Seasonic for me, always used them and never had a problem.
Seasonic for me too. Well built, reliable, quiet and never struggle under high load. Even the rebranded units from Antec/Corsair I've had that were made by Seasonic have been brilliant.
Seasonic on average as an OEM,but some others like Flextronics,etc are also pretty decent.
evga 10 yr guaranty and a 5 day turn round when it does go wrong ..
Seasonic, CWT, Super Flower…in that order :)
Seasonic in the main, but more so now Super Flower also.
Seasonic, hands down. Can't be said often enough.
I've never owned a Seasonic, but my old Enermax Modu 82+ 525W PSU lasted me 9 years. It didn't fail, I just felt it was time to replace it with a be quiet!
Seasonic, Superflower, Delta and the newer CWT designs are all excellent but they have all had their share of poor psu's in the past. FSP turns out the odd good platform as well but are rather hit or miss over their platform history.
It should be noted that the likes of Corsair, EVGA, Bitfenix, BeQuiet, Antec and many others don't actually make their own psu's. While they usually have some input on specs and design they have their units built by OEM's such as the ones I have named above and several others depending on where the psu's fall in the lineups. For example, the majority of EVGA's units are built by Superflower but there are several Seasonic and FSP built ranges as well. Their budget models tend to be HEC built.
This is a excellent source of information on psu's including who makes what for who, specs and links to reviews.
I have an old 750w infiniti psu in a pc that I use as a server it has been running 24/7 for abought 12 years without any problems, it's very quiet. To be honest I've never had a psu fail on me and I've used a few from different manufacturers.
Seasonic (and rebranded as Corsair).
I've had a few PSUs fail for me or that I've built, including Seasonic. Key thing is the warranty was easy to deal with and the failure didn't take out other components (like motherboard!) like I've had from cheap PSUs.
Small sample size. YMMV.
If money is no object then Seasonic, otherwise Enermax. Some of the Corsair ones seem OK, I couldn't get the Enermax I wanted so got a 750W Corsair for the last build and it seems fine.
Seasonic makes the best psu. It's a no brainer. Cooler Master did come out with a very expensive one. At the end of the day Seasonic will hopefully always be the best. Currently have a Seasonic prime ultra 850W titanium. It was expensive and very worth it. If I decided not to get a Seasonic, the next choice would be a rebranded Delta.
+1 for Seasonic too.
I am surprised no one likes Corsairs. I remember they used to be very popular. What went wrong ?
Never had a Seasonic, not unless it was wrapped up in a Corsair branding.
OilSheikh
I am surprised no one likes Corsairs. I remember they used to be very popular. What went wrong ?
Didn't they use rebranded and tweaked units from Seasonic etc once? Not sure if that has changed since I last got one. As always it is worth reading reviews prior to purchasing anything, especially where it comes to a PSU.
I have a be Quiet! psu that I'm happy with. 1000w Powerzone Bronze. Sleeved cables could've been sleeved slightly better, but that's the only bugbear
Iota
Never had a Seasonic, not unless it was wrapped up in a Corsair branding.
Didn't they use rebranded and tweaked units from Seasonic etc once? Not sure if that has changed since I last got one.
If I remember rightly, the early Corsair PSU's were Seasonic, and once they got their user base, they moved on to other suppliers. I still have some of the early ones running today after 8 and 10 years respectively. The recent ones I have seen slightly more hit-or-miss feedback on various e-tailers, depending on the model.
Originally most brands used Seasonic however Corsair changed and I took a chance with their HX850i, I can't fault it, however its only a 10 year warranty compared to Seasonic's 12.
OilSheikh
+1 for Seasonic too.
I am surprised no one likes Corsairs. I remember they used to be very popular. What went wrong ?
They are very popular still as they are great, but Corsair don't make PSUs so most people won't name check them here.
Is it worth getting digital PSU ?
GraemeN
Is it worth getting digital PSU ?
Only if you want to use crappy software to monitor PSU performance stats of dubious accuracy and don't mind giving up a USB 2.0 header on your motherboard. Otherwise you're better off putting the price difference into an extra 100w headroom or whatever.
I've always admired Seasonic on paper but I've had 3 faulty Seasonic based OEM PSUs (PC Power&Cooling, Corsair, and a Fractal Design). Both my computers currently have Superflower OEM EVGA G2s and they are rock solid. And an old computer of mine has a very old CWT design that is 10+ years old and is still working without issues. It is rather sad that I will most probably never buy another Seasonic PSU based on my personal experience.
