seasonic psu?

[Clickyurdead]

are they any good? I haven't purchased a psu for a long time since my thermaltake 600w and antec 550w have lasted me forever. Looking into building a pc for a buddy and another friend of mine recommended.

 

[Deacon_Jones1988]

Seasonic is considered to be one of the best PSU makers, if I remember correctly, they actually make Corsair, XFX and various other brands PSUs, they just put their label on them, Thats why I bought my XFX 1250w. I put a 500w seasonic in a small machine some years ago and it is still working flawless. So I would say Seasonic is a good bet, XFX is awesome I know personally, as is Corsair. All of these brands actually output at least and/or more watts than what is rated for.

Stay away from Raidmax, I bought a couple 700w a year or two ago and they both died within a few months, they were both in use 24/7, but still.... I RMA'd them and haven't put them back in either machine they were in. They look good, look as if they are of solid build quality, but from my experience they are crap. You get what you pay for tho, I only paid like 50-60 bucks a piece for them.

Thanks, good luck!

Stay [H]

 

[Sith'ari]

Seasonic is considered to be one of the best PSU makers, if I remember correctly, they actually make Corsair, XFX and various other brands PSUs, they just put their label on them, Thats why I bought my XFX 1250w. I put a 500w seasonic in a small machine some years ago and it is still working flawless. So I would say Seasonic is a good bet, XFX is awesome I know personally, as is Corsair.

-The new Corsair RM series are not made by Seasonic and they don't have very good build quality from what i've read.
-Seasonic's PSUs almost always recieve very good/excellent comments from the major sites that write PSU reviews like Hardocp.com, Jonnyguru.com, Techpowerup.com

 

[Clickyurdead]

cool thanks for the info guys.

 

[LoneThrasher]

I always recommend seasonic

 

[Jeffredo]

I have an Seasonic X560 (gold rated). It was perfect for about a two years and then began having a high pitched whislte/squeal. Its not obnoxiously loud, but I don't like it none the less. After searching a bit it seems they are just about as susceptible to coil whine as any make. Just bought a Corsair CX750M today and am going to RMA the Seasonic. When it comes back its going to be packed away to be used as a spare.

 

[mda]

If not for the coil whine then the CX750M is still inferior to the X560. I'd suggest the CX750 be used as the spare.

 

[Jeffredo]

Either will power my system. As long as the CX750M is quiet I'll use it. Regardless, everyone needs a spare laying around (to save emergency trips to Best Buy when a PS goes south).

 

[Soulwrath]

when seasonics m2ii gets heavy load the fan noise does increase, (the XFX PRO series are rebrands of the seasonics m2ii)

If money is of no question than the CM V550S is a REALLY great psu

 

[dandragonrage]

are they any good? I haven't purchased a psu for a long time since my thermaltake 600w and antec 550w have lasted me forever. Looking into building a pc for a buddy and another friend of mine recommended.

No. They would be if not for whine, or if not for the fact that there are other manufacturers that are otherwise just as good. The whine is EXTREMELY annoying at ANY volume. And Seasonic has shown itself to be either unable or unwilling to fix the problem, so we should not be rewarding them for that with our purchases.

I'd take a higher-end Flextronics or Super Flower over Seasonic any day. Maybe send Seasonic support a copy of your order of a competitor's product and say, "This would have been an order for one of your products if you would fix the whine issues that've happened for several generations now." It was a problem with my old 80plus Seasonic >5 years ago and it's still a problem with their latest models. If that's not a big FU from Seasonic to all their customers, I don't know what is. No thanks - or, rather, HELL NO.

 

[Clickyurdead]

hmm interesting I've never had a psu that whined, of course I've only bought thermaltake and antec. When my buddy at work was talking about seasonic I thought I would check into them a little bit. It's also been several years since I've done much of any research in the psu department, iirc around 2006 modular psu weren't highly desired and I can't really remember why atm. I think it had something to do with the plug *shrug* does anyone have any info on that?

