PSU tier list 2.0

[seeingeyegod]

Thanks, and I'll just continue playing awesome games on my junk potato until it rots.

 

[tiny voices]

Can't help them all unfortunately.

Good luck!

 

[Saga Lout]

It may be that folks view PSUs as disposable pieces of unimportant equiment without realising they can render the whole box full of hardware totally useless.

 

[Benjiwenji]

Thanks for your concern (I mean desire to prove you are correct). However, from searching a bunch of threads it still seems to me the models most people are complaining about are 500 and 600 watt, not 700 like mine, and also that the new/old timeline is not exact. I'm not going to replace this PSU until it dies.. which probably won't be for years despite this list. I've had cheaper PSU's die in the past and none has ever taken out my PC with it either so I'm not really worried.

And it may not die for a couple of years. My 3 500w PSU certainly lasted for years, but I didn't push them over 60% or OC. Try not to push yours too hard or it might just die early.

 

[seeingeyegod]

Yeah definitely not planning on maxing it out with many drives or SLI so hopefully I'm in the clear I promise to consult this list next time I need a PSU though!

 

[Knicks2012]

great thread

 

[Karadjgne]

@seeingeyegod.
Everyone who has been driving for any length of time has had experience with a flat tire. Pain in the butt but no big deal. Several years ago, the Ford Explorer had issues with their stock Michelin tires. For no apparent reason, healthy seeming tires would suddenly go flat. This was a big deal. It was the cause of multiple accidents with injuries upto and including deaths. This is the concern with your psu. It's a known psu that can and most likely will take out other components when it dies. It doesn't need to be stressed, abused, over heated, under volted, it just dies. And not quietly.

While there are many who can appreciate not replacing an obviously healthy seeming psu, its only healthy today. That's not to say it'll be that way tomorrow, or next week or in 6 months.

$50 now is cheap insurance vrs $50 for psu, $100 for new mobo and possibly another $300 for a gpu

 

[Yoni__]

What about the Cooler Master GM Series? Like the G650M?

 

[tiny voices]

They are not great, but not awful. Tier 3 I believe.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yep, tier 3.

 

[seeingeyegod]

@seeingeyegod.
Everyone who has been driving for any length of time has had experience with a flat tire. Pain in the butt but no big deal. Several years ago, the Ford Explorer had issues with their stock Michelin tires. For no apparent reason, healthy seeming tires would suddenly go flat. This was a big deal. It was the cause of multiple accidents with injuries upto and including deaths. This is the concern with your psu. It's a known psu that can and most likely will take out other components when it dies. It doesn't need to be stressed, abused, over heated, under volted, it just dies. And not quietly.

While there are many who can appreciate not replacing an obviously healthy seeming psu, its only healthy today. That's not to say it'll be that way tomorrow, or next week or in 6 months.

$50 now is cheap insurance vrs $50 for psu, $100 for new mobo and possibly another $300 for a gpu

LoL, my PSU is gonna make my SUV roll over and kill my whole family!

 

[tiny voices]

Did you even read the whole post?

Your joke doesn't even makes any sense in context.

 

[seeingeyegod]

Yes I read the whole post, and you are comparing defective tires that caused fatal auto accidents to a cheap PSU that isn't going to do anything when it breaks other than make my computer not turn on. Kind of a different level of responsibility involved. I just find it funny how some people can't abide by the fact that I'm doing fine with this horrible horrible tier 5 PSU (which cost 70 bucks and has a 5 year warranty)

 

[Onus]

Cheap PSUs, when they croak, may spike attached components with damaging voltages (thats may, not will), especially if they are lacking even basic protection circuits. I don't know that your TR2 is quite that bad, especially if it is a newer one. Still, it's a chance I wouldn't take with my own equipment, so I'm not going to recommend it to others. Given that Coolermaster still sells some units that list protections they don't actually have, another cheap unit like the TR2 could be similar.