Anyone remember these fanless PSU's?
Great concept, but not practical.
Personally I don't worry to much as long as I buy from a decent brand and look up reviews of said PSU.
Just avoid the cheap high wattage no name things.
Percy1983
Just avoid the cheap high wattage no name things.
Sound advice! Years ago (before I knew better) I killed a motherboard and processor by cheaping-out on a terrible no-name Chinese PSU. Definitely learned from my mistake there!
MrJim
Sound advice! Years ago (before I knew better) I killed a motherboard and processor by cheaping-out on a terrible no-name Chinese PSU. Definitely learned from my mistake there!
Very sound advice, I've done the same…
A good rule of thumb for PSUs is, if it feels like it only feels like it more or less weighs the same as the sum of the cables and the thin steel box they're attached to, immediately throw it out the window before your hardware catches electronic cooties. Any PSU that wont fry your components will have a box that weighs like a brick or more.
Seasonic for me also, or a 3rd party unit build by them as the OEM.
I've had XFX, Antec, Corsair, and “self-branded” that were all Seasonic under the hood. Never had a significant problem worth mentioning.
Biscuit
Seasonic for me also, or a 3rd party unit build by them as the OEM.
I've had XFX, Antec, Corsair, and “self-branded” that were all Seasonic under the hood. Never had a significant problem worth mentioning.
This. PSUs are like cases and monitors. The technology evolves fairly slowly meaning a good quality one should get you through a decade or more regardless of how many times you replace other components. Also like those it's in use the entire time your pc is active, so worth the investment!
Not sure if I can name EVGA as they are not actually a manufacturer of PSUs but their ten year warranty and fast turn around on RMAs is great.
Hmm, another question without a single, simple objective answer. There are a number of very good manufacturers of ATX power supplies now, split into actual manufacturers and brands, and some in-between. Corsair for example, if I understand it correctly they do a lot of the engineering work short of actually manufacturing for some of their units now and contract out production to the likes of Flextronics, while other units are AFAIK essentially slightly modified off-the-shelf templates from other manufacturers, like some of their CWT stuff.
Sticking to some of the more well-known manufacturers and the consumer market, ones that spring to mind include Delta, who are unquestionably one of the best in terms of engineering, build quality and performance, but I've not seen anything from them in the consumer market for a while - Antec were about the only major brand to sell Delta stuff but they're still huge in the OEM market.
Super Flower are a notable manufacturer lately with their own brand and some from EVGA competing very favourably with established market leaders. However they're a smaller manufacturer and AFAIK do contract out manufacturing of some of their more budget-friendly stuff in order to meet demand, but on the same SF designs.
Seasonic are a well-known brand but I don't hold them on a pedestal like some seem to - they're a good manufacturer but not the only one, and nor are the necessarily the best in a given segment. That's not to downplay them in any way, they have a track record of plenty of solid designs.
CWT seem to have some consistently solid designs in the mainstream consumer market lately too.
Also worth mentioning is Enermax who up until a few years ago had their own manufacturing facilities and had some very well-designed units, though at times build quality could have been a bit tidier from what I recall. Now they seem to have lost market presence and contract out manufacturing though.
And plenty more besides are an excellent choice for a given set of requirements and budgets.
Right, that's it. Hexus is spying on me. are you Apple or something?
I make decision to buy a new GPU and you ask which manufacturer makes the best. I calculate my new GPU would just push my 9 year old 620W Coolermaster PSU too far and you ask which manufacturer makes the best PSUs…
This is scary. Stop it.
philehidiot
Right, that's it. Hexus is spying on me. are you Apple or something?
More likely to be Google as their business model is based on targeted advertising! :)
peterb
More likely to be Google as their business model is based on targeted advertising! :)
The Admin passing the buck to Google. Yeh right, you're the new NSA!
Actually, interesting story on small companies spying… there was a call centre in Glasgow (I think, definitely Scotland) and they had the usual draconian rules. Permission needed to go to the toilet and time in there timed and recorded, etc. They had a cherry on top compared to other call centrers which was they had an office full of people whose job it was to collect the social media accounts including facebook, etc, dating, forums, etc of all their employees. Then, when they called in sick these people would access all the social media accounts to look for proof that they were lying. I know there have been cases of people being caught incidentally on social media because their boss was a friend of a friend who you tagged in a photo, etc but to have a department dedicated to this is just beyond mad.