 

[dandragonrage]

hmm interesting I've never had a psu that whined, of course I've only bought thermaltake and antec. When my buddy at work was talking about seasonic I thought I would check into them a little bit. It's also been several years since I've done much of any research in the psu department, iirc around 2006 modular psu weren't highly desired and I can't really remember why atm. I think it had something to do with the plug *shrug* does anyone have any info on that?

Modularity increases resistance and lowers efficiency and just moves your spare cables from your case (where they make sense and where you won't lose them) into your closet. My current and previous PSU were modular, but I didn't buy them for that reason. I still think it's a useless feature.

 

[Tsumi]

Modularity increases resistance and lowers efficiency and just moves your spare cables from your case (where they make sense and where you won't lose them) into your closet. My current and previous PSU were modular, but I didn't buy them for that reason. I still think it's a useless feature.

Resistance increase and efficiency decrease are minimal, and shouldn't be a deciding factor. Pretty much all top end PSUs have some form of modularity nowadays, so good luck finding a high end non-modular PSU.

No. They would be if not for whine, or if not for the fact that there are other manufacturers that are otherwise just as good. The whine is EXTREMELY annoying at ANY volume. And Seasonic has shown itself to be either unable or unwilling to fix the problem, so we should not be rewarding them for that with our purchases.

I'd take a higher-end Flextronics or Super Flower over Seasonic any day. Maybe send Seasonic support a copy of your order of a competitor's product and say, "This would have been an order for one of your products if you would fix the whine issues that've happened for several generations now." It was a problem with my old 80plus Seasonic >5 years ago and it's still a problem with their latest models. If that's not a big FU from Seasonic to all their customers, I don't know what is. No thanks - or, rather, HELL NO.

Whine is random depending on the components used and your sensitivity to it. If it was a really prevalent problem, people wouldn't be using Seasonic. In reality, the scope of the problem is very limited. They might have a higher frequency of coil whine than other companies, but still a very small amount.

 

[AgentQ]

For what it's worth, I recently had a Seasonic develop obnoxious coil whine after using it for just shy of five years.

Seasonic has a great five-year warranty, but be warned that it's five years from date of manufacture, not date of purchase. My PSU was 4.9 years old to me, but over 5 years old to Seasonic. Warranty denied.

 

[dandragonrage]

Resistance increase and efficiency decrease are minimal, and shouldn't be a deciding factor. Pretty much all top end PSUs have some form of modularity nowadays, so good luck finding a high end non-modular PSU.



Whine is random depending on the components used and your sensitivity to it. If it was a really prevalent problem, people wouldn't be using Seasonic. In reality, the scope of the problem is very limited. They might have a higher frequency of coil whine than other companies, but still a very small amount.

None of this is a valid argument for Seasonic and is the same useless advice you have been repeating time and time again. If Seasonic had quality unmatched by other brands, it might be a valid argument to say that. However there are a few brands producing PSUs just as good with whine occurrence so much lower that it is literally never mentioned.

Rates of whiny Seasonic PSUs are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH higher than any other good brand. Most brands have ZERO complaints about it. Even if it's 5%, that's insanely high. And in any case, for Seasonic to keep releasing generation after generation without so much as acknowledging the problem or trying to fix it. Not sure why you seem to think it's 0.00001% for other brands vs 0.00002% for Seasonic or something, but you're very wrong. Also, most people are NOT using Seasonic, so I'm not sure what you said that for. Nothing you're saying is a valid argument of any kind. You're just incorrectly claiming the problem is exaggerated while offering zero reasons to take the chance regardless.

And while it varies with hardware, it is a fact that the components Seasonic is using are ringing and it is absolutely an issue with the components they select for their PSUs. And I don't mean a component that is occasionally faulty. Their component selection itself was poor.

Do not buy a Seasonic. Period. They may be reliable, but so are other brands.

If you want to provide some actual reasons to buy Seasonic other than "it's not that bad," feel free to try again.

 

[Pylor]

Do not buy a Seasonic. Period. They may be reliable, but so are other brands.

If you want to provide some actual reasons to buy Seasonic other than "it's not that bad," feel free to try again.

