Seasonic Prime Titanium 650W PSU Review

[Guest]

Seasonic jumps onto the 80 PLUS Titanium wagon with three new units that belong to its Prime family. The 650 W model is under our scope today. Besides high efficiency, it also offers great performance, quiet operation, and nice looks.

Seasonic Prime Titanium 650W PSU Review : Read more

 

[bharatwd]

60 Ampere of inrush current is too high for 230 V countries. Wont that damage the other parts in the pc?

 

[Aris_Mp]

It won't damage anything in the PC since it doesn't have to do anything with the PSU's secondary side. High inrush currents apply stress to the electrical infrastructure (switches, relays etc.)

 

[bharatwd]

Hi Aris, thanks for the reply..............So it will basically hurt the PSU components itself?

 

[josejones]

"Haswell Ready" ??? How about SkyLake or the soon to be released KabyLake ready?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

My mind is blown. This is a great unit and I'm happy to see the transient response performance was good. HardOCP's testing on one of the Prime Titanium units shows not-so-good transient response performance.

Whoops accidental upvote above.

 

[Aris_Mp]

Nope it won't hurt the PSU, just the breakers and electrical circuits before it will be stressed a bit.

Haswell ready: I was thinking to change this to S6/S7 compatible. Probably the time has come for this to happen.

 

[bharatwd]

Thanks for the reply Aris........10 years warranty will be fun if the current inrush is at 60+ Ampere especially in India

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Excellent review. Impressive work/effort by Seasonic as well. Curious to see how the other units in this new line stack up to this one. Haven't seen HOCP's review yet, but there has been some variance in others, but still seems like a solid effort on Seasonic's part.

With no capacitors in the cables, can't see a reason not to flatten the atx connector as well. I guess the sleeved atx connect look has become somewhat traditional. Not a criticism by any means, just saying.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Excellent review. Impressive work/effort by Seasonic as well. Curious to see how the other units in this new line stack up to this one. Haven't seen HOCP's review yet, but there has been some variance in others, but still seems like a solid effort on Seasonic's part.

With no capacitors in the cables, can't see a reason not to flatten the atx connector as well. I guess the sleeved atx connect look has become somewhat traditional. Not a criticism by any means, just saying.

On Jonnyguru Oklahomawolf likes the ATX cable to be sleeved and the others to be ribbon; this is because 24 wires can sometimes become difficult to manage in ribbon style versus sleeved. That's just his thinking at least, and I sort of understand where he comes from with that. If it's ribbon style that also makes it an extremely wide cable, whereas if it is sleeved it's more narrow for better cable routing and then widens up at the end.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I find round sleeved cables much more difficult to manage, and the reason why many builders sleeve there own cables or use extensions. OTOH, the plain flat cables are just fugly, you can get the best of both worlds with flat, individually sleeved cables. Individually sleveed cables, with cable combs, offer the optimal combination of aesthetic choice and easier cable routing.

I don't really understand the big "ooh wow" about Titanium rates PSUs; all it is is a "green" energy consumption rating and unless you pay well above the average US utility costs, you'll never get a positive ROI. What I don't understand is why "PSUs and cables" aren't offered as a "bundle". I hate paying a quality set of cable and then leaving them in a box. I'd like to see some PSU manufacturer "step up" and and say offer every PSU with a $xx coupon for a set of cables. The value of the coupon would cover the basic cable set so it would essentially come free with the PSU. OTOH, if you wanted to move up to a, individually sleeved set, you would only have to pay the difference between the base set and the set of your choice

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/18823/psu-cab-50/Corsair_Professional_Series_Individually_Sleeved_DC_Modular_Cable_Kit_Type_3_Generation_2_-_White_CP-8920050.html?tl=g2c413s1599

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

On Jonnyguru Oklahomawolf likes the ATX cable to be sleeved and the others to be ribbon; this is because 24 wires can sometimes become difficult to manage in ribbon style versus sleeved. That's just his thinking at least, and I sort of understand where he comes from with that. If it's ribbon style that also makes it an extremely wide cable, whereas if it is sleeved it's more narrow for better cable routing and then widens up at the end.

Mindreader! lol Before commenting re a flat connector, I'd thought about OkWolf's preference, which I agree is undestandable. Though a neatly flattened, manageable atx connector is fine too. Or, though not one for ostentatious displays, I certainly wouldn't turn down an atx connector with individual sleeving. =D

 

[powernod]

I think that none of us expected for this unit to be so good, but Seasonic managed to impress us once again!!
With this platform Seasonic managed to lead the analog-PSUs into near perfect levels!!
P.S. Great review as always from Aris!!

