first off, to get the elephant out of the way, its the Kingwin LZP-1000p
I started using this 1k watt platinum PSU with my new 2500k build and haven’t found a need to upgrade it since!
2500k, 3770, 3770k, 6700k, 9700k, 13700k
GTX 560, SLI 560’s, GTX 670, SLI 670’s, a 2070, and a 350watt 3080ti
All hardware was vigorously overclocked, especially from 2500k-9700k
I’m still using it and my question is… when is the hard STOP sign that i use this PSU? is there a degradation?
I only ever hard crash from directX errors in Warzone and i dont think(??) im missing any frames due to the GPU getting enough juice? 3080ti pulls 350watts basically any time it feels like it. I mostly play Tarkov which is absolutely brutal on every component, i play league and a bunch of other things.
I got an email back from Kingwins tech support after asking for any manuals or tech specs. This was received back in 2021 LOL
“Hi *****, thank you for the praise. Unfortunately we no longer carry the power supplies as they’re discontinued years ago and we no longer have the specs of those. So I can’t tell you what the limits are other than what you have currently the 1000W. But since you are overclocking a 3080 Ti, and the standard requirement for one is 750-850W depending on the manufacturer. The 1000W power supply should be more than good enough. However do run some test on the PSU if possible so this way it won’t cause you any problems down the line.”
Wow! I wish that I purchased a larger one than I needed years ago and I wouldn’t have to have changed it every time I upgrading the GPU
PSUs can last for many years, but that said, yours is definitely getting up there in age. There are dedicated PSU stress-testing tools available that can measure not only power output but also how clean and stable that power is. However, they’re usually expensive and probably not worth buying just for a one-off test.
When PSUs fail, the system often just shuts down, but in certain failure scenarios they can damage other components. Because of that, it might be a good idea to start thinking about replacing it in the near future, just to be safe.
As Viraco said, getting a new psu would be good, just make sure NOT to mix and mach psu cables if the psu that you have is a modular one and you get a modular one. And if you want to future proof your pc power supply, than I would probably get a 1300w or a 1500w psu. But save the old psu just in case you need it for something.
The longest PSU warranty offered by any company in existence today is 10 years.
Given that a PSU from 2011 is bound to have fewer protections built in than a modern ATX3.1 power supply, the hard stop sign is when you’re exceeding its original intended use.
If you’re using it right now with an RTX 3080 Ti, those are a 350W TDP which is basically unrelated to its power draw. TDP is just about thermals, not power draw. Given the RTX 3000 series’ tendency to experience power draw excursions of up to 3x, I would not chance it personally.
“Exceeding its intended use” is a broad idea here, but you’re using a PCIe5.0 GPU which is designed by NVIDIA (in their Founder’s Edition) to use the new type of GPU power connector. Even if your specific model is aftermarket and uses traditional 8-pin connections, the power design is unchanged from a GPU core perspective, and I’d recommend changing out your current PSU for something in the 850W+ range with native ATX3.1 and PCIe5.1 compatibility. Those PSUs will be designed for exactly the kind of power draw spikes that the 3080Ti is renowned for.
Hmmm i too have a 10+ year GPU and I am using my 3090 on it.
You bring up a good point about TDP being about thermals, nto power draw. Do you think enough power draw can put too much stress on PSU wires, even if they are the correct pins? could the GPUs pull too much current at a single time and stress the wires too much?
Is there a difference in how old PSUs with modular/semi/non modular platforms perform?
In my particular case, my PSU can be overclocked. if at some point, the psu sends out less power, would overclocking it to pull more power theoretically work? ( I wouldnt do it. I feel like it would just make the problems worse. )
It’s not about the wires, it’s about the internals of the PSU.
These are my personal rules for PSUs in my own systems, and so far, I haven’t had a failure in a very long time:
Start with 650W and never use below that, and 80 Plus Bronze or higher
If it’s a CPU that takes over 125W TDP (at boost), bump to 750W
If it’s a GPU rated for over 250W TDP, bump to 850W
If it’s a GPU rated for over 400W TDP, bump to 1000W
If it’s a GPU from NVIDIA in the RTX3000+ series, AND the power supply is not native ATX3.1, then bump up 1 additional tier from whatever you were already at
Never use anything more than 10 years old
Throw a few theoreticals at this and test it out. Let’s see what it does.
If you’re on a 7950X and RTX3090, this logic dictates you would use an 850W ATX3.1 or 1000W ATX2.3 PSU less than 10 yrs old. Which sounds pretty solid to me, I can’t fault that logic.