Testing psu stability

[bigtallanddopey]

As the title says really, I have an old antec 850 psu, the one with the two yellow stripes. It was a very good psu back in the day but it must be 7-8 years old now and has served me well since I had my Q6600 build, and through my current i7 950.

I am embarking soon on pretty much a new pc. I was planning on keeping the psu but I was wondering if there is a way of telling how it is currently performing. Can you tell if it has lost its edge over the years and if it is stable? Or should I be changing something that old anyway?

 

[Alaric]

If you're building a new rig I don't see a reason to not replace a 8 year old PSU. You can generally go less wattage, more efficient, and a good quality PSU is the foundation of a build, IMO. I'd keep the Antec as a spare but treat yourself to a shiny new PSU. My $.02.

 

[||Console||]

I have a buddy that always buys Crap PSUs or tryed to use OLD ones , he has has 3 die and take other parts out with it . This last time he has finally listened with a evga g2.

 

[bigtallanddopey]

It'll be a sad day to see the old thing go ha.

Psu calculators are saying I should be looking at 750W.

I will be running a new r7 or i7 with a modest overclock normally.

I do use water cooling at the moment but if I'm getting a new psu I probably won't be able to afford all the new water blocks for the new system so maybe one for the future.

Also only one gpu. Currently have an r9 280, not sure what I will upgrade to.

What brand are good these days, it was always corsair or antec back in the day?

 

[trents]

EVGA Super Nova series is the brand of choice around here. And with only one video card, whatever it might be, you don't need 750 watts. Those PSU wattage calculators greatly exaggerate the wattage needed because they try to account for folks who buy cheap crap PSUs that themselves greatly exaggerate their wattage output claim. 600 watts with a quality PSU will be more than enough to meet your needs.

 

[bigtallanddopey]

I did suspect as much, always hard to tell though. I'll have a scout around and see what evga ones are about.

 

[Blaylock]

If you know any electrical engineers with some quality old school oscilloscopes you can test the ripple and voltage outputs. It's usually not worth the effort though. I agree with everything above this post (including the sad day).