Corsair HX520

[Toon]

About 3 years ago, I found that my gaming habits had gone completely over to consoles instead of the PC, and I was only using the PC for web browsing & downloading. So, I replaced (but kept) my tower system with a small low-power Atom-based system. However, I've now got the urge to get back into PC gaming, and plan to build a new system, and thought about seeing if I could re-use any of the parts from the old tower system.

The only component that may be of any use in a new build is the Corsair HX520 PSU. I bought it in April 2008 (I still have the receipt because of the 5 year warranty!), but I'm not sure whether to use it or not. I powered up the old PC into Windows to see if the PSU still works, but will there be any component degredation due to its age, also bearing in mind that it hasn't been used at all for the last 2.5 - 3 years?

The new system I'm planning to build is i5 3570K based, with a GeForce 560Ti 384-core GPU. The minimum PSU recommended for that GPU is 500W, but I thought that as I don't plan on doing any overclocking or SLI, the HX520 might still be OK to use, for now at least?

Thanks

[Finners]

Should be fine to use, How was it stored? Might be worth giving it a blow out if it has been left open to fill with dust etc.

A system like that will run fine on a 500W PSU, As an example my 2500k overclocked and GTX 680 overclocked has only ever pulled a maximum of 417W from the wall. Normal gaming it uses less power than that

[Toon]

The PSU has been sat in the tower system, under a desk, surrounded by boxes, so I don't think that too much dust will have gathered inside. I will give it a good clean before using it in the new system. Even if it does fail though, it's still under warranty, so that's a plus point!