Do I need a new power supply?

J

JustAnotherUsername

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Hey guys! I currently have an EVGA SuperNova G2 750w from like 2014-2015 and I haven't had any issues with it. However I've reused it from two other builds. 😅 At first it came in a custom build I ordered from Digital Storm (I was a noob, don't judge) that had a 4790K and a GTX 980.

Then toward the end of 2019 I decided to build my own. I got a Ryzen 5 3600 and a GTX 1070 that I got a good deal on at the time, I then upgraded to a 3070 in 2020. Fast forward to 2024 I got a motherboard combo with a 5600X and also a 4070 with 32GB of RAM, which is my current system now. So that same PSU has been reused for all three builds, however it seems to be working just fine still.

I've had it on eco-mode for its entire lifespan. I don't hear it making any odd noises, weird smells or causing any system instability issues, random shutdowns or the like. I also don't use my PC 24/7 like it's going out of style. I really only power it on at night for about 4-5 hours at a time then put it in sleep. I'm only asking because it just dawned on me that old faithful is kinda getting up there in age, but if it's still working, hasn't caused any issue and I use my PC somewhat frugally...is there anything to worry about? Please let me know guys! 🙂
 
pendragon1 said:
its probably fine but you could always pop the top and take a look at the internals for any signs of issues, like bulgy caps or discoloured pcb.
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Yeah I mean, there's crappy Dells with 12 year old cheapie power supplies that are still kicking! So I dunno...😅
On other forums like Toms Hardware people are saying "OMG GET A NEW PSU BEFORE THAT ONE EXPLODES INTO A FIERY INFERNO!!!" 😂
And I'm just like...really though?? Like it's not some no name piece of crap from Wish.com. This is supposed to be a well built quality PSU with Japanese capacitors and all that.
 
Blow it out real good with compressed air (make sure to jam the fans so they don't spin) and send it!
 
Darunion said:
Blow it out real good with compressed air (make sure to jam the fans so they don't spin) and send it!
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Send it? 😆
And yeah I already did! In fact I keep it pretty clean. I dust out my PC every 6 months or so, and I did just that a few days ago while doing some Spring cleaning haha. Funnily enough the cheap MX330 Cougar case I got does a pretty decent job at keeping all the dust out. It remains relatively clean most of the time. Only a light layer of dust makes its way in.
 
This thread reminded me of an incident several years ago at PDX lan. So day two of PDX lan a friend of mine asks me to look at his buddies pc because it just shutdown and now only powers on for a couple seconds before shutting down again. I go over to where his setup is and tell him go ahead and power it up and sure enough it powers off before posting with an audible click. I'm like that sounds like ocp. One look inside the case and I'm like oh my that's the dirtiest pc I've ever seen it's gotta be shorting out in there somewhere across all that dust. I'm thinking maybe I can get it to work for the rest of the lan cuz a can of dust out just ain't gonna cut it for that mess. I tell him try it again and as soon as the thing powers up I slap the top of the case above the power supply firmly and a 3 inch diameter 4 foot long stream of dust comes jetting out of the psu fan outlet and it hits the poor guy across the table right in the face. Dude angrily looks at me like I knew that was gonna happen. I shrug and apologize to dude across the table after a quick chuckle and go back to enjoying the rest of the lan party and ole dusty's system finishes the lan without issue.
 
has anyone every had a psu fail and damage components? I've experienced a couple of PSU failures but they made the machine either not boot or crash when under a gaming load (stress tests wouldn't crash the PC for some reason so it was hard to figure out what was wrong).
My Amiga 3000T that I sold in 2017 still had it's original PSU from 1990 in it and worked perfectly
 
Zepher said:
has anyone every had a psu fail and damage components? I've experienced a couple of PSU failures but they made the machine either not boot or crash when under a gaming load (stress tests wouldn't crash the PC for some reason so it was hard to figure out what was wrong).
My Amiga 3000T that I sold in 2017 still had it's original PSU from 1990 in it and worked perfectly
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Yep. The PSU I put into my dad's system in 2006 let out the magic smoke and took his motherboard, CPU, and/or RAM with it (I upgraded his entire platform from an A64x2 to an i7 920 instead of bothering with diagnosis and repair). That was when I learned that I needed to read more in-depth reviews like JonnyGuru's and [H]'s that also examined the insides of PSUs.
 
