How often do you guys replace/upgrade your PSU?

[fffblackmage]

How often do you replace/upgrade your PSU and why?

I'm wondering if most people just stick with their old PSU until they die. Or maybe it gets replaced after every x number of years.

 

[24601]

Until it dies/something is wrong with it/its limiting some of my components

Won't upgrade before that, since if it's decent, it won't die in a blaze of glory .

Will always replace whenever I do a new build, but that's like 2-4 years, so not often.

 

[mnewsham]

I will use a PSU for 5-7 years, if I'm doing a new build and it's 5+ years old I replace it usually even if it's not really failing yet, I haven't had one fail on me yet so I must be doing something right.

 

[lehtv]

I aim to use a PSU until the warranty is over and then some. Although, if the rest of the build has not been upgraded during that time, I just keep using it for as long as possible since the rest of the build is has become low value by that point, so there's no real incentive to upgrade just the PSU.

I did replace a used OCZ unit with a Seasonic X650 at one point though, that was just because the OCZ was really loud.

 

[Lonyo]

Until I make a system upgrade that warrants a change in PSU, such as going to a system where I want more potential power, or the PSU is older and doesn't support some features (e.g. last upgrade was from a 400w unit to 650w where I wanted more headroom in case I decided to go dual GPU, change before that was from 525w to 400w, where it didn't have PCIe connectors on the 525w).

Next upgrade might be when I go to whatever is post-Haswell and get something which supports new power states if my current PSU does not, and maybe lower wattage as well since 650w is probably going to be overkill.

 

[Sheep221]

My last PSU I had for 4.5 years, well I still have it but I moved it to my testing rig when I was bought new main computer.
Its performance is 550W(upgrade from 420W) but it's still nowhere near its peak as I don't play games at all, so my rig, including 2 screens and speakers consume 200W at best. That's probably 100W load on the PSU which is not much.
The brand is LC Power, which is not as awesome as corsair or FSP or seasonic, but previous unit from them proved 100% reliability to me and I decided to get another one from them as well, it has been another year and 3 months, no problems so far.
And I don't plan to change PSU nor computer for a long time, the development very slowed and I find that everyone with i5 quad core CPU or more+equivalent graphics card still has good overkill over what games and demanding programs require.

 

[bryanl]

Capacitors and fans are the power supply components that tend to fail most often. Low quality capacitors, like Teapo and Capxon, should last 3 years, high quality brands at least 5 but will usually make it to 10.

 

[you2]

I've never actually noticed a PSU fail; though I'm suspect one of the antec PSU I had was pretty poor (I lack the tools to actually test it - it was purchased during the capicitor scandal and the specific model was famous for going bad; but I only noticed one capacitor in it that was slightly off; certainly no where close to what I saw in the photos).
-
And I currently have a PSU with a loud fan I want to replace. The longest I've run a PSU was 12 years in my first unix pc (95-2007). Normally when I build a new PC I use a new PSU because they keep changing the power requirements/plugs. My upgrade cycle has gotten a bit out of hand recently
(I run 2 computers - one for games and one for unix (web/mail). The last game computer only lasted 3 years (the currently one is 2 years old and I suspect it might last 3 or 4 more years with a GPU upgrade; I haven't seen anything on intel roadmap with that will justify a significantly increase in CPU) - so that PSU might be put throught he paces for 7-10 years (it is a seasonic X 600).
-
Anyways it seems that in reality (cept for the one that went 12 years) that I end up replacing them every 3-5 years but I think the technoclogy might be settling down for a while so my current cycle might have to last 10+ years - but who knows maybe after haswell intel (or amd) will come out with a new speed monster that will change the envelope in gaming.

 

[mnewsham]

but who knows maybe after haswell intel (or amd) will come out with a new speed monster that will change the envelope in gaming.

DDR4 RAM is being talked about for Haswell-E possibly, not sure if that's confirmed at all though. If so, that could be something to look forward to as a reason to upgrade in 2014-2015

 

[nickbits]

Only if it dies. I think I've had one die in the last 15 years.