I think when this becomes a problem to the point where this department becomes financially viable it really does mean you have to closely examine how you're treating your staff. If so man of the staff are that stressed and miserable, you're doing it wrong. Also, I suppose this department is the best one to work in… who spies on the spies?! Time to pull a sickie!
Percy1983
Personally I don't worry to much as long as I buy from a decent brand and look up reviews of said PSU.
Just avoid the cheap high wattage no name things.
I've always looked at it this way: If the CPU is the equivalent of the brain and the motherboard is the equivalent of the nervous system, then the PSU is the equivalent of the heart. Who would knowingly cheap out on the heart?
Last 2 psu's = Corsair & Be-Quiet. No problems and long life with both.
Does the best PSU include ones which come with a useable guarantee?
I had a Corsair PSU which became faulty. They expected me to pay for postage to the Netherlands to get a replacement under warranty. I bought from them because I thought they were an honourable company. As a result, I am never buying PSUs from them again (the RAM sticks they sell are great IME), and I will not recommend or even suggest them to anyone who asks me about PC PSUs. Of course, I might have caught their customer support on a bad day, and they might have improved after 8 years, but with other PSU suppliers out there, there's no point for me taking a chance on them again.
I'm going to have to check out Seasonic for my next build. Always used Corsair I believe.
Corsair plat psu, lifetime warranty, no brainer.
AndyM2012
Does the best PSU include ones which come with a useable guarantee?
I had a Corsair PSU which became faulty. They expected me to pay for postage to the Netherlands to get a replacement under warranty. I bought from them because I thought they were an honourable company. As a result, I am never buying PSUs from them again (the RAM sticks they sell are great IME), and I will not recommend or even suggest them to anyone who asks me about PC PSUs. Of course, I might have caught their customer support on a bad day, and they might have improved after 8 years, but with other PSU suppliers out there, there's no point for me taking a chance on them again.
That's a good point WRT usable warranties - it's not a whole lot of good if a company bangs on about its great 10 year guarantee, if you'd have to spend £50 in postage to send it overseas to get it checked. You'd be better off just buying a new one at that point, and I wonder if the companies intended that all along?
BeQuiet for me.
They are quiet, solid, have great build quality and look better than most. All 3 personal PCs I've built so far have used them and none have gone wrong.
Draylax
BeQuiet for me.
They are quiet, solid, have great build quality and look better than most. All 3 personal PCs I've built so far have used them and none have gone wrong.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes be quiet! PSUs. I love that the fan is entirely still 99% of the time and only spins up when you get some gaming going.
I've got the Straight Power 11 650w.
Seasonic if you read the benchmarks from REAL sites that do REAL testing. They win a LOT of stuff and used to be the base of PC Power and Cooling's great PSU's (everything 350w and up that is). But once they got bought, you have to keep checking what you're getting now per model. Not talking rebrands here, but rather straight up SEASONIC in their box. Line regulation etc is really good when stressed on seasonic stuff. I'm also talking above 500w, as I ignore everything below that anyway today.
Sadly, most have no idea how a great PSU can make your pc time much better (and your room not so hot/noisy too). When my PC crashes, I can pretty much rule out the PSU instantly. I've never had one die yet from PCP&C (1 DOA back when I sold them as a reseller-but again, I don't buy them since they got bought) or Seasonic even after 7-10yrs on them. I literally give away the old ones still working, model after model for 3 decades. We only buy Seasonic these days until something changes. Most recent purchase was the 850w prime titanium ($140 when bought on sale IIRC). AWESOME PSU, so far ;) No noise, cool, etc.
You can also usually tell a quality PSU by it's weight! Comic, but ALMOST always true. There used to be a site that had them weighted, so you could see that before buying it. A quick google probably would turn them up, not sure if they still exist. IE, most of my PSU are above 6lb, even the lower models. If it doesn't weigh at least 5lb, just put it back ;)
Directron IIRC is the site with weights (ages ago, had a massive list), but many others look into this:
http://www.cs.miami.edu/home/burt/learning/Csc521.061/notes/psu.htmlhttps://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/611171-PSU-weightMost of the links in the above overclockers.com thread lead to psu's with reviews from Jonnyguru.
Great thread of psu's for investigation. You can learn a lot by reading people who've been judging psu's by trashing them to death :) The whole OC world has much to say about PSU's under stress.
https://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/589708-Recommended-PSU-s-True-TestedJonnyguru.com is probably one of the best sites for PSU reviews. IE here's the 850 titanium review:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=550The Good:
mythic voltage regulation
better than excellent ripple handling
super high 20% load level efficiency
tons of accessories
12 year warranty
The Bad:
nothing
Pretty much says it all, but worth reading WHY they are so good in the whole article.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2025425/how-to-pick-the-best-pc-power-supply.htmlAnother quote:
“Larger, heavier units are preferable to puny, lightweight models. Higher-quality power supplies almost always use bigger and better capacitors, chokes, and other internal components, and they come outfitted with larger heatsinks for superior heat dissipation—all of which translates into more weight.”