Tight voltage regulation, great ripple suppression, clean transient testing, reliable (good) energy efficiency, amazing oscilloscope measurements, high end caps, excellent overcurrent protection/line filtering/soldering, etc, etc, etc. Do I really need to go on?

I've owned a few of them and never had any coil whine issues with them, so I can't speak to that. But calling them a bad PSU OEM is insane. They're in a league of their own with superflower and flextronics (though they usually make bigger PSUs than most people need); about the only OEM I know of that can beat them would be a high end Delta unit. Also, I haven't heard anyone saying that modular cables increases resistance/decreases efficiency since ~2008. You'd think if that were the case there'd be a lot more high end PSU OEMs offering non-modular solutions. I'm not saying it's untrue completely, I just think it's so minute it doesn't matter.

 

[dandragonrage]

Tight voltage regulation, great ripple suppression, clean transient testing, reliable (good) energy efficiency, amazing oscilloscope measurements, high end caps, excellent overcurrent protection/line filtering/soldering, etc, etc, etc. Do I really need to go on?

I never disputed those things. Aside from the whine, Seasonic is excellent.

Now tell me why they are better than Super Flower and Flextronics which offer all the same quality. The question I'm imposing on you all is not, "Aside from whine, is Seasonic good?" No... the question is "Given that Seasonic power supplies tend to whine, are they really worth buying over Flextronics and Super Flower?"

As I said before, if these other great brands didn't exist, you'd all have a very valid point.

 

[Tsumi]

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying the coil whine issue is nowhere near as prevalent as you make it out to be, and shouldn't be a major deterrent from buying a Seasonic PSU at the right price.

You're assuming I'm a Seasonic supporter. Maybe I am, but that's only because my Seasonic RMA experience was painless. I do not advocate brand loyalty, and if you read most of my posts, you will see that. I'm simply defending Seasonic because you are quite literally making a mountain out of a molehill.

For the same wattage, the same efficiency, the same quality, the same power delivery, I would pick the cheaper power supply I can get. That's it. If someone wanted a recommendation on a power supply right now, I would pick the cheapest option that fits their needs and desires, regardless of whether it's Kingwin, Corsair, Seasonic, CoolerMaster, Silverstone, etc. But I will not discount an entire brand because of a relatively minor issue that Seasonic (and Corsair) would allow you to RMA for.

If you have a high sensitivity to high frequency noise, so be it, and avoid Seasonic. But just because you have that issue, doesn't mean everyone else has it as well. In fact, only a small minority of the population have that kind of sensitivity. But to make a gross avoidance recommendation because of YOUR personal issues is wrong IMO.

 

[Bluesun311]

Man am I glad I got so lucky to have 2 new Seasonic PSUs (1000w platinum and 1250w gold) that don't have coil whine. Is this something that happens when you fully load them to capacity but not when they are only 3/4 tapped out? I've heard video card coil whine fairly recently but it was short and sweet and then I stopped running fur mark

The platinum 1000w I've had at 900watts regularly and it just doesn't whine. The 1250 doesn't either but I've only had that same load on it so far.

 

[Pylor]

I never disputed those things. Aside from the whine, Seasonic is excellent.

Now tell me why they are better than Super Flower and Flextronics which offer all the same quality. The question I'm imposing on you all is not, "Aside from whine, is Seasonic good?" No... the question is "Given that Seasonic power supplies tend to whine, are they really worth buying over Flextronics and Super Flower?"

As I said before, if these other great brands didn't exist, you'd all have a very valid point.

I never claimed they were better, infact I think a high end delta PSU is better than anything else out there. I was mostly answering OP's question; yes, seasonic makes a great PSU.

I also think you're blowing the coil whine argument out of proportion, to my knowledge it was mostly their platinum line when it first launched that had a few whiners. Since then they've silently brought out their second version. I've never had anything but rock solid performance out of them. Not only that, they have a lot of somewhat-niche products. Want a fanless 400watt platinum power supply? Most people don't, they'll go for cheap at that wattage, but they still sell it. I use the 360 watt gold unit in my server and it's been fantastic. The problem with flextronics is that nobody uses them, the only brand I know of that has them is Corsair in their AV/AVi series. There could be more that I'm unaware of, but they're not exactly widespread.