 

[Lagittaja]

Well until it dies of course.
I am replacing both of my rigs power supplies on next friday though.
In my HTPC I have a Seasonic S12II-330w right now. Replacing it because of the fan noise it makes and it isn't in the top of the efficiency range either. Getting the fanless 400w from Seasonic, V2 of course.
In my own rig I have a XFX 550w right now, I want a quieter PSU and wouldn't mind having better efficiency as well. Getting the semi passive 660w from Seasonic, V2 of course.

Do I REALLY need to replace these? Hell no. That S12II has been in my HTPC since 2010 december and it's been quite rock solid. But it's noisy. I could replace it's fan with a quieter one but I prefer not messing around inside a PSU.
I've had that XFX for couple of years now. Been really nice and solid. At one point when I had 2500K@4.8Ghz/1.38v and GTX470@940core with max volts without unlocking voltages it was fine with that setup, didn't fail even with IBT+Furmark (which I tried just for the laughs)
I must have been quite near the edge of the PSU with that system. Since the 470 alone pulls 220-240w at stock clocks and volts, and I had it running flat out max clocks and volts. And a 2500K probably pulled something like 120-160 on it's own, didn't have a power meter back then so I really have no idea how much that rig pulled power.
But I wouldn't be surprised if it was pulling 500w or more.

And I happened to live in a school dormitory at that time and I was running distributed computing stuff on both CPU+GPU. Free electricity LOL

 

[Xtrem]

Has anyone had a PSU die and take other components down as well?

 

[rolli59]

I only run quality PSU's after I got into it. Only one (Enermax) has died in a rig, did so without damage to everything else. Had a couple of older none quality ones that I had replaced for quality units start failing when building a spare rig out of spares. Both had been sitting on a shelf for over a year and showed signs of failing capacitors, that is had to press the power button several times to get them running.

 

[Lagittaja]

I have had one PSU that died and it took some components with it.
It was a long time ago, I was something like 7 or 8 yrs old and my dad was building some kind of computer for me. I'm 21 now.
All I remember is building the computer and hooking everything up, turned it on and boom, a loud bang and a flash of light and it was dead.
No freaking clue of what the parts were nor the brand of the PSU.

 

[Torn Mind]

Has anyone had a PSU die and take other components down as well?

Nope, but I did pull out the Okia 350W piece of rubbish I had out of my old P4 box before it could do damage. It worked for a long time, but it no bridge rectifier and its power delivery to an additional hard drive was flaky. Plus, my speakers sometimes emitted a "pulse" sound that had to be from the PSU's "dirty electricity", as the Neo Eco 520C that replaced it got rid of those sounds.

 

[cbk]

Unless the PSU is crap or just not preforming well, I will keep on using a PSU until it dies.

 

[ElFenix]

i just replaced my corsair HX520 due to itchy trigger finger as much as anything else. previously my power supplies had been changed more due to needing a bigger one or different connectors than age. don't even remember what i had before the HX but i know it wouldn't run my 4870. maybe an antec 430?

 

[A5]

Bought a BFG 550W when I built my last system in 2009, going to re-use it for my upcoming Haswell build. I don't anticipate any issues.

 

[Zorander]

Until it dies or when I need more power.

 

[GotNoRice]

I'm running an Antec Truepower Quattro 1000w from ~2008 or so. I originally got it because I needed something to power my 2x 4870x2s in quad Crossfire. My thoughts are that if it could power that, then it should be able to power just about anything.

I'm using Stereo amplifiers from the 1970's that are still going strong so the idea of replacing a PSU that is <10 years old due to age seems pretty silly.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I replace my PSUs every 3-4 years or so. Whether or not they've failed.

 

[SPBHM]

the last time I replaced was in January of 2008 when I bought a Radeon 3850 and my old PSU couldn't handle the new card, I have no plans on upgrading my PSU right now... only if it dies... and I doubt I'm going to buy any parts that demand more power than it can provide.

 

[LagunaX]

Those going to Haswell might need a new one that can handle the less than 1 watt C6 C7 Haswell idle/sleep states.

 

[24601]

Those going to Haswell might need a new one that can handle the less than 1 watt C6 C7 Haswell idle/sleep states.

Buying a decent power supply for 40+ USD is most definitely not worth the power savings from having those sleep states.

You can turn them off in the motherboard settings.

 

[LagunaX]

Right, but if you were going to upgrade anyways...