learners permit said:
This thread reminded me of an incident several years ago at PDX lan. So day two of PDX lan a friend of mine asks me to look at his buddies pc because it just shutdown and now only powers on for a couple seconds before shutting down again. I go over to where his setup is and tell him go ahead and power it up and sure enough it powers off before posting with an audible click. I'm like that sounds like ocp. One look inside the case and I'm like oh my that's the dirtiest pc I've ever seen it's gotta be shorting out in there somewhere across all that dust. I'm thinking maybe I can get it to work for the rest of the lan cuz a can of dust out just ain't gonna cut it for that mess. I tell him try it again and as soon as the thing powers up I slap the top of the case above the power supply firmly and a 3 inch diameter 4 foot long stream of dust comes jetting out of the psu fan outlet and it hits the poor guy across the table right in the face. Dude angrily looks at me like I knew that was gonna happen. I shrug and apologize to dude across the table after a quick chuckle and go back to enjoying the rest of the lan party and ole dusty's system finishes the lan without issue.
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Zepher said:
has anyone every had a psu fail and damage components? I've experienced a couple of PSU failures but they made the machine either not boot or crash when under a gaming load (stress tests wouldn't crash the PC for some reason so it was hard to figure out what was wrong).
My Amiga 3000T that I sold in 2017 still had it's original PSU from 1990 in it and worked perfectly
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See, that's what I was thinking. I had people telling me on Toms Hardware that since the PSU's 10 year warranty is up I better replace it before it explodes or something 😂
And I'm like...if it was some Antec P.O.S that would be a fair point but this is one of the top of the line PSUs, is it not?? 😅 Like I figured it was fine just due to how sparingly I use my gaming PC and I don't game for like 20hrs at a time but I still wanted a second opinion, y'know? Had no idea that second opinion was gonna be THAT damn dramatic...🙄😆
 
Grebuloner said:
Yep. The PSU I put into my dad's system in 2006 let out the magic smoke and took his motherboard, CPU, and/or RAM with it (I upgraded his entire platform from an A64x2 to an i7 920 instead of bothering with diagnosis and repair). That was when I learned that I needed to read more in-depth reviews like JonnyGuru's and [H]'s that also examined the insides of PSUs.
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Damn...what kind of PSU was it? Also, how long was it in service before it went KAPLOOIE! 😆?
 
JustAnotherUsername said:
Damn...what kind of PSU was it? Also, how long was it in service before it went KAPLOOIE! 😆?
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Aerocool Zerodba 500W, but I don't know the OEM. It received pretty good reviews at the time. Made it just over 2 years, which was also just longer than the warranty... Not too heavy of a loaded system, either. Despite my dad insisting on a good GPU (8800GTS), he never gamed.

The legendary HX620W became the replacement PSU. No problems at all, there! Well, not for many years at least. It did eventually age-out just from normal wear-and-tear and the voltages weren't the most stable anymore. The one I used in my own C2Q eventually did the same thing.
 
Grebuloner said:
Aerocool Zerodba 500W, but I don't know the OEM. It received pretty good reviews at the time. Made it just over 2 years, which was also just longer than the warranty... Not too heavy of a loaded system, either. Despite my dad insisting on a good GPU (8800GTS), he never gamed.

The legendary HX620W became the replacement PSU. No problems at all, there! Well, not for many years at least. It did eventually age-out just from normal wear-and-tear and the voltages weren't the most stable anymore. The one I used in my own C2Q eventually did the same thing.
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Interesting...so in your personal opinion, do you think I need to replace my EVGA Supernova G2 even if it still seems to work just fine? 😅
 
JustAnotherUsername said:
Interesting...so in your personal opinion, do you think I need to replace my EVGA Supernova G2 even if it still seems to work just fine? 😅
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I think you'll be fine with your setup. I have an 850W G2 from 2012 that at one point handled an OC'd HEDT CPU and EVGA's super-duper 3080 card. The 10 yr warranty and quality OEM is no slouch and far improved from what used to be "top of the line". Do keep in mind that as any PSU ages, it's capacity will slowly decrease and other regulating components will slowly lose capability. Make sure the fan keeps running and occasionally check the voltages to make sure they are remaining in spec.
 
