What would you buy: Seasonic X-760 for $119 or XFX PRO850W XXX Edition for $109?

grambo

[H]ard|Gawd
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Hi,

I've already ordered the XFX PRO850W XXX Edition for $109 (after rebate) but my local retailer just put the Seasonic X-760 on sale for $119 (no rebate) and I can change my order if I want. The XFX is a Seasonic M12D platform based PSU, 80+ Silver, while the X-760 is 80+ Gold and a newer design.

X-760:
+ 80+ Gold
+ Newer platform
+ Fully modular
+ Don't have to wait for rebate
+ Awesome review by Jonnyguru and elsewhere
- $10 more expensive
- Some reports of coil whine on Jonnyguru and other forums/YouTube vids, more reports of whine than the XFX unit.

XFX PRO850W:
+ 90W more power than the Seasonic
+ $10 cheaper
+ Awesome review by Jonnyguru and elsewhere
- 80+ Silver (but Jonny tested it close to gold levels)
- Semi-modular (24pin + 2x 8pin EPS12V and PCI-e hard-wired)

Specs for build will by: Ivy Bridge CPU, 16GB RAM, GTX 560Ti SLI or single AMD 7950/Kepler midrange, 1x SSD, 2x HDD, DVD-ROM, air cooler, 4x case fans.

Can't decide what to do. If it wasn't for the coil whine reports I would get the Seasonic because of 80+ Gold (although Jonny tested the XFX to be pretty close) and it's a newer platform. I will never have SLI/CF top of the line cards, at most I would have SLI/CF mid-range like the GTX 560Ti or 6950's as I only game with one 1920x1200 display. I figure the X-760 is easily enough for my Ivy Bridge build, and then some, but at the same time it would be nice to have insurance in case I somehow end up with more power hungry video cards in the future.

Thanks for any thoughts
 
Here is another to add to the fire :p

Corsair HX750, tests to a 900 watt power supply in overload tests and is capable of gold efficeny but was marked as a silver by Corsair instead, or hows about the NZXT HALE series, or silverstone strider gold :p

I have a HX750 and love it, I know the Pro850 doesn`t have the best ripple and such but it still is a good power supply, and seasonic makes some of if not the best consumer power supplies on the market.

Most low to mid-range cf-sli setups 750 seems to be enough(for a quality unit) if you were to go with 2 x2 cards or triple cf/sli then 850+, but for 2 cards 750 seems ample, have commented on this in multiple threads.

As far as Coil whine, unless your system is more or less silent I dont picture hearing it, myself I hear when PSU switches but its an easy sound to get used to and almost comforting :)

It would be a hard call, it really would, I would try and look for the overload specs if you can, just to see how much both units can really handle overall. Gold based is almost not worth paying the extra for, in this case, the costs are so close, why not. That and 100% modular is awesome, only use what you neeed to use it helps alot :)
 
Here is another to add to the fire :p

Corsair HX750, tests to a 900 watt power supply in overload tests and is capable of gold efficeny but was marked as a silver by Corsair instead, or hows about the NZXT HALE series, or silverstone strider gold :p
None of those are better choices than the X-760 for $120.
 
Here is another to add to the fire :p

Corsair HX750, tests to a 900 watt power supply in overload tests and is capable of gold efficeny but was marked as a silver by Corsair instead, or hows about the NZXT HALE series, or silverstone strider gold :p

I have a HX750 and love it, I know the Pro850 doesn`t have the best ripple and such but it still is a good power supply, and seasonic makes some of if not the best consumer power supplies on the market.

Most low to mid-range cf-sli setups 750 seems to be enough(for a quality unit) if you were to go with 2 x2 cards or triple cf/sli then 850+, but for 2 cards 750 seems ample, have commented on this in multiple threads.

