Seasonic Platinum Series 860W - Platinum without the Fuss
by Martin Kaffei on February 24, 2012 12:00 AM ESTVoltage Regulation
| +3.3V Regulation/Ripple and Noise | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | +1.28% (5mV) |
| 10% | +1.24% (6mV) |
| 20% | +1.12% (8mV) |
| 50% | +0.24% (10mV) |
| 80% | -1.23% (11mV) |
| 100% | -1.67% (14mV) |
| 110% | -1.79% (14mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | +0.61% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | +0.00% |
| +5V Regulation/Ripple and Noise | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | +1.20% (7mV) |
| 10% | +0.82% (7mV) |
| 20% | +0.40% (9mV) |
| 50% | -0.02% (11mV) |
| 80% | -0.94% (12mV) |
| 100% | -0.92% (12mV) |
| 110% | -0.86% (13mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | +0.28% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | -0.04% |
| +12V Regulation (Worst Rail)/Ripple and Noise (Worst Rail) | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | +1.13% (4mV) |
| 10% | +1.04% (5mV) |
| 20% | +0.98% (22mV) |
| 50% | +0.48% (16mV) |
| 80% | +0.01% (20mV) |
| 100% | -0.31% (24mV) |
| 110% | -0.67% (26mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | -0.17% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | +0.13% |
Noise Levels
| Loudness | |
| Load | Opinion |
| 5% | low fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 10% | low fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 20% | low fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 50% | fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 80% | strong fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 100% | strong fan noise and small electrical side noise |
| 110% | strong fan noise and small electrical side noise |
Efficiency and PFC
| Efficiency (AC input minus DC output) and Power Factor | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 5% | 79.83% | 0.712 |
| 10% | 86.53% | 0.898 |
| 20% | 90.77% | 0.942 |
| 50% | 93.03% | 0.979 |
| 80% | 91.99% | 0.988 |
| 100% | 91.40% | 0.989 |
| 110% | 91.27% | 0.990 |
The ball bearing is (almost) inaudible under high loads. During low loads you might hear the PFC choke if you are close enough, but this shouldn't be a problem when the PSU is mounted in a closed case. If desired the fan can be turned off through up to 40% load by a small switch on the front of the casing, which would make the PSU completely silent at lower loads (other than the electrical noise we noted).
Efficiency is much higher than expected. Seasonic is well above the requirements for the 80 Plus Platinum certificate (90%/92%/89% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% load). Even at lower loads Seasonic is able to surpass most results from competing products. In addition the Platinum Series 860W performs much better than what we saw from the Enermax Platimax 750W. It's only at 5% load that this PSU is below 80% efficiency, and even then it's basically a rounding error. So far this is an exceptionally good result; PFC could be a little better, but we don't want to overdo things.
During all loads voltage regulation is simply perfect. Even under crossload conditions all voltages are close to their optimal values. -1.67% is the "worst" result on 3.3V while 12V is much better (-0.31% as long as we stay at <100% load). Another highlight is the low ripple voltage. We would like to see such results more often, since 26mV on 12V is only 0.22% ripple and noise—according to the ATX specification 1% is allowed. Enermax had no problems with this level as well and makes stable outputs too, but ripple was noticeably higher. Given these results, Seasonic is clearly the winner in our head-to-head comparison.
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Death666Angel - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Kingwin/Super Flower have 500W, 550W, 600W and Enermax has 500W and 600W as well.ShieTar - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Kingwin has a 300W even, and Sama has a 400W. You can always check for Platinum certified supplies directly at the source:http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppli...
There are 90 Platinum certifications by now.
adece - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Antec has its Earth Watts Series which was recently bumped to Platinum efficiency, although this are not modular, not even semi.elian123 - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
OK, great. Thanks guys, I'd only noticed reviews of the bigger ones up till now.Martin Kaffei - Saturday, February 25, 2012 - link
I'll test the Antec 450W soon.Leyawiin - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Just got a gold X-560. I'll never buy another brand now.AnnoyedGrunt - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
I have an older Seasonic (can't remember which model), but it is an awesome power supply. I live in a heavily wooded area and often on windy days the trees hitting the power lines will cause the lights to flicker, sometimes my monitor to power cycle, but through it all my computer will stay on and working due to the excellent properties of the Seasonic. I, too, will keep buying what I consider to be the best brand in power supplies these days.Good to hear their current products are even better than the older model I use.
-AG
rrohbeck - Sunday, February 26, 2012 - link
Same here. The other day we had a power glitch and the light went out for a fraction of a second. I went over to my big system to see if it would reboot cleanly (it's also a file server) but it was still running. Nice! It uses an X750 Gold.aurareturn - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
I have had a Corsair HX 520 modular PSU since 2007. It's made by Seasonic. Still running like a champ.Also have another Corsair Seasonic PSU in my new computer. Running for 2 years now. Still great.
piroroadkill - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
I had an HX520 for so long, that now I gave it to my brother for his system to replace a generic. Still works perfectly.Got myself a Seasonic X-660. The packaging, the look of the thing, the fully modular design - it screams class.