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PSU tier list 2.0

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Good to know :)
a bit sad though

I wasn't sure, whether mods were also adding info to the post, I mostly read from the first post in the past. (and I missed the timestamp of the last update)
 
I've seen people on this site (and other places) say that PSU tier lists in general are bunch of BS, there is no real benchmarks every PSU goes off of etc. etc. How trustworthy are these lists?
 
Depends on the author of the review I would say.
In general: I try to avoid crappy PSUs
I want quality.
Of course reviews can only give you the best, if you trust the reviewer.
But unless the reviewer is a total fail, you will get at least a decent, if not a very good psu that lasts long and delivers reliable power to all your components, which in return makes them last longer. Which is all that matters to me.
There's no master race. We just need something that does the job good or outstanding and doesn't cost a fortune. (reviews also help in comparing PSUs price-wise)

I'm not a professional at all, just some user, but this is my impression so far.

manufacturers and retailers only tell you so much and do weird marketing that often doesn't highlight anything important.
(depends on the price class though)

EDIT:
oh, and about the tiers:
just read the way they differentiate between different psu tiers there, sounds reasonable to me to get it right.
You should be save buying a psu from one of the first three tiers. For everything else, I like to select: Wattage, efficiency level (80+ something), a price point, I'm willing to pay and then I compare psus of a few brands on lists (searching for ones still available and then comparing prices)

In the end it's price + which brand do I like more ^^ (plus reading an actual review of the final psus and comparing their design, when I'm not sure)
 


"Every PSU goes off" is itself total BS. There are absolutely huge quality differences between different PSU models.

Now, a tier list like this can never be entirely fair and accurate, there's just no way to distill all the information about a PSU down to a single number. But if the author does a good job, a tier list can be a good rule of thumb.

Checking reviews directly will always give you more detailed information. But it's a lot less convenient.
 
This list, just like it's predecessor and even the newegg psu list are just tools. That's all. Everybody who has done any shopping for any pc part just about everywhere in the world has heard of Corsair. They are huge. Good chance of Seasonic and Thermaltake too. But what about the rest. Shopping for a psu relying on just hearing of Corsair or Seasonic or TT you have no clue as to what else is out there, if it's decent, awesome, junk.

That's where the list was intended, to provide at least some direction. Some alternatives. It's not Gospel, the final word, an absolute. It's derived from several sites, reviews the author trusted, tests done by professionals with the right equipment, but it's in no way perfect.

But it's a clue.
 
Yep. It's a tool, and a rather coarse one, but for general use (including in high-end gaming PCs), none of the tier lists I've seen will lead to bad decisions if people stick to the top couple of tiers, and no good decision ever came from choosing a PSU-shaped object from their lowest tiers (although some people are luckier than others).
 
Contemplating how you might still encounter a "gotcha!" when selecting a tier-1 or tier-2 PSU, I've PMed Aris to ask about testing on stepped-sine and true-sine UPS units. It's a ten minute test, so hopefully he can add it. I bring this up, because there are some otherwise excellent PSUs (e.g. my Delta-[over]built Antec SG-650) that don't like stepped approximations and will shut down, yet be perfectly happy on a true sine unit like a premium APC or a Cyberpower APFC.
 

exactly
I might've never discovered how good super flower (and later for another build EVGA Supernova) is without this list

Obviously the list isn't the only source telling you that, but all other sources are mostly about one psu only and lists like this one save lots of time.
 
That's what I felt like, a nice and convenient list as a reference before making PSU buying decisions. But then again, my PSU is tier 2 on this list, but it's tier 4 on LTT forum.
 


I just noticed, that that list has 7 tiers and this one has 5 😉
 


There should only be 3:

1. You can't go wrong

2. If you're really, really on a budget

3. Avoid completely (or have your insurance guy on speed dial, and a fire extinguisher handy)
 
I have four tiers.
1: The Good Stuff; what I'd prefer to buy but may be over budget.
2: Good units that are affordable; typically built by Seasonic, Super Flower, or Delta.
3: Units that are tolerable, but I don't buy or recommend them. OEM units and non-destructive units with known issues (e.g. most Corsair CX and EVGA B1 units; most anything built by CWT due to corner-cutting, and most sold by Coolermaster or Thermaltake).
4: PSU-shaped objects that must never be bought and I will not take on a consulting job until/unless any such are replaced. Offered by companies like Apevia, Diablotek, Sunbeam, Logisys; includes some Coolermaster as well.
 
The GS600 is ancient, been around since 2010 at least. It's better built CWT platform than the old CX series, aimed at entry level gaming, but not close to the higher end psus Corsair put out at the time in the TX, HX, AX series.

For that FX with a 970 it's fine, although well past any warranty period and if it was bought close to 2010, it's going to have suffered some degradation of the Taiwanese caps. If it's seeing progressively heavier loads with high OC, I'd be seriously thinking about replacement before it quits entirely.
 
Wow. It's been some time hasn't it.

So uhh.... 3 years since I posted I think. That's a fair hiatus. So hello to veterans and newcomers to TomsHardware's Power Supply Unit Tier List.

I would like to say it's incredible that this list is still ongoing despite my absence. But I must say this.

While it's amazing to see this list still being used for new PC builders, I think it's time to say that it must go. It's poorly outdated, it's clumsy and cluttered to hell and back, it takes forever to sort it out and it's ran its course. Nearly 5 years since the first PSU list came to TomsHardware, as a continuation of EggXPert's tier list from 2008. Yes, there were points of infidelity from a few members of the PC community, particularly from JonnyGuru (No hard feelings man), but at the end of the day, people used it as a rough guide and if one person was happy with the list, that was always gonna be enough motivation for me to keep it going.

But.... I Have been hard at work with everything in my life, I started my dream job and got my life on track for a better future, thus the list was forgotten. This is by no means a defeat or giving up.

I am announcing that by 10th May 2018, this list will be deleted for good. 5 years of the list, 3 of those spent building and improving it and 2 years with nothing added or deleted has made the list poorly outdated and poorly ran. Thank you all for using this list. Been a pleasure making it.

Torrent.
 
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