As far as Coil whine, unless your system is more or less silent I dont picture hearing it, myself I hear when PSU switches but its an easy sound to get used to and almost comforting :)

It would be a hard call, it really would, I would try and look for the overload specs if you can, just to see how much both units can really handle overall. Gold based is almost not worth paying the extra for, in this case, the costs are so close, why not. That and 100% modular is awesome, only use what you neeed to use it helps alot :)

Initially, I wanted another Corsair unit as I have been so happy with my HX520 for the last 5 years. The HX750 is on sale for $135 (regular $150) here, but again from reviews the Seasonic X-760 is a "better" unit in terms of efficiency/ripple and is also fully modular. Regarding coil whine, I know it can happen with any unit. The case will be a Corsair 550D so hopefully not an issue.

The Hale 750/850 are $85/120 after rebate, but I don't think those are as good units overall as the XFX XXX from the reviews I've read? Silverstone Strider 750 Gold is $145 so more expensive.

I think I'll call the shop and change my order to the X-760. There is no way I will ever have 3 or 4 GPUs, in fact I've never even used SLI/CF before, I'm one of those "I'll buy a larger PSU in case I go SLI/CF in the future" guys who has never actually done so, and ends up upgrading to a faster single card. I will also never have SLI/CF top of the line cards as I only have one 1920x1200 display to game on so that level of performance is not needed. However, there's a good chance I will go SLI 560GTX Ti this spring though, unless Kepler is competitive and pushes the 7950/"GTX 760Ti" price down from $449US to $350-375US (I'd rather buy another GTX560Ti for $199 than sell my current one and buy a $449 AMD 7950 when both those setups perform the same).

Edit: To clarify, the X-760 is easily powerful enough for say a 2600k OC'd to 5GHz, 16GB (4 DIMMs) RAM, GTX 560Ti SLI (mild overclock, not volt modded), 1x SSD, 2x HDD, 6x 1200rpm case fans?
 
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Edit: To clarify, the X-760 is easily powerful enough for say a 2600k OC'd to 5GHz, 16GB (4 DIMMs) RAM, GTX 560Ti SLI (mild overclock, not volt modded), 1x SSD, 2x HDD, 6x 1200rpm case fans?

Far more than enough. That system would be perfectly fine on a quality 550w PSU.


Edit: Sorry, misread the specs as a single 560Ti. 550w would be too little, but the 760 is indeed enough.
 
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2 560Ti with an overclocked 2600k, I personally wouldnt go less then a 650, but thats just me,

The hale units would be around as good as the XFX unit. The HX750, is almost as good as the AX unit, maybe not quite as good as the X-760 but still better then at least 80% of the power supplies out there.

But going by price alone, those are good prices for those power supplies, I would go by what you like the look of the best.

A quality 750 or better for that or dual card as well. Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but all you need for a "gaming" rig is 8gb of memory, 16gb is way overkill, I barely touch 5gb of 8gb that I have, and I always have lots of stuff running in background as well. tons of desktop stuff, procon, documents, steam, xfire, and a bunch of bakground stuff, and bf3, barely tap 5gb memory used of 8gb avail, just an FYI is all :)
 
Ended up getting the X-760 for $119 and cancelling my order for the XFX 850 XXX. Couldn't resist a highly rated 80+ Gold for that price.

dragon: I agree that 16GB is overkill, might start out with 8GB and go from there, but with RAM so cheap it's tempting to get more for the fun of it (maybe play with RAMdisks, caching etc). If 8GB DIMMs are cheaper by then I may consider them as well.
 
Paid much more for my x760... Good psu at a good price.
 
yep, cannot go wrong on that, Seasonic makes some of the best platforms going, many including Corsair build off them, must be they are doing somehting right.

Superflower which the HALE is built off of, and CWT which HX(most of them) are built on are also some of the best. Hard to argue with quality, especially for that, and a guaranteed gold no less.
 
Isn't XFX's supplier of PSU's Seasonic anyway?

