Good news ! The power supply is one of the computer components that has an excellent lifespan, however, it remains difficult for a geek enthusiast to know whether it is time to replace it or not. Good news, you can too reuse your power supply for your computer !
Unlike a processor, graphics card or RAM, the power supply is never obsolete, but it can lose its power in the face of new components being installed, which can however cause problems if you want to keep your computer in top condition condition.
To help you unravel whether the power supply is still a perfect match for your current PC configuration, it is imperative that you know a few concepts!
Discover 5 reasons that could prompt you to change your computer’s power supply.
The power is insufficient…
One of the reasons why we advise you to always have more than you need! Case in point… You’ve built a computer with components tailored to your current needs. But time has passed and you’ve upgraded your computer, keeping your old blog feed. Logically, the new components you installed consume much more energy than your first installation!
So you have a power supply that doesn’t provide enough power to all your components…
You can always turn on your computer, play your favorite game, but then what’s the problem? Well, your graphics processor, aka GPU, won’t perform at 100% because it doesn’t have enough power to maximize its potential!
You young geek and neophyte, if you want to improve the capabilities of your computer. Start by taking a look at the GPU side and change your power supply if necessary. To see how much power it needs in terms of power, just look at what the GPU is consuming at full load.
Your power supply is consuming too much!
A low quality power supply can give you enough power to run any configuration, but in terms of energy, the power bill risks being high… If your power supply has non-existent or poor certification, in the long run, it can be counterproductive.
From an 80 PLUS Gold certification, we get a significant change in terms of consumption.
If you have the budget, choose Titanium or Platinum certification, you can save a few kWh and a few euros!
Your power supply cables are causing problems…
This is a common problem with fixed cable power supplies because modular or semi-modular power supplies require different configurations. With a fixed wired power supply, we should look for adapters that allow the connection of certain components, such as graphics cards. A real fighting game!
In the end, we end up tired and the less adventurous end up buying a new power supply!
A modular or semi-modular power supply will give us many more options about connecting components and with the benefit of reducing heat! The latter is an obstacle in terms of the air circuit. Logical because fewer cables and therefore more space in the computer case.
We advise you to change your power supply as soon as you start installing 2-socket graphics cardsfor example when adding multiple hard drives with SATA connections.
Instability, drop in FPS…
It’s rare for this event to happen, but you may have noticed some instability on your computer. If after careful investigation you come to the conclusion that neither the CPU nor any other component is at fault. It may be that in a certain workload, the PSU is not able to provide enough power.
This can cause some issues, crashes, FPS drops, etc.
This is usually a power supply error. We emphasize that this phenomenon is not normal, but it can happen to you. Unfortunately, if it turns out that the problem is with your PSU, sorry for you, but it’s better to go ahead and buy a new PSU!
It no longer works at all!
There comes a fateful moment when the power supply unit can give up the ghost and therefore not work!
In my personal experience, it is important to correctly connect the pins from the computer case to the motherboard. If your power supply is not protected against short circuits or overloads, you may be afraid. Especially, Improper terminal connection can end the life of your power supply.
A broken power supply is not necessarily your fault! It is very common for a power supply to break due to a voltage drop or jump wires.