PSU tier list 2.0

[IntelTurtleFan]

Any tier 1 or 2 unit is great. XFX XTR is great and so is EVGA G2 or GS (my 3 recommendations).

 

[The Grox Empire]

May i ask? Does Seasonic 650W X-Series OEM are safe?? Because in my Country (Indonesia) many people says it's had many problem

 

[MarkW]

I say this a lot. I believe that:

Seasonic makes The Best Power Supplies on the Planet.
You cannot buy a Seasonic power supply that is a poorly designed and/or built power supply.

I do not believe that you can say those 2 statements about any other company that is making and/or selling power supplies.

Now, every company is going to have a low percentage of their products fail. It is impossible to manufacture electronics and have a 100% success rate. Even if you test every single item at the factory, and only ship the units that pass your testing, by the time it reaches the system its going to go into, some small fraction of those units will fail. That is why having a warranty is important.

 

[AMDRazer]

Mod edit: Please don't quote the whole tier list 😉

To the last tier, bottom, add Thermal Master 500W. can be found in Thermal Master case, around 35 bucks. Not reliable. Computer smoked once, using this.

 

[MarkW]

Holy quotation Batman!!

 

[Darkbreeze]

One smoked unit that we have no idea about the backstory regarding why it smoked, and without credible reviews that support it's poor quality, does not qualify a unit for a particular placement. Plus, it's a model that comes WITH a case, so it should already be known or assumed that's it's probably a poor unit. I've seen VERY few units that were bundled with cases that were ever worth anything if it was a standard manufacturer bundle.

That being said, the fact that it's a cooler master PSU should be enough evidence to avoid it.

 

[AMDRazer]

One smoked unit that we have no idea about the backstory regarding why it smoked, and without credible reviews that support it's poor quality, does not qualify a unit for a particular placement. Plus, it's a model that comes WITH a case, so it should already be known or assumed that's it's probably a poor unit. I've seen VERY few units that were bundled with cases that were ever worth anything if it was a standard manufacturer bundle.

That being said, the fact that it's a cooler master PSU should be enough evidence to avoid it.

https://www.alzashop.com/cooler-master-thermal-master-500w-d460347.htm#popis

Not even Cooler master, its an obscure subsidary "Thermal master"

 

[Darkbreeze]

That unit CLEARLY says Cooler Master Thermal Master, even at the link you provided.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Coolermaster Thermal Master series is made by Sun Pro and Solytech so we can safely call them tier 5. No certification and the "500w" model supplies a whopping 240 watts on the 12v rail.

 

[Darkbreeze]

They may be a discontinued model too. Looks like that link was to a unit that indicates it's not available. IF it's discontinued, Dottorent generally removes them from the list. Might not be a bad idea to have a second list of ranked models that are discontinued. I'd be glad to maintain that if I had a listing of all the models that were previously on the 1.0 tier list or are known to be discontinued. We know that a lot less developed countries and even some TigerDirect and Newegg listings still sell a lot of those discontinued models. Just because they're not being made anymore doesn't mean there aren't stockpiles of crap laying around being offloaded to unwary customers. Just a thought.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

We should absolutely have a discontinued list. Sounds like a vast undertaking 😀

 

[Darkbreeze]

Isn't everything.

 

[Saga Lout]

This thread has been an eye-opener for me because here in the UK, in twelve years fixing PCs for a living, I rarely come across flawed PSUs and much less fried systems because of a failed unit.

Maybe this is because of our British Standards Institute setting well researched and highly enforced standards of quality.

Whatever happened to ANSI? How do manufacturers get way with putting rubbish on the market which, the fail, could have such lethal consequences?

 

[Turb0Yoda]

I assume they make press units? Cherry picked ones? Not sure
By the way, love the signature. My friend has a shirt with something similar.

 

[Benjiwenji]

Hows the Roswill Photon series? What tier should they be in?

 

[RCFProd]

Hows the Roswill Photon series? What tier should they be in?

It's right there in tier three. Use Ctrl + F to search keywords.

 

[Onus]

Saga, I think you're right about higher standards in the UK, AND enforcement. Here in the US, such crap is clearly consumer fraud, but there is no enforcement (the right amount of money may have changed hands), so it's buyer beware.

 

[The Grox Empire]

And 1 more thing. Does high end PSU like X series need AVR?

 

[dottorrent]

New unit added into Tier 3 -

SilentumPC Vero M1 600w.

It's in Tier 3 due to basic safety circuitry, but it isn't a bad unit overall. Made by a company I've never heard of before known as Sama AKA Guangzhou AOJIE. Definitely a better unit than Corsair's aging CX line, and that more protection circuitry.

For those wondering where the review for this unit is, check it out here.

 

[Archaic59]

After reading the review I'm not very impressed. I think it should be tier 4 until they fix the protection circuits.

 

[Saga Lout]

Saga, I think you're right about higher standards in the UK, AND enforcement. Here in the US, such crap is clearly consumer fraud, but there is no enforcement (the right amount of money may have changed hands), so it's buyer beware.

So following on from that, I have to ask if the whole tiers list is totally meaningless if manufacturers aren't held to account if they drop their standards after these tests have been conducted? A tier one PSU could fall into tier three if sub-standard components find their way in after testing?

 

[MarkW]

Its not meaningless. People do come here and check. Unfortunately most do not though. And its often not until they come asking for help before they ever find out that there are crap power supplies out there. Even then, the reactions vary. Had one night before last where the power supply was made by a company on the Tier 5 list. I told him not only that it was on tier 5, but I cut and pasted the Tier 5 header, and put it in Bold Red text. Meanwhile, someone else said it could be software, and I am sitting here watching this guy spend hours trying to fix the software and completely ignoring the fact that he is a potential fireball running his system.

And for those of us that are helping people out, having a list like this is invaluable.

 

[aWeirdGamer]

What tier would you put the XFX TS Series 650W 80 Plus Bronze PSU (P1-650S-NLB9)?

 

[Onus]

New unit added into Tier 3 -

SilentumPC Vero M1 600w.

It's in Tier 3 due to basic safety circuitry, but it isn't a bad unit overall. Made by a company I've never heard of before known as Sama AKA Guangzhou AOJIE. Definitely a better unit than Corsair's aging CX line, and that more protection circuitry.

For those wondering where the review for this unit is, check it out here.

After reading the review, I'd put this on tier-4, flirting with tier-5. It CROAKS under stress; protections are missing. It may not kill parts (saving it from that bottom rung), but I'm sure I can find other tier-4 units I'd choose over this one.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

He gave it an 8.5/10 performance but the 5.5/10 build quality kills it. Tier 4.

The XFX is a tier 2. They don't have anything that's not tier 1 or 2 because Seasonic makes all their units.