Superflower has some PSUs with rosewill, and OCZ and PC power and cooling both have like 2-3 psus each from superflower. They're not exactly prolific either (not that I'm striking against them for that). They might have one or two other brands who use them that I don't know of. I've never owned one, but from what I've read they're very good. I'd have no qualms buying a super flower or a flextronics from the right brand.

PS: I don't have a problem with coil whine even if it did happen. I buy my PSUs from amazon and if there ever were an issue I'd get free cross shipping.

 

[dandragonrage]

The whine problem with Seasonic has existed since at least the "standard" 80plus PSUs. It did not begin with the platinum by a longshot. I had an S12 600w or 650w (I forget) that did it and I've heard others and have had friends have the problem, most with standard and gold 80plus models. I have seen other trouble with other PSUs but have never experienced this particular problem with any other PSU.

It may not be 10% of users returning them, but like I said before, most PSUs don't have even ONE report of whine and Seasonic has many. It's not just slightly more often. It's more than 10x as often as any other decent brand.

 

[Bluesun311]

The whine problem with Seasonic has existed since at least the "standard" 80plus PSUs. It did not begin with the platinum by a longshot.

It may not be 10% of users returning them, but like I said before, most PSUs don't have even ONE report of whine and Seasonic has many. It's not just slightly more often. It's more than 10x as often as any other decent brand.

Where are you sourcing these reports from? Newegg reviews/Amazon reviews and that kinda stuff? I think user reviews are totally valid they just tend to be wildly unpredictable in terms of accuracy. Some people will do really weird stuff like submitting multiple reviews or just flat lying. Only takes one person who isn't on the up and up to skew your results if he/she is totally committed to messing up your system.

I don't think there's any legitimate way of knowing percentages... but it seems easy enough to make a simple judgment if you've gone through enough user reviews of all these units. I just kinda don't believe you.

 

[dandragonrage]

Where are you sourcing these reports from? Newegg reviews/Amazon reviews and that kinda stuff? I think user reviews are totally valid they just tend to be wildly unpredictable in terms of accuracy. Some people will do really weird stuff like submitting multiple reviews or just flat lying. Only takes one person who isn't on the up and up to skew your results if he/she is totally committed to messing up your system.

I don't think there's any legitimate way of knowing percentages... but it seems easy enough to make a simple judgment if you've gone through enough user reviews of all these units. I just kinda don't believe you.

I've read hundreds of user reviews of various PSUs including a lot of Seasonics (I considered their gold v1, v2 (the x60 watt ones) and the platinum (v1 I guess))... I have a Corsair AX760i (Flextronics) currently, have a Rosewill something-or-other gold PSU made by Super Flower on standby, have an OCZ Z550 (FSP Epsilon), have owned a bunch of other brands. Never an issue with whine except in Seasonic. I read a LOT of user reviews (plus jonnyguru and hardwaresecrets and stuff though they dismiss these problems as you do -- but their sample size is still going to be relatively small to say that) before buying these things. Almost never do you see any mention of whine in a user review except with Seasonic. Yeah, I've read a lot, though last time I was checking them out was probably 9 months ago. It's not a minor difference here. Seasonic whines a lot more than any other decent brand.

Have had 2-3 friends complain about whine from X650s.

You can believe me or you can not believe me. Up to you. I can't say I have the most informed opinion ever of it, but I honestly do feel I have enough information to say this and it would be hard for most people to know more. And no worries about any further responses from me; I'm out of things to say about this topic.

Edit: to the guy below me -- your evidence is no better, lol (actually it's much worse than mine)... You can't use that argument only against people you disagree with. Disregard him. Nobody is going to be able to prove me wrong on this because, anecdotal evidence or not, I am right. None of us have used thousands of PSUs and none of you have evidence any better than mine.