Not an in depth article but pretty much the point; but of course reviews nail it down for sure. There are not many sites that have the proper equipment to test a PSU properly. Most can tell you they come on, fans are noisy at X watts, etc, but you need MORE than that especially if you intend to load the system up, or OC the heck out of it (or both?). That was just a quick google, dig further if needed :)
Quick look in my boxes here revealed mainly Corsair psu's but that's right now. In the past had Seasonic and FSP branded stuff. Only had 1 psu ever fail on my and that was a modular Corsair that was hammered 24/7 for about 7 years
AndyM2012
Does the best PSU include ones which come with a useable guarantee?
I had a Corsair PSU which became faulty. They expected me to pay for postage to the Netherlands to get a replacement under warranty. I bought from them because I thought they were an honourable company. As a result, I am never buying PSUs from them again (the RAM sticks they sell are great IME), and I will not recommend or even suggest them to anyone who asks me about PC PSUs. Of course, I might have caught their customer support on a bad day, and they might have improved after 8 years, but with other PSU suppliers out there, there's no point for me taking a chance on them again.
I think it's quite common for companies to have European based support centres. I had a similar situation with a faulty MSI graphics card I bought from Ebuyer. I was given the choice of either getting either dealing direct with MSI in the Netherlands, or going through Ebuyer & letting them handle it. I obviously chose the latter, which was the much cheaper option. Ebuyer even sent a courier out to pick up the graphics card. It did take a whole month to get a replacement graphics card though.
Corsair, quiet, reliable, good of warranty, good customer service, and they look sexy:D
Seasonic.
If I can't get one, EVGA G series.
+1 for EVGA G series. Solid build and long warranty does it for me.
Isn't that your job to tell us? Otherwise we'd have to get all PSUs, test/benchmark them, and come to a conclusion. :p
Anyway, I got my first ‘high-end’ PSU, this year. Corsair RM850w. Love how quiet it is (as in, no sound at all). Replaced an XFX Pro 450, which I thought wasn't all that loud. But once you go ‘fanless’….
Antec thermaltake bequiet, for small sfx PSU silverstone, and for dc/dc converters errr I forgot the name ahhh hdplex ,but they haven't really got any competition in the hi-watts dc .
Seasonic is not the only fruit nor is it the new black.
Seasonic, Superflower (also an OEM for some of EVGA PSU's IIRC), quite fond of the aesthetics of the new Phanteks ones that'll be out soon, tihnk Seasonic may well be the OEM for those too.
I've currently got cooler master PSU and was looking to upgrade using the same brand so I could leave all my cabling intact and just unplug from the PSU end and reinsert. I've just seen the failure rate within 6 months and it seems pretty bad along with a suspicious and marked price reduction on that model and people saying you have to send it off at your own cost and wait ages for a replacement. That's me spending a few hours running new power cables then. I don't mind that much, I was just hoping to be lazy.
EVGA has become my preferred choice. Thermaltake prior.
Still using an Enermax Liberty. Planned to replace it years ago but never bothered. Would probably choose Seasonic, though, because they get consistently good reviews.
I'd say Super Flower and Seasonic are the best options… Including the units for which they are the OEM for.
Any thoughts on EVGA? Who is their OEM? I am yet to swap mine in…
G2/G3 are Super Flower IIRC, others can differing as OEM. Checkout reviews for a model on say Jonny Guru and or Techpowerup, the section the internals are examined is where they state OEM.
There are a good number of excellent Power Suppliy Units from various manufacturers however, my choice without hesitation is Seasonic. I have always used and recommended Seasonic units.
Additionally, from personal experience I rate their customer service as superb.
Best PSU i ever owned was a gold Qtec :mrgreen:
Heard many great things about Seasonic but I've never used them myself. Currently I've got an EVGA P2 (rebranded Superflower Leadex) and it's been fine so far.
Got a Corsair modular at the moment, but have since read many horror stories about warranty and RMA. Enough to put me off getting another.
I wasn't aware of Seasonic at all, but it looks like a pretty strong recommendation from this thread. Will investigate for my next build, so thanks!