Check the PCB. Most PSU brands contract the design to one of a few well-known manufacturers. Delta is a common one from back then, and one of my favorites. They're good quality, and easy to work on.

If you care about the components at all I would not use a 20 year old power supply.

There are a couple of things I always buy new. Storage and PSUs are among them.

OEMs would have PSUs built to spec or choose from a line of preconfigured models. Depending on OEMs' willingness to spend PSU manufacturers had various qualities avaliable so I wouldn't hazard a guess simply based on brand and wattage.

However if the PSU delivers correct voltages now chances are if you recap the PSU with quality electrolytics it will run for another 20 years. 😀 Afaik apart from fans and electrolytic caps there isn't much wear in PSUs. For the most part transistors start to aggravate when they're run under higher stress because of degraded electrolytic caps or too much power draw and increased heat.

That being said I wouldn't bother with a 145W PSU unless it has a special form factor or if it's an original part in a system you want to completely restore.

Doornkaat wrote:

OEMs would have PSUs built to spec or choose from a line of preconfigured models. Depending on OEMs' willingness to spend PSU manufacturers had various qualities avaliable so I wouldn't hazard a guess simply based on brand and wattage.

Yes to some extent, although you'll have to go a long ways to find a bad PSU design from the likes of Liteon, Flextronics, Delta, or Etasys.

Eh, I dunno. My PII with Voodoo 5 runs on a less than 200W supply. I don't remember exactly what it was, but the TDP of the CPU is something like 20W, and the V5 is 30W, so that's still a reasonable amount of headroom.

HIGH POWER model: SI-X145M3 Rev: B1.

I took the PSU apart, but couldn't find anything useful on information about the manufacturer.

However, everything seems fine, no caps are bad or bulging. No burn marks anywhere. The fuse is fine too.
Caps are mostly TEAPO and Rubycon. One cap is a CapXon but also seems fine.

Well.. I clean it, and I will give it a shot sometime.

Teapo are known bad caps. CapXon is also, cheapo capacitor. Does it have Rubycon or something with letters that LOOK like Rubycon?

It's important to remember that application matters. Using a component out of spec can cause failure even if it's otherwise fine, and this is done all the time in consumer electronics.

Teapo are mid range caps. They tend to last well in quality PSU designs (which is most commonly where I see them), but they should be replaced as a caution in critical applications like two transistor 5VSB regulator circuits. CapXon are mid range as well.

Rulycon, Robycon, and the other white van varieties are known trash, right down there with Chhsi and Fuhjyyu

High Power is Sirtec, if my memory serves me right.

Doesn't surprise me they use Teapo, they're usually good (not for 5vSB tho).

I have seen bad TEAPO caps on motherboards and two in an FSP PSU I repaired recently, however, I don't have a bad experience with them so far. But I do have with CapXon.

My main BenQ monitor died 2 years ago due to bad Elite caps. I replaced them with Low ESR CapXon, and they only lasted 3 months. Then I replaced those with TEAPO, and still going without a problem.

Back to the topic - unfortunately the 5vsb has the CapXon cap. I might replace it, or just don't bother using the PSU, and put my FSP in there.

Low and ultra low ESR caps have been problematic even for reliable brands like Nichicon. The 5vsb cap isn't as critical if the rail is being sourced through a VRM with actual over voltage protection, so check how 5vsb is derived before making a decision. Having said that, I've never gone wrong using FSP. 😀