I'm using a Cooler Master GX 750W 80+ Bronze power supply that may be around 15 years old. It originally came from an older family-business computer and has already been running in my system for roughly five or six years without any major problems, aside from the physical power switch being stuck in the on position.
Earlier this year I upgraded nearly everything else to a Ryzen 5 7600X and a Radeon 9060 XT, but I kept the same PSU and case. Is it reasonably safe to keep using this power supply until it fails? If it does fail, is this model likely to protect the rest of the computer, or could it damage the CPU, graphics card, motherboard, or drives?
5 Answers
I’d replace it rather than wait for failure. It may continue working, but it’s far beyond its expected warranty and service life, and 80+ Bronze does not indicate that it was a premium model. A decent modern 700–850W PSU is usually inexpensive compared with replacing a GPU, motherboard, or losing data.
It probably isn’t an immediate emergency if the computer is stable, but age alone is a good reason to plan a replacement soon. Capacitors and other components degrade over time, and older units were not necessarily designed around the rapid power-state changes of current CPUs and graphics cards.
You could check the rails with a PSU tester, but a basic test won’t prove that an aging unit is reliable under modern transient loads. The fact that it still works is encouraging, not a guarantee. I’d use it only temporarily and replace it with a reputable current model.
The stuck rear switch is another sign that the unit is simply old, even if it doesn’t affect normal operation. Power supplies don’t have a dependable universal expiration date, but 10–15 years is well beyond the point where replacement is sensible, especially with new hardware attached.
There’s no way to guarantee that a failed PSU will protect the rest of the system. Many power supplies fail harmlessly, but some failures can damage multiple components. I’ve seen a failed unit take out a graphics card, hard drive, and RAM, so saving the cost of a new PSU isn’t worth risking an expensive new build.

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