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I don't really understand the big "ooh wow" about Titanium rates PSUs; all it is is a "green" energy consumption rating and unless you pay well above the average US utility costs, you'll never get a positive ROI.

I totally understand the ooh and wow for Titanium units, especially ones like this. There is a direct mathematical connection between efficiency, noise, and lifespan. Assuming hypothetical units A and B to be identical, except for B being more efficient, the increased efficiency of B results in increased lifespan or the ability to maintain the same lifespan with a slower-spinning and quieter fan on B. It's up to the engineers how they want to balance all that out, and with Titanium units there is more flexibility. Less efficient units usually plain-out require faster fans.

Also, this unit has incredible performance and also incredible holdup times for its price. Contrary to the price/performance graphs, I really do think this unit is a great purchase, it's the most efficient power supply, one of the absolutely quietest power supplies, should last extremely long, and most likely has longer lifespan than gold units like the RMx and EVGA G2 that sell well on the market. Think of a place like India, how helpful a high holdup time like this may be for somebody who doesn't feel like dishing out a ton of rupees for a UPS; the holdup time along could really help the PC remain running with the unstable AC they have there.

 

[bit_user]

we can't help but wonder why it didn't flatten the ATX cable as well.

A few reasons:

• 
  ■ Some cases have holes and paths that are too small for such a wide ribbon cable (I had to angle the connector and pass it through almost sideways, in my last build).
  ■ When you need to twist these, such a wide cable will block airflow.
  ■ IMO, their flat cables are fugly.

The only good argument I can see for flat cables is foldability. But folding is a pain, and often requires longer cables to do it well. Plus, it doesn't work well on such heavy-guage cables. Since most people don't bother, I think it's good they at least stopped at the mobo cable. I prefer their older, sleeved cables.

Does anyone know if the connectors are compatible with their previous modular PSU cables? Being able to swap PSUs without re-cabling was a huge win for me, recently.

10 years warranty will be fun if the current inrush is at 60+ Ampere especially in India

Why do you assume the Indian market will have the same warranty?

 

[Flame_Runner_Fast]

@BIT_USER About 2 months ago I tried to look at Pakistan PSUs for a Forum request and all the PSUs I saw were only 1-3 years of warranty. Even for the Corsair 1200i!

 

[Luay]

Size is very important especially in modern PCs. 170mm depth for a 650W unti is a minus that should be mentioned by the reviewer.

For example, this unit won't fit in the Fractal Design Nano S.

 

[vc9966]

92% vs 94% you could only see 2% improve in efficiency, but 8% vs 6% you could see 25% reduce in heat
reduce heat=reduce noise=improve reliability not just ROI thing

 

[vc9966]

Size is very important especially in modern PCs. 170mm depth for a 650W unti is a minus that should be mentioned by the reviewer.

For example, this unit won't fit in the Fractal Design Nano S.

Try SilverStone for mini size solution!!

 

[Kewlx25]

Size is very important especially in modern PCs. 170mm depth for a 650W unti is a minus that should be mentioned by the reviewer.

For example, this unit won't fit in the Fractal Design Nano S.

ATX specification says depth can be up to 244mm. If you want to use an ATX PSU, make sure your case supports ATX PSUs.

 

[Kewlx25]

60 Ampere of inrush current is too high for 230 V countries. Wont that damage the other parts in the pc?

Did you see the comparison PSU with 106 in-rush on 115v? Imagine 230v. I found a page on Tomshardware with a list of a bunch of PSUs and their in-rush, and 40-50 was pretty typical. The Seasonic X650 Gold was only 17.

 

[Onus]

A unit like this is why, despite excellent models from SuperFlower, Delta, and Flextronics, I remain an admitted Seasonic fanboy.

 

[basroil]

92% vs 94% you could only see 2% improve in efficiency, but 8% vs 6% you could see 25% reduce in heat
reduce heat=reduce noise=improve reliability not just ROI thing

Titanium rating isn't about peak efficiencies, it's about efficiency at low power. Whereas a normal 650W Gold or even platinum unit would have ~75% efficiency tops at 25W (think a haswell+1060+mobo+everything else at idle), this thing pulls over 80%

 

[turkey3_scratch]

170mm is a fine length because any hardware that requires a 650W PSU probably is inside a case than fits this PSU. But even if not, this PSU is about the best performance; Silverstone is for size constraints.

 

[DookieDraws]

I love Seasonic PSUs. Seasonic FTW!!!!