 120% or both the 120% and 110% loads after a decade, likely due to capacitor ageing - but based on this sample size of 2 review units, it's fair to say that the Wattage rating on a (reputable-brand) PSU is what it's expected to still achieve at the end of its warranty period, and it will likely go on working much much longer as long as you don't demand 100% of it beyond the warranty period.

Given that it's good practice to spec a PSU at twice the typical load of the system, it's fair to say that most PSUs will sail past their warranty period by several years and failures aren't likely to be age-related unless they were pushed to 100% or beyond in their old age.

Edit:
I can't find the article. I've got a feeling it was the now-defunct [H]ardOCP site, or possibly TechReport, if anyone wants to go hunting on waybackmachine...

I recall HardOCP testing old PSUs as well, but if I recall correctly, some of them didn't perform up to spec any longer.

 

[Chrispy_]

I recall HardOCP testing old PSUs as well, but if I recall correctly, some of them didn't perform up to spec any longer.

I think they tested a good aftermarket PSU and a bad one that came free/included with a case.

It's such a shame when sites die - their contributions to the internet a lost forever - the pages are often running code that waybackmachine doesn't snapshot properly, and none of it is indexed by search engines the same way...

 

[dirtyferret]

I recall HardOCP testing old PSUs as well, but if I recall correctly, some of them didn't perform up to spec any longer.

they had the toughest testing around for PSU (as well as other components). Some would say too hard but they also tested for a specific niche of PC builders

 

[AnotherReader]

I think they tested a good aftermarket PSU and a bad one that came free/included with a case.

It's such a shame when sites die - their contributions to the internet a lost forever - the pages are often running code that waybackmachine doesn't snapshot properly, and none of it is indexed by search engines the same way...

I concur. With HardOCP, Kyle removed all of the articles so we have to rely on Waybackmachine. TechReport was bought out, but effectively, it died; their articles still exist, but the graphs are missing.

 

[Assimilator]

Can't remember what site it was, but they did a re-review of a couple of PSUs that they'd reviewed a decade ago and used in their studios for ten continuous years. One was an OCZ powerstream, the other was a SuperFlower IIRC.

Both comfortably exceeded their rated capacity in Watts when brand new, passing the 110% and 120% loads, and both passed their 100% load test after 10 years.

I'm fuzzy on the details but they either failed the 120% or both the 120% and 110% loads after a decade, likely due to capacitor ageing - but based on this sample size of 2 review units, it's fair to say that the Wattage rating on a (reputable-brand) PSU is what it's expected to still achieve at the end of its warranty period, and it will likely go on working much much longer as long as you don't demand 100% of it beyond the warranty period.

Given that it's good practice to spec a PSU at twice the typical load of the system, it's fair to say that most PSUs will sail past their warranty period by several years and failures aren't likely to be age-related unless they were pushed to 100% or beyond in their old age.

Edit:
I can't find the article. I've got a feeling it was the now-defunct [H]ardOCP site, or possibly TechReport, if anyone wants to go hunting on waybackmachine...

It was indeed [H], I believe one of the PSUs was a Silverstone. Trying to find that article on the Wayback Machine is proving impossible though...

 

[AnotherReader]

It was indeed [H], I believe one of the PSUs was a Silverstone. Trying to find that article on the Wayback Machine is proving impossible though...

The forum threads for the reviews are still online though they aren't as helpful as the original article. There's one for a Cooler Master 1000W PSU, another one for a SilverStone 1000 W, and one for the Seasonic X-750. That Seasonic revisit was also their last review. For the last one, there's this quote from a LinusTech forum post:

Yes, the Seasonic X-750 did see measurable performance degradation after ~10 years of use. However, unlike those previous examples this unit was still within specifications.

 

[#22]

Does anybody still do such reviews after years of usage?

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

I miss [H] and JG so much