Grebuloner said:
I think you'll be fine with your setup. I have an 850W G2 from 2012 that at one point handled an OC'd HEDT CPU and EVGA's super-duper 3080 card. The 10 yr warranty and quality OEM is no slouch and far improved from what used to be "top of the line". Do keep in mind that as any PSU ages, it's capacity will slowly decrease and other regulating components will slowly lose capability. Make sure the fan keeps running and occasionally check the voltages to make sure they are remaining in spec.
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Thanks man!
And can you check the specs using software like HWInfo or is that inaccurate?
As for the fan, like I said in my OP, I've kept the unit on eco-mode for pretty much its entire lifespan so the fan should only kick on when the unit gets too warm from my understanding. That being said I'm sure it still works. I've seen 20 year old fans caked with layers of dust that still kick on with no issue 😅😆
 
Zepher said:
has anyone every had a psu fail and damage components? I've experienced a couple of PSU failures but they made the machine either not boot or crash when under a gaming load (stress tests wouldn't crash the PC for some reason so it was hard to figure out what was wrong).
My Amiga 3000T that I sold in 2017 still had it's original PSU from 1990 in it and worked perfectly
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Of course. My badass Seasonic x1050 that powered more systems than I can remember, died quietly 6 or 7 months ago. Smoking my i7 8086k and Asrock z390 Phantom gaming 9. No warning at all. Still have no idea what caused it. It was beyond the warranty period of course. Tore it apart and found nothing. No bad caps, no burn marks or fried wires, nothing. It was clean as a whistle internally. It lived a relatively easy life connected to an overkill 1500va APC UPS to boot.

Obviously, this experience has changed my opinion of how long I will run a PSU. I used to be of the mindset that if the rails tested A OK underload with a my multi it was gtg for another year. Now? Once it goes beyond it's warranty period it's relegated to pump bumper and nothing more.
 
hititnquitit said:
Of course. My badass Seasonic x1050 that powered more systems than I can remember, died quietly 6 or 7 months ago. Smoking my i7 8086k and Asrock z390 Phantom gaming 9. No warning at all. Still have no idea what caused it. It was beyond the warranty period of course. Tore it apart and found nothing. No bad caps, no burn marks or fried wires, nothing. It was clean as a whistle internally. It lived a relatively easy life connected to an overkill 1500va APC UPS to boot.

Obviously, this experience has changed my opinion of how long I will run a PSU. I used to be of the mindset that if the rails tested A OK underload with a my multi it was gtg for another year. Now? Once it goes beyond it's warranty period it's relegated to pump bumper and nothing more.
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Yes but how long was your system in use day by day? How many hours a day was it running and how many hours of said days was it running at full power? Call me crazy but I think all of those things go into factor because like the one guy said, he had an Amiga from 1990 with its original PSU that still booted up just fine. Your case sounds like a freak accident imho.
 
JustAnotherUsername said:
Yes but how long was your system in use day by day? How many hours a day was it running and how many hours of said days was it running at full power? Call me crazy but I think all of those things go into factor because like the one guy said, he had an Amiga from 1990 with its original PSU that still booted up just fine. Your case sounds like a freak accident imho.
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It's impossible to say how many hours per day it saw definitively...it's a 12yo unit after all (it never saw anything close to 1000w, 3-400 at most). The type of usage a unit is put under is always a factor in the longevity of any PSU imo. Like I said, it lived an easy life. Being that it spent the last 5+ years as a test/secondary rig that didn't see much usage. Its first five years didn't stress it much as I generally over provision by 3-400 watts at a minimum.

The unit itself was as good as it gets for it's time. I would absolutely buy it again under the same circumstances. Hell, I got 12 years out of it! It took everything I threw at it and never flinched...until it didn't :( It ran wced sli 8800gtx, 580gtx, 780gtx and 980ti rigs flawlessly.

