Four 80 PLUS Gold Power Supplies Under 450 W, Reviewed

[Adroid]

Oh I forgot, I'm building a gaming rig with a PicoPSU 160XT... deal with it

Haha... well I can beat you on your own games from my cell phone.

Hahahaha yup, given a micro HDMI port. But I'm speaking of a machine capable of challenging the PS4. My old NES 8 bit is going to be revived with the KFA2 750Ti and an i5S processor. Actually I badly wanted the Broadwell architecture but I can't wait 2015...

Sounds cool honestly. I wish I had the money and motivation to try a project like that myself, but I would probably just get discouraged with spending that much money to have a lesser performer than my current build.

 

[tabascosauz]

Anyone who is in the slightest knowledgeable about the internal build quality of PSUs will understand that Corsair's RM series are to be avoided unless one desperately wants the passive fan profile and full modularity. The 450W is understandable because most systems will hit considerable load most of the times, meaning that the fan is on and actively cooling the caps (which are of terrible quality; CapXon may be acceptable in a budget PSU but not a $100 80+ Gold semi-passive unit, and definitely not in a PSU that's not even actively cooled).

All the models over 450W should really be discontinued as the RM series' pricing places it in direct competition with Seasonic's X series, which is far superior in quality and brings full modularity as well, even though it's not passively cooled. There's a reason why fanless PSUs have large heatsinks and top-of-the-line caps and components, and Corsair doesn't seem to understand that not all PSU buyers will fall for its "high quality capacitor" BS marketing.

 

[RedJaron]

There's a big mistake in considering 400W insufficient for gaming. I have a 770 phantom, a 750ti from kfa2 for physx, an i7 2600K at 4,4ghz, various neons, a load of fans, 4 SSDs, 2 black faex 2TB, an asus xonar d2x, and still I can't reach over 420W of power consumption in torture tests, measured with the highest end APC Smart (865W UPS).

I used an i5-3570K and an overclocked HD7970 to mine last year, and it pulled 312W from its UPS. Under a gaming load, the GPU usage would drop, and the CPU usage would be higher, but I'd be surprised if it needed more than 350W-375W. It happened to have a pair of WD Blacks in a RAID1 also, plus a SSD, but no other bling. A 400W PSU is plenty for a competent gamer.

Absolutely. Most of the new system build help threads have PSU capacities recommended that are far more than they would ever need.

While the tests aren't comprehensive they're pretty much proof positive that anything over 450W is overkill.

Generally speaking, I do agree with you. Anyone looking for a multi-GPU setup, and/or a hungry OCing CPU will want and need a little more capacity. Also, it seems that quality 380W - 450W units aren't a whole lot cheaper than good 550W units, so I can understand someone spending $5 - $10 more "just-in-case." I typically draw the line around 650W. You need a really good, specific reason to need more capacity than that.

 

[JonnyDough]

If *ahem* -SOMEONE- *ahem* wasn't so adamant about getting free power supplies for their friends they might actually open one up and tell you how long these suckers will last you. It would be nice to see how bad (or good) the soldering is, and what components are built into these PSUs. Shame on you *ahem* someone, calling yourself an enthusiast site. There are better places to find reviews on power supplies. I'm disappointed but I've come to expect this mediocrity.

 

[JeckeL]

Is it just me or is $100 WAY too much for a 450W psu......

Yea... low wattage for most gaming rigs (or at least ones that people plan on upgrading sometime in the future which is almost all)

 

[druid157]

What's wrong with this Seasonic 400W 80+ Bronze for under $50? Might not be available everywhere, though.
http://www.seasonic.com/pdf/datasheet/NEW/Bulk/PC/ATX/SS-XXXBT%20Active%20PFC.pdf

 

[druid157]

What's wrong with this Seasonic 400W 80+ Bronze for under $50? Might not be available everywhere, though.
http://www.seasonic.com/pdf/datasheet/NEW/Bulk/PC/ATX/SS-XXXBT%20Active%20PFC.pdf

Here's the said 400W Seasonic unit on Newegg for $43 for those who like their PSU reliable at a low price tag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151076

 

[Karsten75]

Can anyone link me to an article that describes the equipment Tom's uses to tests PSUs? Also the methodology that they use would be nice. I've been looking around for some piece of equipment to suspect power supplies in my shop and all I can find are very expensive $3,000+ testers, which clearly doesn't make economic sense for a small guy like me. 🙁

 

[RedJaron]

Here's the said 400W Seasonic unit on Newegg for $43 for those who like their PSU reliable at a low price tag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151076

That model doesn't have any PCIe cables. That's the problem I run into most when looking at sub-450W PSUs. I don't want to run anything huge on it, but quality 400W units can easily handle 270X class GPUs and a moderately OC'd i5. Yeah, you can always run the 4-pin cable adapters to the GPU, but I like cleaner cabling than that.

 

[Onus]

Maybe Seasonic will update some of those older models to add a PCIe cable; after all even their 360W "G" unit has one.

 

[RedJaron]

Maybe Seasonic will update some of those older models to add a PCIe cable; after all even their 360W "G" unit has one.

I'd like to see most manufacturers do that. Even if it's just a single 6-pin cable.