Seasonic Focus plus 550w worth it?

slyxxmarbo

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hi everyone!

wanted to see if it was worth it to purchase this. i was comparing it with the evga g3 550w, and there is a price difference on amazon for about $15. i know Seasonic is a well known and very reputable brand, but then again, so is evga... all my friends use Seasonic and they all swear by it, but i wanted to get some feedback from the community before i make my decision. thanks!
 
Hi Slyxxmarbo,

Thank you for your interest in our FOCUS Plus.
The best to have an idea about our product, it's to read the review that HardOCP here made (850W version) or the review of our 550W that you can find on PC Perspective for example. Reviews made from products sent directly from our resellers. Then, you can compare to any other products but I'm sure, with FOCUS Plus, we have something that you will like.

Thank you and have a pleasant weekend.
Best Regards,
 
I'm usually in the all superflower all the time boat when recommending PSUs, but it seems they might be running into supply issues that are cutting into their overall quality. The EVGA G3 series is a superflower based unit. The G2 series is also Superflower based, and tried and true. They're rockstars in performance. However, the 3 series seems to be having some stumbling issues in quality.

So right now, I'd say either stick to the older series (EVGA G2) or get the Seasonic. Seasonic rarely misfires, and makes super solid units.
 
thx Jorona! and i;m actually pleased to see a Seasonic Rep reply as well! thank you!

i think i will consider getting the Seasonic Focus, they got a 10 yr warranty for their entire wattage range, evga only offers 7 yrs i believe for their lower wattage models. and since you (Jarona) mentioned there might be quality issues with the g3's...i'd rather not chance it. Focus plus it is!

thanks to you both!
 
I have been looking at the Seasonic Focus plus and there seem to be two versions of this PSU. There is a Gold and a Platinum efficiency version.

The long warranty is great, longer than the Bitfenix PSU's but the number of connections are more limited. Only 6 SATA (8 on Bitfenix) seems a bit limited for such a PSU IMO and only 3 Molex (4 on Bitfenix) meaning less connections for converters. I have 2 TV cards which both require Molex/floppy connections and a USB3.0 card which also requires a Molex. Why are there not 8xSATA connections? With optical drives and SSDhard drives this seems a little under represented IMO. 4xSATA & 2xSATA cables, why not 2x4xSATA? Or better still 4x2xSATA which would allow greater connection flexibility, just disconnect any unused cables. Or if more connections (4) to the PSU is difficult, supplying some splitter cables where cables can be plugged into where needed. 2 splitters with 2 cables to each splitter with each having 2xSATA.

There is a lot to like about these PSU's but the connections are a real big limitation IMO.

Options for different cables would be nice or an easy way to purchase replacement cables with more connections.
 
Reading the reviews, it does look like there are more connections on the PSU's than supplied cables so more connections could be added. There are 4 SATA/Molex connections provided and 5 CPU/PCI-e which seems excessive to me. I do not think that I would use more than the CPU power and possibly 1 PCI-e power.

However finding places which sell them looks very difficult to find. Does anyone or a Seasonic rep know where these could be purchased in Europe?
 
Hello RedDwarf,

Thank you for your comment about our FOCUS Plus 550.
For cables, it's not possible to offer all cables or different set as it will increase the price and not all customers are ready to pay for extra cables that they won't use. So yes, sometimes, cables provided won't match exactly your need and we are sorry for that. We are trying our best to offer the best balance set of cables. However, if for your need, you may need more cable, please drop us a message using our contact form and we will be glad to do our best to assist you on this. For Europe, depending of what you need we can handle your request or give it to one of our local partner.

Once again, thank you very much for your feedback that is always appreciated in order to improve our product.
Best Regards,
 
Reading the reviews, it does look like there are more connections on the PSU's than supplied cables so more connections could be added. There are 4 SATA/Molex connections provided and 5 CPU/PCI-e which seems excessive to me. I do not think that I would use more than the CPU power and possibly 1 PCI-e power.

However finding places which sell them looks very difficult to find. Does anyone or a Seasonic rep know where these could be purchased in Europe?

the PCIE cables if they're the same as the 650 model have double 8 pins on each one so you can use the same cable to connect 2 cards.. so for example my 650 comes with 2x2 pcie cables so 4 total pcie adapters. that may be what you're seeing. first time i had seen it like that myself since my previous 3 psu's only had single adapter pcie cables from the psu which took up a lot of space on the back of the psu's.
 
Hello RedDwarf,

Thank you for your comment about our FOCUS Plus 550.
For cables, it's not possible to offer all cables or different set as it will increase the price and not all customers are ready to pay for extra cables that they won't use. So yes, sometimes, cables provided won't match exactly your need and we are sorry for that. We are trying our best to offer the best balance set of cables. However, if for your need, you may need more cable, please drop us a message using our contact form and we will be glad to do our best to assist you on this. For Europe, depending of what you need we can handle your request or give it to one of our local partner.