Freak accident? Could be. Altho, seeing as how intricately quality manufacturers have become with their components. There's probably a pretty good reason they gave it a 10yr vs a 12yr warranty (mine died just prior to 12years after checking my NE account!). I'll err on the side of caution from here on out. Fortunately, I've got an EVGA 1300g2 (6yo) and a 2nd unopened Seasonic focus px-850 to fall back on. So no need to push things.

By no means am I trying to influence your choice. If you don't have a backup unit I get it, roll with whatcha got until you can't. Personally, I can't sleep at night without a high quality, drop in replacement for my main rig. I can no longer tolerate unnecessary downtime in my old age.

I felt the same way as many people do for a very long time. Why bother buying a new PSU if the current unit still works?! Unfortunately, my mind was changed for me like it or not haha.
 
hititnquitit said:
It's impossible to say how many hours per day it saw definitively...it's a 12yo unit after all (it never saw anything close to 1000w, 3-400 at most). The type of usage a unit is put under is always a factor in the longevity of any PSU imo. Like I said, it lived an easy life. Being that it spent the last 5+ years as a test/secondary rig that didn't see much usage. Its first five years didn't stress it much as I generally over provision by 3-400 watts at a minimum.

The unit itself was as good as it gets for it's time. I would absolutely buy it again under the same circumstances. Hell, I got 12 years out of it! It took everything I threw at it and never flinched...until it didn't :( It ran wced sli 8800gtx, 580gtx, 780gtx and 980ti rigs flawlessly.

Freak accident? Could be. Altho, seeing as how intricately quality manufacturers have become with their components. There's probably a pretty good reason they gave it a 10yr vs a 12yr warranty (mine died just prior to 12years after checking my NE account!). I'll err on the side of caution from here on out. Fortunately, I've got an EVGA 1300g2 (6yo) and a 2nd unopened Seasonic focus px-850 to fall back on. So no need to push things.

By no means am I trying to influence your choice. If you don't have a backup unit I get it, roll with whatcha got until you can't. Personally, I can't sleep at night without a high quality, drop in replacement for my main rig. I can no longer tolerate unnecessary downtime in my old age.

I felt the same way as many people do for a very long time. Why bother buying a new PSU if the current unit still works?! Unfortunately, my mind was changed for me like it or not haha.
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Hmm...see, despite more people telling me "it's fine." - "I've had a crappy PSU for 15 years and hasn't skipped a beat!" etc - it's stories like yours that make me hella anxious! 😅

Like sure, I could get a new PSU...but then I'd have to spend pretty much a whole day tearing down my entire system! I was planning on getting a new case someday, but not anywhere in the near future. Maybe a few years from now or so, and just get a new PSU then since I'd have to take the system apart anyway...but now I'm worried my PSU is gonna commit suicide and a possible double-homicide taking a few other components along with it! 😬

However at the same time these SuperNova PSU's are top quality and highly rated so, is there even really a chance of that happening? I can't find any instances where that has happened with one of these units. Just posts from people complaining theirs died or was DOA or had a faulty unit etc. If it fails, that's one thing. Like Ivan Drago said in Rocky - "If he dies, he dies" 😆 But I'd be mad pissed if it fried my mobo, CPU or graphics card! 😫

What is your opinion on this?
 
JustAnotherUsername said:
Hmm...see, despite more people telling me "it's fine." - "I've had a crappy PSU for 15 years and hasn't skipped a beat!" etc - it's stories like yours that make me hella anxious! 😅

Like sure, I could get a new PSU...but then I'd have to spend pretty much a whole day tearing down my entire system! I was planning on getting a new case someday, but not anywhere in the near future. Maybe a few years from now or so, and just get a new PSU then since I'd have to take the system apart anyway...but now I'm worried my PSU is gonna commit suicide and a possible double-homicide taking a few other components along with it! 😬

However at the same time these SuperNova PSU's are top quality and highly rated so, is there even really a chance of that happening? I can't find any instances where that has happened with one of these units. Just posts from people complaining theirs died or was DOA or had a faulty unit etc. If it fails, that's one thing. Like Ivan Drago said in Rocky - "If he dies, he dies" 😆 But I'd be mad pissed if it fried my mobo, CPU or graphics card! 😫

