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
Noise, Efficiency, and Power Factor
| Sound Pressure Level | |
| Load | dB(A) |
| 10% | 0 |
| 20% | 0 |
| 50% | 18 |
| 80% | 23 |
| 100% | 30 |
| 110% | 32 |
There is no noise during low loads since the fan doesn't rotate until the PSU is putting out more than ~112W. If you select appropriate components elsewhere, you can actually use this to create a silent system for low to moderate loads, and you won't have to worry about burning anything out at higher loads. In addition, the RPMs are tolerable up to 50% load. Beyond that point, this PSU is no more silent than competing solutions, but we should keep in mind that most GPUs are louder while gaming so the results are fine. If you want to get uncompromising silence at all loads you can buy the X-460FL, but if silence is the goal you won't want to run higher-end GPUs.
Efficiency and PFC
| 115VAC, 60Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 82% | 0.975 |
| 20% | 87% | 0.990 |
| 50% | 91% | 0.993 |
| 80% | 91% | 0.995 |
| 100% | 90% | 0.996 |
| 110% | 89% | 0.997 |
This is basically an 850W PSU that doesn't always run the fan. We can see that the efficiency is a bit low at 10% load, but 80 Plus doesn't worry about anything below 20%. The efficiency also drops off slightly at higher loads, but it does meet or exceed the 80 Plus Gold requirements (87/90/87% effeciency at 20/50/100% loads). We are also very happy with the high PFC at all loads, though this is no surprise for the American 115VAC power grid; Europeans and others on 230VAC will have to accept lower PFC but get slightly higher efficiency in return.
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Arbie - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Yes, thanks for listing the cable lengths, especially the main power / cpu cable. Last time around I bought an expensive and high-quality PSU which turned out to have main cable so short that it barely worked in a mid-size tower. BTW you say the main cable is 60 cm in one place, and 65 cm in another. Unless I misread it.Seasonic is now on my list for the next time.
somedude1234 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I used this PSU in my home server build and couldn't be happier. When the server is sitting idle or just serving up media, the PSU fan doesn't run. When the Xeon 3440 is churning through high def video transcodes, the system is still dead quiet.I expect this server to last 5-10 years so paying for quality components up front wasn't a problem.
poohbear - Thursday, March 24, 2011 - link
Just wanted to post thank you for buying from a retailer instead of using a cherry picked review sample from the company. I hope you guys do this for all the hardware you review, not just the PSUs. Great to read impartial reviews like this!oh, and the article was well done too.;)
Martin Kaffei - Thursday, March 24, 2011 - link
No problem. But we often get samples from a manufacturer, less frequent from a retailer or distributor.These are chosen randomly so the manufacturer doesn't know, if we check out the version on the market. Nevertheless I don't have the money to pay for every sample so we still have different sources.
ClagMaster - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link
Excellent article that provides a great deal of insight into the design and construction of the X-Series 560W.A good read after a hard day at work.
For $120 this is a fair price for quality components, an excellent design, and a diverse assortment of connectors of ATX Towers and HTPC's.
This is a 850W unit which is scaled down to 550W service. I suppose having the fan start above 20% of load is necessary but the fan is indeed very quiet. This power supply has plenty of margin for operation above 550W.
The only improvement I can think of using a PWM Fan with Hydro bearings.
Seasonic is a company which stands behind its warranty too. I had a 500W MII power supply go bad 6 months ago. A diode had come lose from its mainboard and lodged in the fan grill. I applied for an RMA, boxed the failed power supply, mailed it to their RMA center in California, and recieved a new replacement in less than two weeks.
No hassle -- No problems -- Full satisfaction with the service.
oneoho - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
This article may have converted me to a Seasonic fanboy :)More than I've ever wanted to know about a PSU but definitely got my nerd juices flowing.