Keep old PS or by new?

[Steve Rimar]

My power supply is 5 years old but works just fine right now. Should I use it on a new build or by new? My current PS is a Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W.

 

[Z15CAM]

Andyson or XFX BEFX PSU's are probably the best buy for quality PSU's on the market today.

Check out Jonny Guru Site for reviews.

 

[Blain]

My power supply is 5 years old but works just fine right now. Should I use it on a new build or by new? My current PS is a Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W.

buy new

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Depends on what your new build is. If it's a budget build with modest powerconsumption keep it. If not, replace.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Considering that as components age they lose capacity I would seriously consider buying a new ps. If I were buying today I'd look hard at the corsair line as they're very affordable with good build quality. When I replace my enermax I'm going back to corsair.

 

[lehtv]

Agree with Flapdrol1337. Only replace it if your PC has a high end graphics card and/or an overclocked CPU, or other such power hungry hardware. The unit uses Teapo capacitors which don't have the best lifetime, but even they should have plenty of longevity at low loads.

 

[lehtv]

If I were buying today I'd look hard at the corsair line as they're very affordable with good build quality. When I replace my enermax I'm going back to corsair.

Only HX(i) and AX(i) series (along with the old TX and VX units) have high end build quality. The rest from CX to CS to RM series use second tier caps just like the Cooler Master M600. Not that they're bad, but if given the choice, I'd much rather buy a unit with only Japanese caps, probably something like XFX TS / XTR series or Rosewill Capstone.

 

[silicon]

My power supply is 5 years old but works just fine right now. Should I use it on a new build or by new? My current PS is a Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W.

Start with a new quality PSU, Antec, Seasonic or Rosewill to name a few.

 

[HeXen]

I never re-use any PC part. Once a headache starts, it often turns into a migraine.

 

[lehtv]

That PSU was not a good quality unit when it was new.

That's just false.

 

[Steve Rimar]

I paid $69.99 from Newegg. At the time it was rated pretty good.

Memory was more expensive back then 4gb of G.Skill DDR3 was $91.00.

 

[rchunter]

I believe in buying good quality and running them till they die. I have (4) Corsair HX620 watt PSU's probably at least 9 years old. I have back up power supplies sitting here just in case any start dying though. I could get another 5 years out of these things. If you were to start getting a bunch of unexplained blue screens I would probably consider changing it out, otherwise i'd keep it and run with it.

 

[Z15CAM]

Memory was more expensive back then 4gb of G.Skill DDR3 was $91.00.

How about 16GB of Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3 for $92 CDN - Wish I had bought a BOX of them at the time - Easily runs at 1866Mhz 9-9-9-24 1T 1.34mV.

Running an ASUS P8 Z68Pro-V Gen 3 / i7 2700K @ 4.8 Ghz 24/7 under water (3 Pumps) for 2 years without a hiccup. CF 290X and a XFX 1050W BEFX where either a 750W or 850W XFX BEFX would do.

Still recommend either an XFX BEFX or newer Andyson PSU for the money over Seasonic or Corsair.

 

[Valantar]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have basically the same question (yes, I know I've discussed buying a new PSU here before, but my build budget is changing).

So: currently, I'm running a Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W. It's way overpowered for my current (and planned) components, but it's what I've got. From reading what few reviews I've been able to find (like this, and this discussion on the JonnyGuru forums), it's of quite good quality (although not awesome). It's nearing six years old, but has seen relatively light use. At first, it ran a C2Q + 4-5 3.5" HDDs (3-4 in RAID 5) + 2x HD 4850. In other words not exactly low power, but nowhere near 850W even at power virus loads. After about two years, I swapped out the GPUs to a single HD 6950, and around the same time my RAID went out the window in exchange for an SSD - which is my current setup: C2Q, 1x3.5" HDD, SSD, HD 6950. In between this the computer was also out of use for about a year. It's been used off and on for gaming, but has rarely seen sustained high loads over extended periods of time.