Yep, the PRO850W XXX Edition (formerly Black edition) I was considering is built off the Seasonic M12D platform, 80+ Silver and very well reviewed, which is why I had a tough time deciding, save $10, gain 100W but lose full modular and go from Gold to Silver. Ended up deciding to go for the X-760 because I would not need the extra 100W anyway for mid-range SLI or single gpu high end.
 
yes, the 850pro as with other XFX units marked as PRO is seasonic based design in this case Seasonic SS-850HT base whereas the black edition ones are based on M12D platform. Either way it is seasonic based, I know they did use a CWT based one as well, but all thier modern ones ot my knowledge are Seasonic based platforms/rebranded.

The whole thing of gold/silver, well in a rough sence you are usually paying much more for a gold cert power supply and 9/10 it gives you next to nothing in return, SOME, gold supplies are able to load much higher and retain lower temps, but some as an example AX750 vs HX750, you are paying more for a gold certified when the silver unit is within a hair of the same efficeny overall, so sometimes its worth paying for it, most times it is not(not currently)

100w is not that much extra overhead anyways, well 90watts if you base it on thier raw specs, both can hit into the 900+ delivered wattages anyways, Seasonic is well known for this as well. So you will still have plenty of available power anyways, even dual of the high end cards(not enthusiast class)
 
well, I know I had seen it somewhere, but either way, not that it matters, Seasonic and CWT both design and make some exceptional units, not many come as close overall :)

:) Agree on the quality they put out. I think Corsair used CWT for some of the HX PSUs (like my HX520), not sure about XFX.
 
yeppers, my HX750 uses CWT design whereas AX750 uses Seasonic, very very close spec wise in 99% overall in regards to regulation, ripple, noise, temperatures, I saved a few $ to have a hair less efficency, so CWT overall is far from being crappy designed :)
 
That's a really easy choice, go with the Seasonic X-760, it's simply a more modern and higher quality platform that is more efficient and higher stability. In the end it's older seasonic (the XFX) vs newer seasonic. What would you pick? And almost nobody needs more than 760w unless you're going to triple gpu or something.
 
It's amazing how much bias there is when it comes to power supplies. People see XFX on one and Seasonic on the other and they automatically assume that either Seasonic is better or XFX is crap. News flash: the XFX XXX series is a Seasonic design. The only thing going against it is that it has two EPS connectors, so with a regular build you have to tuck that one cable out of the way. Otherwise it has almost the same efficiency and 100w more power for $10 less. On the other hand the Seasonic is a newer platform and the fan turns off when you aren't doing heavy loads.

Anyway that's my understanding of the facts.
 
It's amazing how much bias there is when it comes to power supplies. People see XFX on one and Seasonic on the other and they automatically assume that either Seasonic is better or XFX is crap. News flash: the XFX XXX series is a Seasonic design.
News flash: try reading the thread before you start pointing fingers. Nobody in this thread said XFX is crap, and we are well aware that the XFX unit is manufactured by Seasonic. However, it is an older design and does not perform as well as the X-760 overall. It is also less efficient, louder, not fully modular, and it needs a mail-in rebate to bring it down to that price whereas the X-760 doesn't have any rebates.
 
I think the OP made the right call on the Seasonic unit. I think the modular system is superior to the XFX, and I think the power is more in line with his needs. That said, his computer, nor any other computer on this forum, would notice a difference between either the XFX or the Seasonic X in daily, or even extreme use. Both units are very robust and well built, and perform at the top level of power supplies on the market today.

I own an XFX 850w unit, and the modular system bothers me. I don't get why the second EPS connector isn't modular, and I don't like the spacing between the modular connectors on the PSU itself. I bought it in a hurry to replace a dead TX-750 from Corsair. I'm happy with my purchase, especially the price I payed, but if I were replacing it tomorrow, I'd look at the Seasonic X series and not another XFX. This is simply due to the superior cable system.
 
You know what good points guys quality over quantity makes sense. I shouldn't have come across so strongly, my bad. This is one of the reasons I like [H], we don't just settle on the first piece of advice, we handle business. :cool:

Congrats on the PSU! :D
 
Picked up the X-760 from the store yesterday, nice packaging and the unit itself looks awesome, as do the cables. Going to test it (to ensure not DOA) and can't wait to build my new pc. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
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