Seasonic Platinum Series 860W - Platinum without the Fuss
by Martin Kaffei on February 24, 2012 12:00 AM ESTExternal Impressions, Cables, and Connectors
Other than the change in color, the top of the casing looks exactly like the one from the X-1000 and X-1250. All the sides are very thick and even after opening the chassis we couldn't find any sharp-edged parts. One side shows the name of the series, and the opposite side has the power output label. On the rear of the PSU, next to the power input is a large power switch, occupying more than its fair share of space and taking away a bit of area that would otherwise be used for the ventilation holes.
At the front we find that all the modular plugs are uniform in color. The top right socket can be used either for a PCIe or for a CPU connector. When in doubt, the customer must choose one of the two variants, but the PCIe connector can also be connected in the bottom row. Three more PCIe plugs are available, though only two of them are required for the 860W model (e.g. there are only two PCIe cable harnesses).
Worth note is that at 19cm the body is relatively long, but it's not surprisingly long for a modular PSU in this power class. The product wasn't designed for HTPCs so the length shouldn't be a point of criticism. However, you'll want to ensure your intended case has enough room for the PSU.
| Cables and Connectors | ||
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Main | 1x 24-pin (60cm) modular |
| ATX12V/EPS12V |
4+4-pin (65cm) 8-pin (65cm) all modular |
|
| PCIe |
2x 6/8-pin (60cm) 2x 6/8-pin (60cm) all modular |
|
| Peripheral |
3x SATA (55, 70, 85cm) 3x SATA (55, 70, 85cm) 3x SATA (55, 70, 85cm) 2x SATA (35, 50cm) all modular |
|
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3x Molex (55, 70, 85cm) 3x Molex (55, 70, 85cm) 2x Molex (35, 50cm) all modular |
||
In total there are eleven SATA connectors on four separate harnesses, which is above average. The eight Molex connectors are common for this performance category. Note that the connector panel of the PSU only supports using six total harnesses, so you'll have to either skip out on one SATA harness or one of the Molex harnesses. Apart from the two slightly shorter peripheral cables it would have been nice to get different lengths for the remaining SATA and Molex cables.
As noted above the upper socket can be used for graphics cards or the CPU. At up to 85cm long, the peripheral cables should work in nearly all cases, while the mainboard and PCIe plugs reach 60-65cm. The 24-pin plug is connected to the bottom row (with 12 volt) and the middle row as well.
The cable sleeving is very good and relatively opaque, but ends just before the plug sockets, which doesn't look as good as it could. That's apparently the price one must pay for the full modular connector system; perhaps flat cables would be a better solution here. But this is a matter of taste. As always the electronics is much more important for us.
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marraco - Sunday, February 26, 2012 - link
"The Best PSU Ever" cannot have a noisy fan.cyberguyz - Sunday, February 26, 2012 - link
"The direct competitors include the already mentioned Enermax Platimax 750W / Platimax 850W and the Golden King Platinum design (Kingwin LZP-750) from Super Flower. The latter offering isn't just questionable in name, but the missing overcurrent protection and MOV are also a major drawback. As such, we wouldn't put that particular unit in the same category as the Seasonic; Super Flower products in general use cheaper quality."It was a reasonably good article tarnished by the reviewer's obvious hate for anything not Seasonic.
There is no taking away from Seasonic at putting out a kickass power supply. I like them so much I bought one myself and it is currently powering the system I am writing this on. But to unilaterally state something like "Super Flower products in general use cheaper quality." without posting quantitative data to back it up or "The latter offering isn't just questionable in name, but the missing overcurrent protection and MOV are also a major drawback" without actually looking at the reasons why they are not included (and there is one if you bother to look). Are these actually required on a power supply with a single large 12v rail (OCP is definitely a must for mutiple 12v rails to keep a power hog on one of them from burning out the limited rail)? For what? Please expand on why this is such a major drawback?
kensiko - Sunday, February 26, 2012 - link
Well said.It's not because Super flower produced cheaper power supplies that all their power supplies are cheap.
I hope Martin will think before making another statement as that.
Risforrocket - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Heck yeah I already bought one. So glad this review shows it to be as good as I thought it was going to be. All my power supplies have been Seasonic in recent years.cyberguyz - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
It is an excellent PSU. I replaced a Corsair HX850 with it (the Corsair was losing some of its regulation edge with age). So far I am really happy with its clean power delivery, tight regulation and efficiency (I hate waste).The downside is that it is a costly beastie but that is to be expected. It is after all one of the best available (yes there are others just as good) in that wattage range. Quality costs.
While I would not call this review objective, the product itself does merit some of the author's excitement. I would look to jonnyguru.com for more technical and objective power supply reviews though.
Cheers folks!
LintMan - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
It looks like Seasonic finally increased the length of the ATX12V/EPS12V cables a bit - but they're still too short!For many/most case and motherboard layouts these days, those cables need to be able to reach from the bottom-mounted PSU around behind the MB, up to the very top edge of the MB. Even in some mid-size cases, 65cm isn't long enough! My Seasonic X750 had 55cm cables and I had to buy a 15cm extension for it with my Antec P280 case, and even then it was barely long enough. These cables really should be 75cm to cover most non-jumbo cases.
shawkie - Sunday, May 13, 2012 - link
Technically I'm talking about the 1kW version (SS-1000XP) and can't comment on the 860W version but it seems that the fanless mode is a complete lie. My PC has an i7 3770T (45W TDP) plus an SSD and an optical drive. I haven't measured it yet but even under full load I doubt it hits 100W. And yet its now idling in 22 degC ambient and the PSU fan is spinning. Its definitely in Hybrid mode and if I flip the switch it gets louder. Its really, really quiet but all the specifications say it should be "fanless" and "0 rpm" up to 30% load. If I'd known that wasn't true I would have got the 460W fanless instead.owen10578 - Sunday, December 18, 2016 - link
Im way late to the party but can anyone answer which connectors are connected to which 12v rails? Because I think my unit keeps on tripping if I load the CPU and GPU and the OCN guys said I might be plugging all my components to all one 12v rail.owen10578 - Sunday, December 18, 2016 - link
Im way late to the party but can anyone answer which connectors are connected to which 12v rails? Because I think my unit keeps on tripping if I load the CPU and GPU and the OCN guys said I might be plugging all my components to all one 12v rail.