Re-using a 850W 3 year old power supply

matteo2000 · Nov 25, 2013

Hi all,

I'm building a new rig (specs below) and I'm wondering if it's sensible to re-use the 3 year old PSU from my old rig, or whether there might be some benefit to upgrading it/replacing it.

The power supply in question is an XFX 850W Bronze rated Power Supply that I bought in December 2010 and has been used pretty constantly since then. It cost £85 and got good reviews at the time, for example on Hexus:

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/psu/46501-xfx-850w-proseries-xxx-semi-modular-bronze-psu/?page=3

I am vaguely aware that PSUs have capacitor ageing with time, although using a PSU calculator with capacitor ageing set to 30%, I still get that I only need 633W for my new rig (or 792W if I added a second GTX 670).

So the question is, will my PSU be good for another 3-4 years or might it be worth replacing it? Also, have there been any developments in the PSU world in the last 3 years? I am vaguely aware that Haswell has certain new low power states (that a new PSU would support) and that if I got a new Corsair PSU it might play nicely with my H100i cooler using Corsair link?

If people think I should just get a new PSU then I'd welcome some recommendations.

Thanks for the help.

Matt

Asus Maximus Hero VI Z87 motherboard
Intel 4770k overclocked to 4.4Ghz
Corsair H100i CPU cooler
Corsair Vengeance 2 x 8GB 1866 Mhz RAM
MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 670
500 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD
2 x SATA HDD
Soundblaster Z PCI-E
Corsair Obsidian 750D case
Dell U2713HM monitor

Novuake · Nov 25, 2013

MORE than enough power even if there is extreme corrosion. Your fine.

COLGeek · Nov 25, 2013

Agreed! The XFX 850 should meet your needs quite well.

Good luck!

matteo2000 · Nov 25, 2013

Thanks for the advice both.

I notice the Corsair AX860i is reduced on Amazon.co.uk at the moment to £140. If I was to upgrade to that, what kind of benefits would I see? I'm impressed that it's got a 7 year warranty, my XFX PSU was out of warranty after 2 years!

COLGeek · Nov 25, 2013

You would just have a newer PSU and would see no performance differences (other than possibly being quieter and more efficient), whatsoever. The Corsair is very nice, BTW.

ko888 · Nov 25, 2013

For a system using a single GeForce GTX 670 graphics card NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 500 Watt or greater system power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 30 Amps or greater and that has at least two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

For a system using two NVIDIA reference design GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 700 Watt or greater system power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 45 Amps or greater and that has at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT the crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Sufficient Total Combined Continuous Power/Current Available on the +12V Rail(s) rated at 45°C - 50°C ambient temperature, is the most critical factor.

Overclocking of the CPU and/or GPU(s) may require an additional increase to the maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current ratings, recommended above, to meet the increase in power required for the overclock. The additional amount required will depend on the magnitude of the overclock being attempted.

The XFX ProSeries XXX Edition 850W Semi-Modular (Bronze) (P1-850X-XXB9) power supply unit, with its maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 70 Amps and with four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with a single GeForce GTX 670 graphics card. It is also way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with two GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode.

The P1-850X-XXB9 uses all 105°C-rated Japanese (i.e. mostly Rubycon) caps on both the primary and secondary sides of the PSU. The expected life should be at least 5 Years or more. If you would have registered the PSU with XFX within the first 30 days of purchase you would have gotten your Warranty extended to 5 Years at no extra cost.

This PSU is also fully Haswell compatible.

Dark Lord of Tech · Nov 25, 2013

You should have no issues , that is a high quality well built unit. , made by the best SEASONIC.

matteo2000 · Nov 27, 2013

Thanks all for the clear and detailed answers.

I will have a think as to how important it is for me to have a quieter PSU and also calculate the electricity bill savings over the lifetime of the PC!

It's good to know that the XFX should be sufficient for now.

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