PC Peripherals What's the average life of a PSU ?

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PoBoy

PoBoy

Juggernaut
My PC is going celebrate it's fifth birthday soon :ashamed: ! It's a Duron 800 ( remember Durons ? ) based system. Should I be concerned about the PSU ? The h/w monitor shows 3.3V value = 3.59, 5V value = 5.10 and 12V value = 12.54.

Also, the only major problem I've faced so far is having a few caps changed on the motherboard ( Soltek SL 75MAV ). What can I expect after this ?

Also what's the average life of a monitor ? I have a Samsung 753DF. It's OK, except that for the last few days, when I put it on the image is blurred then gets sharper after a few minutes. Should I have it serviced or something ?

Thanks.
 
Hmm 5th year for a Duron 800 ? You must have got those a long time back. Also the PSu on my P2 400 had died a yr back, so I assume 5 years is more less the life of a sub standard PSU.
 
Caps having to be changed on the motherboard normally indicate an out of shape PSU. Thats unless the caps were poor quality or the system is being really pushed.

I had to change a couple of caps on an old motherboard of mine, i checked the PSU readings and the lines were way out of whack - 12v line was at 13V.

Your voltage readings seem marginally off, but arent way off spec. Nonetheless if you're depending on this system a lot, it would be wiser to get your PSU changed. More details like what PSU it is? Also hardware monitoring systems arent too accurate. If possible, try getting your hands on a DMM (Digital MultiMeter) and verify the voltages. ATX spec allows a deviation of about plus/minus 5% on each rail.

MTBF for most PSU's is around 50,0000 ~ 100,000 hours (Not too sure?)
 
Antec rates their PSU MTBF at 80,000 hours @ 25C. As the working temperature
increases, the expected life-span of the equipment shortens drastically.

The longest MTBF rating PSU I've seen is sold by Cooler Master. The RS-450-ACLY and
RS-550-ACLY come rated at 400,000 hours MTBF. Its translates to somewhat better
reliablity of these power supplies.

- Yamaraj
 
The PSU is a Microtek Eagle 250W. I'll get a new one, safer to do so. Any recommendations ? PowerSafe ?

I know I need a new system. Kept putting it off because :
- many new technologies ( 64 bit, PCIe, SATA IO, dual-core, ATX2.0 etc ), better to wait until the bugs are sorted out.
- not sure about the h/w requirements for WinVista.
- hoping h/w prices will fall a bit.
- LCD monitors become affordable.

Any comments about my monitor problem ?

Thanks.
 
Yeah a Powersafe 350W should be fine and I will be easy on the pocket too ;)

No point spending 2k on a PSU for a low-end PC.
 
^ I dont think there is any Powersafe 350W. Only 300W and 400W. Your Duron system needs fairly low pow, so you should be able to make do with even a 300W model.
 
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