Once again, thank you very much for your feedback that is always appreciated in order to improve our product.
Best Regards,
Thanks, I might have to do that when I receive my Focus Plus 550 Platinum. I ordered on Wednesday so just awaiting delivery.
the PCIE cables if they're the same as the 650 model have double 8 pins on each one so you can use the same cable to connect 2 cards.. so for example my 650 comes with 2x2 pcie cables so 4 total pcie adapters. that may be what you're seeing. first time i had seen it like that myself since my previous 3 psu's only had single adapter pcie cables from the psu which took up a lot of space on the back of the psu's.
Yes I do know that there are 2 PCI-e connectors per cable. The pictures, if accurate, does show 5x8 pin PSU CPU/PCI-e connectors. It looks like the 650 is supplied with more than 1 PCI-e cable, 2, whereas the 550 is only supplied with one.
Focus-plus-platinum-004.png
 
Thanks, I might have to do that when I receive my Focus Plus 550 Platinum. I ordered on Wednesday so just awaiting delivery.

Yes I do know that there are 2 PCI-e connectors per cable. The pictures, if accurate, does show 5x8 pin PSU CPU/PCI-e connectors. It looks like the 650 is supplied with more than 1 PCI-e cable, 2, whereas the 550 is only supplied with one.


huh weird.. makes no sense why they'd try to save a few dollars by not supplying a second one unless the psu's not rated for sli/cfx and thus just have two optional ports to connect the pcie/cpu cables to. either way that's a weird choice so hopefully you're able to get a second one without some crazy extra expense on your end.
 
It's the SATA and Molex I need more of, rather than PCI-e. I MIGHT use 1 PCI-e power when I get a video card, probably a GTX 1050 and many do not use PCI-e power, but will not use more than that. I am currently using Intel on board video and only want to get a video card because Intel HD 3500 only supports Displayport 1.1 and cannot drive my monitor at it's maximum refresh rate. I am not a Gamer and a video card will only provide a display and assist video decoding ie H.264 & H.265.
 
My Seasonic 550 Focus Plus Platinum turned up today. I took some power measurements using the old PSU before I installed it, a Corsair HX 520. The Corsair when in the bios pulled 76-77 watts from the wall and 73-75 watts when idling in windows. Running Prime95 In Place Large FFT's for maximum power draw pulled 139-140 watts from the wall.

After installing the Seasonic, in the Bios the power draw was 66-67 watts and in Windows 62-63 watts. Prime95 running the same test pulled 125-126 watts. So the Seasonic has a 10% reduction in power when running Prime and 16% when idling in windows if my calculations are correct.
 
My Seasonic 550 Focus Plus Platinum turned up today. I took some power measurements using the old PSU before I installed it, a Corsair HX 520. The Corsair when in the bios pulled 76-77 watts from the wall and 73-75 watts when idling in windows. Running Prime95 In Place Large FFT's for maximum power draw pulled 139-140 watts from the wall.

After installing the Seasonic, in the Bios the power draw was 66-67 watts and in Windows 62-63 watts. Prime95 running the same test pulled 125-126 watts. So the Seasonic has a 10% reduction in power when running Prime and 16% when idling in windows if my calculations are correct.
Nice results!!

I'm down to 41-44watts idle with the gold version psu on my 7700k/z270, I think my load is higher around 135_140w

I switched complete systems, my old psu and 3570k was about 52w idle
 
That seems very low for your whole PC including PSU losses. Is that a from the wall measurement? Presumably the HDD would be at sleep. Mine isn't as ATM my SSD is in my other PC but it was purchased for my main PC and I have not yet installed it.

Your using a ITX motherboard rather than a full ATX like mine which should use less power. Mine has dual networking & thunderbolt etc and is a few generations behind yours Z77 chipset and i7-3770K.

Do you mind me asking how you got a 7700K for $67.:jawdrop: They are around £300 here.
 
That seems very low for your whole PC including PSU losses. Is that a from the wall measurement? Presumably the HDD would be at sleep. Mine isn't as ATM my SSD is in my other PC but it was purchased for my main PC and I have not yet installed it.

Your using a ITX motherboard rather than a full ATX like mine which should use less power. Mine has dual networking & thunderbolt etc and is a few generations behind yours Z77 chipset and i7-3770K.

Do you mind me asking how you got a 7700K for $67.:jawdrop: They are around £300 here.
Yes that's from the wall, 1 SSD and 1 hdd which powers down after 20mins. That includes 4x 140mm fans running low rpms(wish I could turn all but CPU fan off) also a hd7850.
Edit: I added a 120mm fan and figured out the eco mode button needs to be out instead of in too have the psu fan off. Now I'm hitting 39-40w idle@ 1.7ghz that includes a corsair K70 lux rgb keyboard


My old setup idled higher with only CPU fan spinning atx board and old PSU

I got very lucky and bought 2 non working 7700ks from iBuypower on eBay( they sell prebuilt computers many places). I got a tip that last time they sold non working 6700k CPUs half of them actually worked(reason I bought 2 for better odds). 1 of mine was missing 2 capacitors from the bottom and didn't work. The other had a small chip in the corner but works great! I resold the non working one for more than I paid
 
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