The Power Supply Unit tier list Discussion thread

Page 30 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
That's the problem with Colorado, 104° in the summer, -10° in the winter. So far we've had a day where it was 72° at 1pm with warm clear skies and by 5pm it was 14°F with 8 inches of snow by the next morning. And we're not even into the snowy part of the season yet. So our ambient is all over the charts.

Just wondering if anybody has any thoughts on this PSU. It's a Seasonic M12II 620w. Since it was installed, about two months ago, it read 5.13v on the +5v, pretty much regardless of load, never dropping below 5v for more than a fraction of a second. This morning I had everything go black, total reset, but no clocks were reset and nothing else seemed to be affected. So I have to assume it was the PSU only. It's working fine now, except, now the +5v is at a constant 4.953. It does not deviate from that reading by more than .003v on my DVOM. The +12v is constant at 12.055v which hasn't changed. The +3v is a steady 3.360v. The only thing that's changed is the +5v, and not by that much.

I understand that it's still well within spec, but my concern is that it is a consistent change in the reading from prior to the unit resetting itself for whatever reason. Do you think having the steady normal reading change from 5.13v to 4.953v is honestly enough of a warning sign to warrant replacement? I'm going to anyhow but I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to wait and see if it does it again, possibly with a different result, or just not use the unit until the replacement arrives. I don't want to keep it as a backup if this change signals the likelihood of further problems but the readings themselves under load are ok. Obviously, I don't have the equipment to do the kind of testing used by review personnel so I thought I'd get a consensus from you guys.
 
Seasonic M12II 620w Reviewed and compared to others in its class here http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2014/06/20/550w-650w-psu-roundup/9 Personally, I prefer the eVGA G2 750W - reviewed here http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/SuperNOVA_G2_750/1.html even though it's a bit of overkill for my system - it's Tier 1, Gold rated vs. the Seasonic M12II which is Bronze rated but also Tier 1 - I believe the eVGA G2 is also a higher price point - in AU you can get the 620 Seasonic for $122 - $175, where as the eVGA is $145-$205. Not much of a price difference for an extra 130W, Gold rating and 10 Year warranty!

I know this is pretty simple stuff and we are discussing way more advanced solutions than the below, but often a reminder of the simple things can get you 5-10degC lower or more.

Always direct port as much heat outside the case as possible and don't compromise on this.
If you can fit a 200mm fan, then do so, don't go to a 140 or 120mm just to save $5.
Ensure your intake fans are sucking more air than the outtakes to avoid dust being sucked into the unprotected grills on the case and so they force air out of every grill - you need a positive pressure in the case to avoid by-passing the intake filters and you get dirt and dust build up
Clogged or blocked heat sinks are very inefficient, even just a little dirt restricts airflow and efficiency
Always plan decent cable management (The eVGA G2 PSU's are pretty darn good - and come with some good long cables so you can route them up behind the MB and not restrict airflow)
Avoid using internal heat sinks - the Natua D14 is awesome at removing heat from the CPU, but just dumps it straight into the case to be evacuated by other fans and thus increasing the internal ambient of the PC Case. When you look at it from an efficiency stand point - the 2 fans on the D14 are using energy and then relying on other fans to evac the heat from the case and in all likelihood these fans are managed with a different controller than the CPU Fan so again, loss of efficiency.
Most internal CPU sinks also heat the RAM due to proximity on many Mobo's
Water cooling ports that heat straight out the case and is reasonably cheap.
Use a chassis with the PSU in a separate chamber or ensure its sucking air from the base of the case rather than from inside the case.
And of course, ventilation - make sure you put the PC in a smart location that is preferably getting good airflow from the rooms AC

As I said, simple stuff, common sense really, but I see these basics being overlooked all the time when servicing systems.
 



What are you talking about dude? I don't recall asking ANYTHING related to temps. Heh, seriously. Nevermind, I'm just going to pretend like I didn't just read that as a reply to the very specific question I asked.
 
Was in relation to the OT discussion about climate temps and the simple things people often forget about when looking at cooling... but all good buddy - did you check out the reviews on the PSU's in the 550W to 650W category as that was directed specificly to your question? If your PSU has suddenly taken a voltage drop for no reason (no load increase, not OC tweaking etc) and it's got a bit age on it, I'd replace it sooner rather than later...you said it's 2 months old...likely not grounds for a warranty replacement, but would certainly rock my confidence in the M12II enough to consider going to a Gold rated PSU. To be honest, im surprised any Bronze PSU's are Tier 1, but then I'm not a reviewer...
 
King, efficiency has relatively nothing to do with reliability or quality, aside from the obvious fact that if the unit is otherwise of high quality and is built reliably, it's probably also efficient. Very good quality units almost always have at minimum, Bronze efficiency ratings, and at best, well, anything above that.

NOT every unit that has one of those ratings has either standing as being a reliable unit, nor is it necessarily a quality built product. In fact, it may not even be deserving of the 80plus label it wears. Many very good units don't even stand up to the 80plus ratings they have, so the rating is essentially worthless unless otherwise proven in the review lab.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/04/80_plus_irrelevant_to_you_when_buying_psu/#.VIpsV-luhhF


http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/power-supplies-with-fake-80-plus-badges/1054


Sorry about the other part on the temps, it just doesn't seem to apply since for the most part PSUs are independent systems when it comes to the cooling. Case cooling generally has little effect on the PSU unless it's a top mounted unit or configured to draw air from the case which is becoming extremely uncommon except in some mini-ITX and micro-ATX configurations.
 
Efficiency is not a very reliable criteria to grade a PSU. Check up the tier list, there are many Gold efficiency units below Bronze units, it just isn't something one should see when we talk about 'quality'. Quality is better limited to caps, voltage regulations, etc. If we talk about 'features', then efficiency, modularity and stuff have a bigger role to play.
 
sure, sure, but with a better efficiency rating usually (and I stress usually) it will come with quality components and better build so it's a good starting point when making comparisons - but you're right, efficiency is not always a good measure of quality or reliability, so apologies.
 


More like coincidentally instead of usually.
 
Honestly, quality components may or may not come with good efficiency, but the other way round is not always accurate. Efficiency IMO should be in the bottom of the comparision criteria. You won't be able to enjoy the Gold (or whatever) efficiency if the PSU itself can't sustain heavy loads for long durations. Modularity and efficiency generally doesn't help to overall quality.
 
Guys this may sound worrying, but I may need to rebuild the tier list.

The new anti-spam protocols have made updating this list impossible, as I have tried every feasible solution, even going as far as removing all Tier 5 units and nothing is working at all.

This may take effect over a few days, unless posting the list consistently becomes a dreaded option.

Thank you all for your support.
 


Almost any unit marketed as 'high end' is modular. There are quite a few units that are excellent that are not the high end models of that brand. I won't ever have another unit that's not modular myself.
 
That unit is not great nor terrible. It is more like a 700w unit, as after 700w it begins to undervolt terribly. For your system it will be fine as your computer will draw less than 400w at FULL 100% load.

Would something better be more idea? Sure, but that PSU won't blow up your computer.
 


So does that mean I can't really SLI GTX 970s with the PSU with some slight overclocking?

P.S. I won't be SLI'ing GTX 970s with a Pentium, it's just of reference.
 


Short answer is no - the recommendation for SLI 970/980 is 800W minimum
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom