PSU tier list 2.0

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What do you mean by fooling cunsumers? which products?
 


The CoolerMaster V Series and V Series semi modular are both very good product lines. Buy either with confidence. The lower end Coolermaster units don't have a very good reputation. The higher end stuff is pretty good though and the V Series and V Series semi modular lines in particular are more what you would call excellent.
 
Yeah, it looks like the Enhance units still manage a 9.4 at JG, which is actually better than some of the EVGA Super Flower built units. BUT, I imagine they're also more expensive knowing Cooler Master and I am unlikely to recommend spending an extra twenty to thirty bucks for a unit that managed to get a .2 higher score than something else. Still, for areas where selection is limited, it might be a real good choice.
 
i picked up an Antec High Current Pro Platinum 750W (the unit that is listed all the way at the top of tier 1) last week for $62 (after $25 rebate). woo hoo! :bounce:




those scores don't mean jack. he deducts points for dumb s**t like not including cables ties or if he feels like he doesn't like the manual. he also grades on price. a lot of the units that scored 9.5 or so would get perfect 10s if he would figure in today's prices. for example, units like the Corsair HX750i that have went down in price by like $70, units that scored 10 everywhere except "value". also, what was once consider excellent ripple suppression is not considered only "good". so results between long time gaps are NOT comparable.

and yes, he actually DID deduct points from several EVGA/Super Flower units because they didn't have cable ties!!!!

what you actually NEED to look at in johnny's reviews are voltage regulation, ripple, efficiency and build quality. the scores mean nothing. you can buy 50 pack of those stupid cable ties on fleabay for $5 shipped and manuals are a waste of paper. if you can spend $100+ on a PSU you can find a way to go online and check the PDF version.
 
To start with, "HE" doesn't do any of that. Oklahoma Wolf or Tazz do the reviews and have for quite some time. But I get where you're coming from on the nit picking, sort of. With all things being equal these days, on the very high end units, there has to be something to set these units apart and those little "extras" you can get at the flea markets as you say, seem to be what they've decided will do the trick. But I get you.

Maybe you should go scream at them about it. We're already well aware of the state of the union, AND, most of us are pretty well versed in what makes a good power supply and what things to look for in an in depth review of a power supply. But thanks for refreshing our memory, in case we had forgotten. Which I don't think we had.
 


7-8 year old lower end unit. You should think about replacing it just based on age alone. And doesn't your new $700 GPU deserve a power supply worthy of it? I never understand having a budget for the best GPU available and using a bargain basement PSU.
 


The PSU itself is hardly 2 years old, and it's a 80Plus 900w with all the PCI-E connectors which a 980 Ti needs . So I don't see any reason why it's not safe to run a single 980TI on it . Also I've seen people running GTX 600s SLI setup on the same PSU .

 
You may have bought it 2 years ago but the design is from 2007-2008. So if it hasn't been in use it's probably fine although it would score in the tier 3 or tier 4 range on this list. I wouldn't use it with a high end system.
 


Nice find. That's even worse than I thought.
 


Well that's quite strange . I've been running the Overclocked GTX 680 for almost 2 years on my FSP Epsilon 900w and have never faced a single system crash . The PSU is still running perfectly quite like it was at the time of bought and getting the expected overall performance from my system .

I know these all tier ratings mean something but they don't always seem 100% accurate .
 


Yeah, they really are terrible. I definitely think they should be moved.
 
@PVG3N0M,

Youve got a 900w psu pushing a gpu that only requires a 550w psu. Even with huge cpu/gpu OC, you could honestly get by with a 600w. Where the problems come into being is the outputs on the Epsilon are extremely noisy, the AC to DC output ripple is anything but close to flat. For OC flat is really important for high OC stability. What you aren't seeing is the fact that at whatever OC you think is max stable, you could push a lot higher with a quality psu. Also to consider is most all psus reach maximum efficiency @50-70% load. Your 900w is pushing a 350-400w normal game load, your efficiency on a 80+ unit being closer to 75% than 82%. A quality gold unit would be pulling @460w from the wall, vrs your 540w. That's @80w wasted, about the same as turning on a light and leaving it on for hours. Then there is the heat factor. The Epsilon are only good for a max of 40°, go 41° and it shuts down, as shown in the test. While your psu may not be seeing that temp, its still the max, so anything even slightly less such as 35° (which is quite easy to reach in some climates and cases with crappy airflow) is actually hurting both the lifespan of the psu, and it's efficiency, as most of those units are tested for max efficiency and output at 20°C and start loosing after that, as talked about by Jonny guru, hotter it gets, worse output, to where at 35° your 900w psu is taxing itself to output 800w, creating more heat as it's now working harder.

All this adds up to a really crappy psu, and only the fact that you are in the 350w-450w range has saved you from some headaches. If you pushed sli 680's (800w psu recommended), its almost a certain fact your 900w psu would be failing constantly, if not burned out by now, even with 100w overhead.
 
Those FSP units are an example of some essentially liar-labeled units that are actually sufferable if you think of them as good for only 80% of their labels. I still wouldn't want one, but if it's the best you can get...

And, Aurum reviewed well at HardwareSecrets some time ago.
 


Plenty of folks prefer to run their PSU between 50-75% to keep the efficiency good, and have room to add in something thirstier. I have a 650W Antec when my KillAWatt reads out 350W max.

Granted my Antec doesn't even have the extra 6+2s for a 2nd card.
 
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