PSU life cycle

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Black-Tom

Limp Gawd
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Mar 26, 2006
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Is there a good rule of thumb for when to replace a power supply? Or do most people just run theirs until it dies? I replaced my first PSU because it failed to run after 2 years, but I've had my second one in this system for about six years now I think. This one appears to be running just fine but I was under the impression that when your PSU goes it can do some not so nice stuff to your hardware.
 
Black-Tom said:
Is there a good rule of thumb for when to replace a power supply? Or do most people just run theirs until it dies? I replaced my first PSU because it failed to run after 2 years, but I've had my second one in this system for about six years now I think. This one appears to be running just fine but I was under the impression that when your PSU goes it can do some not so nice stuff to your hardware.
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AFAIK, there's really no good rule of thumb as to when to replace a PSU as there are far too many variables involved to narrow everything down into a concise rule. With that said, for myself, if the PSU is of low quality, I try to replace it as soon as possible. If it's a good to high-quality PSU, I keep using it until I feel that it's too old.

Yes when a PSU dies, it can kill your PC. However that chance of killing your PC when it dies is lower with higher quality PSUs than with lower quality PSUs.
 
I am sure others will have differing opinions but here is mine;

Yes, PSU failure can destroy other components, at the age of yours I would be inclined to pull the cover and inspect for any bulging/leaking caps, also a good opportunity to clean the dust out really well.

Standard mains voltage safety rap, unplug the supply and let it sit several minutes before pulling the cover.
 
I checked again and I guess it's not as old as I thought, bought it early 2009. Antec Earthwatts 500.

Yeah I figured that most people just ended up cycling through hardware often enough to not have to worry about actively replacing their psu due to age.
 
Higher quality PSU have lot of protections to keep the system safe when are dying or when suddenly die.. it will just turn off and will not work again. oldie and super low quality PSU can damage your PC, also motherboard have a lot of work to do in that situation, great quality motherboards have lot of surge protection to keep the system safe if the PSU fail. so at the end its a combination of both PSU+MOBO
 
I was always told to buy the quality (expensive) PSUs because they'll last for multiple builds.
 
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