Seasonic X-Series 560W
by Martin Kaffei on March 22, 2011 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- PSUs
- 80Plus Gold
- 560W
- X-Series
Let's Take a Look Inside
All capacitors in this PSU come from Nippon Chemi-Con, a Japanese company. There are two large main caps and six all solid caps for filtering at the 12V output. Both DC-to-DC VRMs consist of IPD060N03L transistors. They are controlled by an Anpec APW7159 like most VRMs. The transformer, choke, and grey caps in the middle as well as the sister PCB in the upper left corner are part of the resonant switching topology. Seasonic uses ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) to reduce power loss. With the resonant circuit the manufacturer has no problems with EMC.
Seasonic has implemented a good line filtering stage to help shield the components from EMI in the power grid; it consists of two different coils, some Y-capacitors, and an MOV. In addition, we can find a thermistor and a relay to reduce inrush current. There is also a single X cap with a yellow plastic case. The bridge rectifiers in a GBU case are screwed on one separate heatsink.
The small PCB with an IC for PFC is a little sequeezed between the PFC choke and the first main cap. However, the build quality is still very good, especially the soldering (see the gallery below). The transistors for SR are realized as SMDs, which is why there are three lonely heatsinks beside the all solid caps. Infineon built some of the MOSFETs in this PSU and guarantees a low drain to source resistance in on-state.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
46 Comments
View All Comments
Beenthere - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
This is a decent PSU but I'm not a fan of modular cables for PSUs and this PSU is over-priced IMO.ckryan - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
If you're not a fan of modular cables why would you even consider a COMPLETELY modular PSU? There aren't many of them on the market, only the Seasonics and the Corsairs (that are Seasonics).erple2 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
What price is some basic peace of mind? While I've never had a power supply blow up and damage any of my components, I've also never bought the $30 specials, either. I see this as more of an investment to the future.This PSU (like all high quality ones) has very good voltage stability (ripple plus total), which is the one thing that a PSU is supposed to provide. All of the other stuff is completely superfluous.
Also, I think you're going to find that there are no other 80+ Gold certified PSU's that cost anything appreciably less.
Though I do agree, I'm not a fan of modular cables - I would imagine that you'd get better voltage regulation if the cables weren't modular (a little bit better, at least).
Plus, it's only $130.
Beenthere - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I'd go with the PC Power and Cooling Silencer II for $100.Termie - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
I've always been a bit confused about the pricing of this model, which has been out for a while now. It's very close to the x650 in price (at least when the x650 is discounted, which the x560 never seems to be). Is the x560 actually higher quality than the older x650/x750 models?Martin Kaffei - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
It is.Well, not much. But the advantage is they have chosen better transistors. In addition the heatsinks for those SR transistors are larger now and the position of some components is different.
Fine tuning.
Termie - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Thank you, Martin. It's great to be able to ask the experts questions!Uwanna - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
I did purchase the X850 instead of the X560 in this review.Once I saw the pictures of the internals on another website review I knew this was the one for me.
Tim
mino - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
"This is basically an 850W PSU that doesn't always run the fan."surely not 850W ...
MrSpadge - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link
Sure it is. That's the whole point of this sentence ;)MrS