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PSU tier list 2.0

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You should be skeptical of Cooler Master's list (it's from May 24, 2013). They didn't perform their testing using Intel's test methodology so it can't be trusted.

Intel maintains their own list here:

http://www.intel.com/reseller/psu_selector/

Look for a "Yes" in the 12V2 Min-load 0A column. The list/spreadsheet can be filtered and sorted.
 
hi guys just an update, got the Antec True Power New 550w, the packaging and unit was exactly like the one from the review chimera gave a link to. Thanks again
 


I don't see all the models there. I am taking realhardtechX database's reference for Haswell compatibility. The realhardtechX database failed me last time at Seasonic M12 II Bronze EVO 520 & 620 models. Anyways I never recommended CM's PSUs and they aren't value for money in my country. My list should be perfect.



Glad you got your hands on a good unit.
 
Just a suggestion, but perhaps can you make the "Tier" 'Headers' Stand out more? Bigger font and a different color? It gets lost in that wall of text(imho). Btw, I have this bookmarked and whenever someone tries to argue with me on PSU's, I whip my phone out, show them the list, then go to JohnnyGuru
 


The Chicony made Corsair TX V3 PSUs are average quality.

They are discontinued, so they won't be on the list, assuming a reliable review can be found.

If I remember correctly the quality should be between Tier2b and Tier3. Probably closer to Tier3.

 
There were no reviews of the Chicony made TX units. They were only made for a short time and I never saw much evidence of them in circulation.
 
Between the CX, RM and VS units popularity, there's not much evidence of circulation of any of the other Corsair lines, the HX/AX/AXi being over run by Evga G2, the TXv2 loosing out to XFX etc. If Corsair quit selling them, I don't think too many would miss them.
 
Well in markets without xfx/Evga, Seasonic, Thermaltake and CoolerMaster are Corsair's major competition, and good or bad, its not really a competition their either, CX/VS owning the Lions share of the market
 
I wanted to voice my thanks for this thread here in helping select a well built PSU, as well as share my experience on how an adequately powered PSU is key to consistent computer functioning!

I have a HTPC which was on a SeaSonic S12-330 330W I purchased in 2006. 330W is certainly on the low side, but the HTPC was not/is still not doing much in terms of computing power other than holding a lot of storage HDs.

In the many many years since the purchase, the HTPC was slowly expanded to 2 PATA drives, 2 SATA drives, a USB drive, a PCI card or two, and other USB peripherals. CPU was upgraded to a Core 2 Duo. GPU is a fanless Radeon 6450. Not major power hogs, and the power supply calculators always put out a ~300W recommendation, but probably cutting it a bit close.

I did notice a host of unusual problems, such as:
1) intermittent network connectivity issues with built in LAN - (still need to confirm if this improved with the PSU upgrade)
2) unreliable PCI NIC card connectivity - had to return it
3) USB CD drive unable to be powered, in both front and back ports
4) Intermittent loss of PCI Soundblaster card recognition

BIOS 12+V showed 12.1, but in Win7 hwmonitor showed 11.3! I know there is quite a bit of fluctuation in accuracy of these tests, but that is really low.

I replaced it with a XFX TS 550W Bronze (Tier 2) this week (and transferred my OS to a SSD) and it went from 11.3 to 11.7v, much more within spec.

USB CD drive still can't be fully powered through my front USB port, but I expect those ports to not be as reliable as the ones in the back.
 
The VS/ CX line is definitely overrated in the market, they are just not meant to be used in heavy-on-power gaming rigs. And that's exactly what many people do with them.

Another point of view is, "I've heard of Corsair, it's a good brand, so I'd choose it over something called 'Antec' or whatever!".
 
@waylo.
Sad to see a Seasonic unit go, but after @8 years it's had a good run by any standards. Couple of things though. When it comes to voltages, you just can't trust software to be accurate. I don't know why this is, it's not a hard concept by any means considering the exacting voltages needed for cpu stability. By my Fluke multimeter, at last testing, my Seasonic m12ii 520w had a 12v output of 12.32v. According to speccy I had 10.7v, Asus suite was 11.7v, occt was 8.3v, hwinfo64 is 10.24v and bios is 12.30v. Seriously ppl, its nuts. So as to your 11.3v, I'm not entirely too convinced it was reported accurately.

In principle, a capacitor is basically like a spark plug, voltage goes in the anode, sparks across a gap and back out the cathode. Due to this, you get degradation as the molecules at the poles get dislodged. Capacitors do have a shelf life, the best Japanese caps being longer than the old chemical caps. Because if the degradation, capacitors loose ability, so your 330w unit after a year or 2 was closer to 300w, and after 8 years of life was probably closer to 240-250w in power output. It's not that it failed, it just got too old.

You should actually be happy with that age, more than a few units use such crappy caps they are usually only good till their 3 yr warranty runs out, if they last that long.

Anyways, nice choice on replacement psu.
 
No, there is no sparking across a capacitor. It might be better imagined as a very tiny rechargeable battery, typically acting as a filter to an input DC voltage source, or holding onto some tiny charge until some particular event in the circuit.
 
@darkbreeze,

Yeah, when you are faced with a tight budget and your friends were too and the choices were Corsair, Corsair, Corsair, CoolerMaster and Zippy, brand recognition becomes an easy game to play when all your friends bought the same unit last year.
 
Well, you'd definitely want to avoid Coolermaster "budget" units. Those interested can peruse old HardwareSecrets reviews for the liar labels, missing claimed protection circuits, and other examples of Willful Wrongdoing that earned them a place on my personal "Do Not Buy" list. Fwiw, Anandtech did a fan review, and found liar-labels on their vaunted Sickleflow fans too. An all-around dishonest company, IMHO they don't deserve anyone's business until responsible decision-makers are in jail or the morgue.
 
I don't know exactly how solid caps work, but I do remember old chemical style from my electronics engineering classes. Voltage is applied to the anode which ionizes the chemical core. When the path is closed, the ionized chemical almost instantly discharges to the surrounding chemical cathode. So while physically it's almost exactly like a instantly chargeable/dischargeable battery, chemically it's just like a spark plug in that over time and use both the anode and cathode wear out until the 'gap' becomes too great and the cap fails.

Concept is the same, just a different way of looking at it, that was my instructors way, and something I could wrap my head around as there really weren't all that any rechargeable batteries back then, but we all had experience with spark plugs.
 


here's the kicker - Corsair specifically says that the CX is for LIGHT gaming and regular desktop use, yet people use them for HEAVY gaming and when they wear out too fast they say that CX units are garbage for all uses. they're not overrated in the market - they're great for what they're spec'd for and not so great for what they're not spec'd for (surprise surprise surprise).

choose the right tool for the job. it's like a Philips screwdriver - far too many people use the wrong size (generally a #1 instead of a #2) and then bitch that the heads get stripped. no duh!




a dielectric is a dielectric. it alters the breakdown voltage between two surfaces and holds a static charge. you can have air-gap capacitors (way too large for their value, but really easy to make variable caps), or electrolytics, or tantalum or polystyrene or whatever. you could probably use wood or sugar-free gum if you wanted to.
 
If you had the DVOM on the wrong setting and probed the wrong pin, it's not hard. I've zapped fuses in my meters a few times over the years by brainfarting the wrong setting or had the leads plugged in wrong from testing on a prior session.
 
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