Discussion PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

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Seasonic S12II Bronze 520 W is an excellent power supply. It passed with flying colors in our tests: efficiency between 82.4% and 86.5%, voltages closer to their nominal voltages than required (3% voltage regulation instead of the standard 5%) and ultra-low noise and ripple levels. Plus we could pull up to 588 W from it with efficiency still at 81.7%.

Protections: Over voltage (OVP), over power (OPP) and short-circuit (SCP). Under voltage (UVP) not listed but present.

Gabriel Torres, 2010
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No mention in the whole (very detailed diagnosis of both primary and secondaries) of whether or not there was any OTP, thermistor or not.

Single rail psus of any decent quality don't need to use additional OCP as a protection, because it's inherent in the design.
Jonnyguru, by Jon

Sorry, but being able to pull over 580w from a psu rated at 480w at 12v, and it still didn't blow up, is somewhat impressive.
 
Back when those units were among some of the best you could get, there really weren't any other units that had OTP either. It's ONLY a glaring shortcoming now because the platform is so good that it has hung around despite not having OTP and despite being group regulated, it STILL manages to be better than a lot of power supplies that don't have those shortcoming, and unlike a lot of other platforms from the same era as that Seasonic platform, has actually withstood the test of time. Certainly they are not as good as many other modern units, but I would not hesitate to put one of them into ANY machine that was not going to be seriously overclocked or wasn't running dual graphics cards.

I have four of them, they are all still running totally fine after many years. They all still test the same exact on all rails as when they were new AND I've installed a bunch of them in various systems that have been running without issue for anywhere from 3-8 years and so far I haven't heard back regarding any issues or failures on ANY of them, and I would have had there been anything wrong because I still service those people's machines when necessary.

In fact, despite all the conversations and trash talk I hear about those units, I have never, not once, heard of anybody that had any kind of problem with one of them that resulted in anything that wasn't prototypically likely or possible with ANY other power supply. Rarely do you ever hear of anybody on these forums with a PSU issue that is running one of them either. A few, but VERY rarely.
 
That's reliability for you.

If I get 5 years out of my CX550m I will be happy.

I'm surprised the el-cheapo HIPRO 300w PSU I have is still kicking. Came from a cheap Dell in 2009 and now has the wires cut and works as a lab bench PSU. I can compliment its OCP for working properly... Don't ask me how I know.
 
Actually, HiPro has a few, very few, decent mainstream units, made for them by Topower. They made some of the OCZ power supplies like the Modstream that were pretty decent back in the day. But for an OEM unit, probably not. Possible though. Not every OEM unit not made by Delta is a piece of crap.
 
Never knew that.

A lot of the caps are teapo branded, but the largest are elite branded, a bottom tier brand. Some are even karli branded, which i had to google and still found very little other than they are found in ultra cheao stereo equipment.The heatsyncs seem adaquate.
 
But that's what kills me. Many see the amount of time in service the cheapo units get, even ppl tagging old CX for over 5 years and still going. What they fail to understand is that a 550w+ psu on a pc that's only pulling 200w and uses a gpu that really never hits anything harder than a PowerPoint presentation isn't the same thing as a gaming pc with a 60-70% gaming load and a gpu that's hitting the psu with a gut-punch multiple times every second.

Honestly, the old CX were not bad units, the 430w being the best of the bunch, they just weren't gaming psus, they were office psus, and ppl didn't get it. Many OEM's last years with no issues whatsoever, my daughters old pc was an Athlon 64 with a CoolerMaster 600, the pc died a software death, obsolete, psu was still kicking.

Quality is always nice, but some machines simply don't need the best.
 
MOST machines don't need the best or even "good". But we don't see "most" machines here. We "mostly" see gaming or high end professional type machines here. So, ppl need to stfu and buy a unit that is up to the task, or go home. LOL.
 
Darkbreeze said:
Back when those units were among some of the best you could get, there really weren't any other units that had OTP either. It's ONLY a glaring shortcoming now because the platform is so good that it has hung around despite not having OTP and despite being group regulated, it STILL manages to be better than a lot of power supplies that don't have those shortcoming, and unlike a lot of other platforms from the same era as that Seasonic platform, has actually withstood the test of time. Certainly they are not as good as many other modern units, but I would not hesitate to put one of them into ANY machine that was not going to be seriously overclocked or wasn't running dual graphics cards.

I have four of them, they are all still running totally fine after many years. They all still test the same exact on all rails as when they were new AND I've installed a bunch of them in various systems that have been running without issue for anywhere from 3-8 years and so far I haven't heard back regarding any issues or failures on ANY of them, and I would have had there been anything wrong because I still service those people's machines when necessary.

In fact, despite all the conversations and trash talk I hear about those units, I have never, not once, heard of anybody that had any kind of problem with one of them that resulted in anything that wasn't prototypically likely or possible with ANY other power supply. Rarely do you ever hear of anybody on these forums with a PSU issue that is running one of them either. A few, but VERY rarely.
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People who haven't seen the S12II in action over the years have a hard time appreciating how tough and reliable they really are. This was the go-to PSU for overclocked Pentium Extreme Edition cpu's, SLI setups, and overclocked Bulldozer FX chips for a long time. The amazing reputation for reliability didn't come from office PC's or low end gamers. It came from some of the most intense workloads the enthusiast community had to offer. And it just cruised right through them like it was strolling to a birthday party. It earned it's stellar reputation. The people who talk crap about it usually have a personal vendetta against Seasonic or know nothing about the unit.
 
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That's true. It's equally true that I've seen dirtbags riding around on temporary tires, the same ones, for months and years when they are only intended to be used long enough to get you to home or a tire shop. Just because those haven't blown out yet from regular usage doesn't mean it's a good idea OR that it WON'T blow out and throw them off the road at some point. Same same.
 
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NightHawkRMX said:
If i knew more about PSUs when i bought this one, I would have gone for the CX or waited for a good deal on a txm.
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same, i certainly wouldnt have gone with the singlerail monster that ive got. lets just say that misstakes were made. id probably look at some Bequiet units, TXM, Bitfenix whisper M. or if i really wanted to spend money, a Delta or Cooler Master V-series Platinum. but im stuck for now.
 
I'm still waiting to install my Prime Ultra titanium, because my G2 is perfectly fine and there is no rush. It can wait until I get around to sleeving the cables for the Prime unit which hopefully I'll do sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
 
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