PSU tier list 2.0

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True. The VP450 is a notable exception; I've recommended that one many times. It's more than what is needed for basic business builds though; I'll need to check out the BP350, although I'm not sure it isn't a much older platform.
 
K0888 has indicated in the past that the Antec EA-450 green is a very good stand in for the VP-450, having both 80plus efficiency, active PFC and Haswell compliance, which the VP-450 without active PFC does not have. It's not that much more than the VP-450 so it's always an option and it's a Delta built unit if the conversation over at JG is to be believed although the Orion platform database doesn't show any Antec units using Delta except the HCG 750 and 850. This may be a error on either parties behalf.
 
You're thinking of the "Antec EA-450 GREEN", which is the same Delta design used in the new Antec VPFx50 series.
You might have also been referencing the older "EA-430D Green" or "EA-430 Green" models, which are somewhat older (and still Delta).

I don't list some of the Delta-made Antec models on my site, because their designs couldn't be seen in other power supply brands - since, of course, only Antec has the privilege of having their PSUs manufactured by Delta in the PC enthusiast market.
However, now some of Antec's own Delta-made lines are starting to use the same platforms - for example, the mentioned VPF Bronze series and the Eartwatts "GREEN" series.

For your convenience, I updated the Antec page with the Earthwatts EA-x50 GREEN (case sensitive) models and the new VPF series to indicate that they use the same design.
 
So it seems Antec 450s are not much different from the Zalman units. Depending on the exact model, you could get a decent Delta made 450 or a half crap FSP 450. Great. More research to figure out who is what, and what is made by who....
 
The "VP-something" 450W models sure can get confusing. There's so many of both old and modern units available for purchase with similar names.

I think the VP450 was the most prominent in various shops and stores, and it's also the oldest one. The review at Hardware Secrets doesn't say much about its actual performance, because they don't show voltage regulation results - they do say the voltages stayed within 3% of the nominal values, but we don't know how much they dropped across the load range - which is also very important.
For example, the +12V could've ranged from 12.35V at low load to 11.70V at 100% load - the deviation would be within 3% as they said, but the drop would be as high as 5.4% (rather extreme, made-up example). Or, it could be very straight and stick to something like 12.33V without dropping much - it's a shame we don't know that for this exact model.
I wish there were crossload results too, but you can imagine how well this kind of a design would handle them.
It's good they posted the ripple results at least - the +12V reaches 75mV, and it can only go up from there as capacitors age.

Xbitlabs tested the PFC version of that (VP450P), and they had problems with minor rails voltage regulation - though the +12V stayed pretty straight if you made sure to load the other rails appropriately.
The ripple is high too (notice how all the values are already reaching the ATX limits), and it will get worse with age too.

There isn't a review for the Delta-made VP450F exactly, but there is one for the VP550F: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Antec/VP550F/5.html
It doesn't have problems with voltage regulation or load regulation, but crossloads are killing it - look in the ripple and voltage regulation tables. That's only crossload, though - normal loading is very fine. It will also last longer, since Delta as usual used a grab bag of both great and worse capacitors - and even the lower quality ones can last some time, because Delta knows how to appropriately choose them.

The new VPF450 is naturally the best choice right now though, since it finally uses DC-DC conversion instead of the old group regulation scheme. That's where all the budget units are going - Cooler Master GM series and similar lines started it with roughly affordable prices, and then Antec VPF brought the price for a budget PSU with DC-DC even further down. At least in Europe, because that's where these two lines are targeted - the USA got the CM GM too, but much later and for an absolutely bad price. The american market will get the VPFs though, under the Earthwatts GREEN moniker, which is nice.
 
The VP-450 with no suffix, that has the red sliding switch on the back, is the one generally referenced as a good model. As we've talked about many times before, it doesn't have active PFC, thus no 80plus rating, and is not Haswell compliant although as we also know it can be used with those types of platforms so long as you turn off the C6/C7 states in the bios. So that unit is very good, for the price, the others are not so good except maybe the VPF450.

Thanks for adding those units to the platform database, much appreciated, and yes, I was referring to the EA-450 green. Many sources including several of our more "charged" members, have indicated that it's probably one of the better units available under 40 bucks.



 
I have an old Corsair TX650 from like 2013, never opened it up.. Their site says even the older model supports Haswell chips, so would that be good enough to run an amd 380x in a rig?
 


I totally hear you. It seems as if all the quality units under 400W are priced the same as quality units that are 550W or even sometimes 650W. I find 300W quality units and am like, "$60? Might as well get a quality 550W".
 
If a unit is within ten bucks of the price, that should always be the case anyhow I'd think. That way you have the ability to reconfigure components later that may require more power, plus, you have a little better buffer zone. I agree though, it's ridiculous. I think these OEMs and vendors just want to get everybody to go ahead and buy higher powered units so they don't have to manufacture as many different model numbers. It probably doesn't cost a whole lot more to make a 550w unit as it does to make a 450w unit.
 
Well, a basic business system will NEVER get a high-end graphics card; a non-modular 550W PSU will typically have two PCIe cables; especially if the case is mATX or mITX, stuffing them (plus the extra drive cable or two) becomes an issue.
 
The BP350 would be good, except that it only has two SATA cables; I want three (optical + SSD + Data) or even four (Data x2, possibly RAID).
The 300W and 350W Seasonic models appear to have four, so that's probably the way to go.
 


But we already know what tier those psus are in so what does it matter what those cost? The keyword is estimated and even if a psu is on sale, the normal price is the indicator of what you should expect to pay regardless of price changing.
 
Which is misleading. You'd think by now ppl would learn, but they don't. They'll happily spend $500+ on a gpu, but God forbid they spend a dime more than necessary on a psu. If you post 'should be worth' prices, ppl will envariably choose the cheapest out of the bunch, everytime, regardless of the fact that with a little research on pcpartpicker, they'd see that the one they are hot for is the only unit not on sale+rebate at newegg this week.

The Tier List is a good place to start not there final answer, nor should it be. You are also forgetting that this site, including that list, is multinational so USD means nada to too many to be worth the effort.
 
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