What is your opinion on this?
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If I were in your shoes, I would pick up a top tier ATX 3.0/1 unit of appropriate wattage and give myself the peace of mind that comes with it. My x1050 was reviewed very well by our guy JG. That was the main factor in my buying it (same as the 1300g2) but like the saying goes, time catches up with everyone and everything.
 
hititnquitit said:
If I were in your shoes, I would pick up a top tier ATX 3.0/1 unit of appropriate wattage and give myself the peace of mind that comes with it. My x1050 was reviewed very well by our guy JG. That was the main factor in my buying it (same as the 1300g2) but like the saying goes, time catches up with everyone and everything.
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I think I'm just gonna let it ride. EVGA is known for quality and I've recently seen a video by Gamers Nexus where they stress tested a SuperNova GT model, that gave me pretty good piece of mind. I'll just get a new PSU whenever I get a new case. Maybe even this year if I find a good deal on Black Friday.
 
hititnquitit said:
If I were in your shoes, I would pick up a top tier ATX 3.0/1 unit of appropriate wattage and give myself the peace of mind that comes with it. My x1050 was reviewed very well by our guy JG. That was the main factor in my buying it (same as the 1300g2) but like the saying goes, time catches up with everyone and everything.
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Just a quick update...I joined the PSU cultists Discord server and here is what JG himself told me.
(At least I think it's the man, the myth, the legend himself lol)

Simple, no BS, straight-to-the-point response. Gotta love it! 😁
 

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No idea who he is. But generally it’s bad taste to ask for help in one place and then quote random people from another place.

Sounded more like he was just giving you the least amount of effort as an answer.

But if you value his advice, go with it and have fun.
 
I lost a MB due to a PSU failure to this day I refuse to use that brand power supply. I say if your questioning it, it's time to shop around for a modern quality power supply. You're intuition maybe speaking out.
FS. forums are full of quality units at great prices.
 
Randy6309 said:
I lost a MB due to a PSU failure to this day I refuse to use that brand power supply. I say if your questioning it, it's time to shop around for a modern quality power supply. You're intuition maybe speaking out.
FS. forums are full of quality units at great prices.
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What brand PSU, how old was it, what did you have connected to it, how many hours a day was it in use, how many watts was it producing and what protections did it have? I refuse to believe that a quality PSU with fail protections can take out a MB when it's not even under heavy use.
 
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Darunion said:
No idea who he is. But generally it’s bad taste to ask for help in one place and then quote random people from another place.

Sounded more like he was just giving you the least amount of effort as an answer.

But if you value his advice, go with it and have fun.
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Sure...or maybe the guy has nearly 30 years of experience and knows what he's talking about...
 
Bottom line for me is that I replace every 5 or 6 years, with a recent exception because I elected to go for the latest and greatest. You spend thousands on hardware, why not a couple of hundred more for piece of mind , efficiency and in some cases, head room or just to avoid the use of adaptors.
 
jacuzz1 said:
Bottom line for me is that I replace every 5 or 6 years, with a recent exception because I elected to go for the latest and greatest. You spend thousands on hardware, why not a couple of hundred more for piece of mind , efficiency and in some cases, head room or just to avoid the use of adaptors.
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Alright I bit the bullet and bought a new BeQuiet! Pure Power 12 M and a Corsair 4000D on Newegg. I noticed the PSU is currently on sale so I just went for it.
And now I feel like a jackass after causing a bit of a scene here... 😅😆
 
JustAnotherUsername said:
Alright I bit the bullet and bought a new BeQuiet! Pure Power 12 M and a Corsair 4000D on Newegg. I noticed the PSU is currently on sale so I just went for it.
And now I feel like a jackass after causing a bit of a scene here... 😅😆
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A power supply CAN fail with high output voltage, it is far far less common than a zero output failure though.

There is value in a new power supply, as a failure is more likely to be helped by the company of the supply (although painful in cases) of a new supply than a 10 year old one.
 
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