Found a wild stat about power supply efficiency that blew my mind

I was digging through some old datasheets from 2019 for a client's Dell Optiplex upgrade and noticed the 80 PLUS Gold rating on their 500W unit actually drops to 87% efficiency under heavy load, not the 90% I assumed. The real kicker came when I checked the small print from a Corsair white paper - most PSUs lose about 2% efficiency per year just from capacitor aging. Has anyone else caught the fine print on efficiency ratings or am I the only one nerding out over this stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan9031mo ago

Wait, 2% per year? That's wild. I never even thought about capacitors degrading like that but it makes total sense. Kinda makes me want to check the manufacturing date on my own PSU now.

elliot_johnson311mo ago

Wait, is it really 2% a year? That's wild. Feel like I need to check my own PSU date now before I end up with a ticking time bomb in my PC.