 

[evilsofa]

Rates of whiny Seasonic PSUs are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH higher than any other good brand.

(Anecdotal evidence does not qualify.)

 

[Tsumi]

(Anecdotal evidence does not qualify.)

Anecdotally, Seasonic has historically had significantly more complaints than any other brand. At the same time, there have also been a very large number with no complaints.

 

[Bluesun311]

I think it's clear there are some Seasonics with unacceptable levels of coil whine. The fact Dan feels this strongly about it would definitely make me think twice before buying a 3rd one. Corsair's high quality units seem remarkably overpriced compared to the Seasonic Platinum1000/Gold1250. I feel like the individually sleeved cable sets are at play there.

 

[Dangman]

I never disputed those things. Aside from the whine, Seasonic is excellent.

Now tell me why they are better than Super Flower and Flextronics which offer all the same quality. The question I'm imposing on you all is not, "Aside from whine, is Seasonic good?" No... the question is "Given that Seasonic power supplies tend to whine, are they really worth buying over Flextronics and Super Flower?"

Yes if that Seasonic is well priced and/or the other PSU companies' warranty/customer support blows. Like Tsumi, I generally buy or recommend the cheapest PSU possible given all things are equal. Also, like Tsumi, I think the coil whine issue is a bit overblown.

You have your anecdotal evidence, I have mine: I have a Seasonic based Corsair HX520 in my old gaming rig, another Seasonic based Antec Truepower New 750W in my current gaming PC, and another Seasonic based Corsair CX400 in a backup PC. None of them have ever displayed the coil whine issue. In addition, there's also the three builds I've done for others using the XFX Core Edition 550W, another Seasonic based PSU. No coil whine issues there.

 

[[Spectre]]

(Anecdotal evidence does not qualify.)

Indeed.

I see far more power supplies than any of the users who post about coil whine and you encounter it with every brand and it is rather unpredictable due to the interaction of multiple components. That said, people likely bitch about it with Seasonic units because they are quieter than a lot of other units on the market so there is less masking of the whine AND the people buying them are much more obnoxiously obsessed with things being absolutely silent when they can't actually be. The final problem is actually takes a person knowing what they are doing to kind of identify the noise properly, which isn't most people. Most people hear noise, hit google, see someone else has it is X, Y, or Z so that must be while they are seeing it too and off they go to bitch.

Have I seen whiny Seasonic's? Yes
Have I seen whiny CWT's? Yes
Have I seen whiny Win-Tact's? GOD Yes
Have I seen whiny SuperFlower's? A few
Have I seen whiny Enhance's? YES
Have I seen whiny Flextronics? Yes
Have I seen whiny FSP's? Yes
Have I seen whiny AcBel's? Yes
Have I seen whiny Delta's? Yes
Have I seen whiny Zippy's? GOD Yes

I am trying to think of ones I have not seen a whiny example of something they make....and I am not really thinking of any at the moment....maybe Casing.

 

[Clickyurdead]

delete

 

[Clickyurdead]

For what it's worth, I recently had a Seasonic develop obnoxious coil whine after using it for just shy of five years.

Seasonic has a great five-year warranty, but be warned that it's five years from date of manufacture, not date of purchase. My PSU was 4.9 years old to me, but over 5 years old to Seasonic. Warranty denied.

that's good info right there I would have just assumed it was from the purchase date.

 

[Tsumi]

that's good info right there I would have just assumed it was from the purchase date.

It's not just Seasonic, and it's not just PSUs. Many PSU brands do warranty based off of manufacture date, not purchase date. It's the same with most motherboard brands as well. Although some will allow you to "update" the date to the date of purchase.

 

[Jthm27]

It's not just Seasonic, and it's not just PSUs. Many PSU brands do warranty based off of manufacture date, not purchase date. It's the same with most motherboard brands as well. Although some will allow you to "update" the date to the date of purchase.

Hmm, I was thinking of buying an Corsair ax760i from ebay, and since they go from manufacture date would that be wise?

EDIT: ehh I'll just go with an EVGA SuperNova g2