For now, I'm not really worried about the PSU breaking down. (Should I be, though?) My main concern is whether it's Haswell capable - I understand a bit of the inner workings of PSUs, but nowhere near enough to be able to guess this. Of course, it's far too old to have been tested for this. Also, this PSU has a really odd design, with six(!) 12V rails. Does this matter?

 

[riversend]

OP, I also agree with Flapdrol1337. I have used PSUs for up to 7 years during upgrades, but for new builds or significant upgrades I usually want a new PSU. Too important to hope for the best.

Valantar, what about "Hawell capable" are you concerned with? Your PSU will run the processor fine, just not the lowest power states. I don't have a Haswell processor, but it is my understanding that the low power states particular to Haswell are controllable in the mobo BIOS.

 

[Valantar]

Valantar, what about "Hawell capable" are you concerned with? Your PSU will run the processor fine, just not the lowest power states. I don't have a Haswell processor, but it is my understanding that the low power states particular to Haswell are controllable in the mobo BIOS.

I'm referring to its ability to maintain steady voltages at heavy "cross loading," i.e. near zero load on +12V while maxing out +5V and +3.3V. As in this.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I'd probably keep running it so long as you haven't been abusing it regularly during it's life. I've had much lesser PSUs last for longer, albeit, under light loads as well.

 

[riversend]

Valantar, I think the condition is caused by a low power state on the 12v rail for certain PSUs. Here was an article from Corsair explaining the issue. So, if you have that particular power state disabled, you should be fine with what you have. If you want to use the new power state for Haswell, then get a new PSU.

Hope that helps.

 

[Valantar]

Valantar, I think the condition is caused by a low power state on the 12v rail for certain PSUs. Here was an article from Corsair explaining the issue. So, if you have that particular power state disabled, you should be fine with what you have. If you want to use the new power state for Haswell, then get a new PSU.

Hope that helps.

Ah, that brings me a bit closer to understanding this. Seems logical. From reading the Corsair article, it's doubtful that my PSU would handle this well, as it doesn't use DC-DC transformers for the +5V and +3.3V lines (at least that's the rationale they're putting forward). Although this would still be dependent of the PSUs quality and construction, no? As in - it might be "Haswell capable" despite this design, but chances are that it isn't. I don't really have any desire to test this with an actual build, and lacking any tools to simulate it, I guess I'll just disable the C7 state. Thanks!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

In my computer-building experience, it took me a decade to realize that you get what you pay for in PSUs: A $35 budget power-supply might seem "adequate" for a stock-clocked system, but one is taking a gamble that it will last more than a few years without developing troubles. It is the one, single component that deserves special attention to quality and performance before all else.

I began using Seasonic PSUs around 2007. I might also have chosen other brands: PCP&C, Top-Power, or others. It turns out, for instance, that Seasonic was making PSUs fot PCP&C, XFX and others, who rebadged/rebranded them.

Last year it became apparent to me that you can only expect to get so many years out of any good PSU. I had troubles for a Seasonic as old as the system itself: a computer that was at least six years old, with the PSU one year out of warranty. It had been unnecessarily stressed, for being allowed to go into sleep-states for days without hibernation. I only discovered this when I tried to rebuild the system with the old PSU in place. It was in the last stage of slow death.

So I would say, under such circumstances, it is probably a good idea to simply start fresh. Building a new system for my brother this last few weeks, I didn't hesitate to throw away the 7-year-old Seasonic which did not so far seem to be causing trouble to the other 7-year-old parts. I simply removed it to the electronics-waste-recycling box after cutting off some of the SATA and Molex cables for possible (but unlikely) use in some "modding" project. And I replaced it with a brand-new Rosewill Fortress.

If I hadn't had the Rosewill handy, I would have bought another Seasonic. But the Rosewill had good reviews; I'd picked it up last fall together with another Gold-rated Seasonic. They were both high-efficiency Gold or Platinum-rated PSUs. Both had warranty periods of 5 to 7 years.

I have one more computer to rebuild this year, and the remaining Seasonic -- new in its carton -- is ready and waiting.