 

[RCFProd]

Yes I read the whole post, and you are comparing defective tires that caused fatal auto accidents to a cheap PSU that isn't going to do anything when it breaks other than make my computer not turn on. Kind of a different level of responsibility involved. I just find it funny how some people can't abide by the fact that I'm doing fine with this horrible horrible tier 5 PSU (which cost 70 bucks and has a 5 year warranty)

A power supply, when it fails, can damage other components permanently. It works fine until the day it doesn't. It's simply risky.

 

[ko888]

Yes I read the whole post, and you are comparing defective tires that caused fatal auto accidents to a cheap PSU that isn't going to do anything when it breaks other than make my computer not turn on. Kind of a different level of responsibility involved. I just find it funny how some people can't abide by the fact that I'm doing fine with this horrible horrible tier 5 PSU (which cost 70 bucks and has a 5 year warranty)

The TR2-700AL2NC-A is based on the CWT DSA II 650S. Thermaltake is selling a 650W psu by its 700W peak power rating. That PSU is no worse than the Corsair CX Series.

 

[Saga Lout]

I have witnessed two which were actually happening and the aftermaths of several other fires caused by failing PSUs. At least I have a fightng chance of steering out of a tyre blow-out but with a box inside a box which chose to catch fire on my workbench. Ten seconds later and I could have gone out to answer the doorbell.

It certainly isn't something to LOL about.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I don't see any indications in his posts that the TR2-700AL2NC-A is the model being referenced. Unless there are no other 700w revisions it may not be the exact model in question. There appear to be several models. TR2-700AL2NC-A, TR2-700AL2NC-B, TR2-700AH2NFB, TR2-700AH2NF. Probably more as well. Without knowing which exact model it is, I don't know how we can say with any certainly which of these it is or what platform it's based on unless I missed something. While some reviews have shown some units to be pretty fair, reviews on other models are horrid. I generally defer to ko888 on these matters as he's a living PSU like SR71 Blackbird, but I think I'd have to see a review of the exact model you have to have even the slightest confidence in the unit. Again, it's your machine though.

 

[ko888]

I don't see any indications in his posts that the TR2-700AL2NC-A is the model being referenced. Unless there are no other 700w revisions it may not be the exact model in question. There appear to be several models. TR2-700AL2NC-A, TR2-700AL2NC-B, TR2-700AH2NFB, TR2-700AH2NF. Probably more as well. Without knowing which exact model it is, I don't know how we can say with any certainly which of these it is or what platform it's based on unless I missed something. While some reviews have shown some units to be pretty fair, reviews on other models are horrid. I generally defer to ko888 on these matters as he's a living PSU like SR71 Blackbird, but I think I'd have to see a review of the exact model you have to have even the slightest confidence in the unit. Again, it's your machine though.

Of the models, that you've listed, only the TR2-700AL2NC-A and TR-700AL2NC-B have the 5 Year warranty. Both use CWT as the OEM. The TR-700AL2NC-B doesn't seem to be as widely available.

The TR2-700AH2NFB and TR2-700AH2NF use FSP as the OEM. These models only have a 3 Year warranty.

The TR2 models that should definitely be avoided are the ones that use HEC as the OEM.

There seems to be a single letter in the model number that indicates the OEM: C for CWT, F for FSP and H for HEC.

E.g. Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU TR2-600NL2NH uses HEC as the OEM.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nice. See, THAT, I wasn't aware of. Makes it a bit easier to determine which are junk and which are so so. Thanks.

 

[tiny voices]

I still wouldn't consider the CWT ones 'good'. Just less bad.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Which is why I said junk and "so so".

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Power supplies have been interesting me a lot lately, so much that it is my new favorite PC component. I've been studying the PSU in depth and hope to gain a better understanding of how it all works.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Everybody needs a hobby.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

It's so interesting, and a bit confusing. Power factor correction is confusing me. The article I am reading says reactive power is "is the power required to produce the magnetic fields to enable the real work to be done on transformers, motors, etc.". Where exactly is this magnetic filed?

Power factor ratio is getting me confused with a power supply's efficiency, because the efficiency of a power supply is the ratio of watts sent to PC components to the watts drawn in from the wall. So I am confused how power factor ratio is totally unrelated. Anyone want to shed some light?