Seasonic S12G 650W Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on February 28, 2014 2:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- 80 Plus Gold
Final Words and Conclusion
Today we witnessed the reason why Seasonic is so popular amongst enthusiasts and advanced users. The 650W version of the S12G is not the cheapest of its range and class, it has no extravagant features, and it is not even modular. When you look at it, it is yet another all-black ATX PSU; not even the ribbon-like black cables are in any way special nowadays. You can easily find an 80 Plus Gold certified and modular 650W PSU for around the same price.
On the other hand, when it comes to build and power quality, the Seasonic S12G can easily make most of its competition shudder. Seasonic usually picks very high quality components for their units and the S12G is no exception, with most of the primary components and all of the capacitors coming from Japanese brands -- and the S12G is their mainstream series, not their high-end brand! That alone says a lot about Seasonic's commitment to quality and why they so easily cover a mainstream unit with a five-year warranty.
Looking at the performance charts and tables, the Seasonic S12G could probably be offering the best all-around performance within its price range. The DC output power quality is excellent and the voltage ripple suppression is remarkable. Since voltage ripple is directly correlated with the longevity of electronic equipment, especially capacitors (it causes self-heating), very low ripple readings benefit the durability of your system's components. The energy conversion efficiency is very high and it maintains its high efficiency and quiet operation even inside a very warm environment.
Its Achilles' heel is that the S12G tends to run a little hot if heavily loaded for prolonged periods of time while inside a very warm environment; however, the only real-world scenario that we can imagine that would replicate such conditions is that of a powerful cryptocoin mining system built inside a poorly designed chassis. If you are planning to use the Seasonic S12G for powering such a system in a $20 case, that probably is a bad idea. However, if you are looking to buy a PSU for its high quality and performance and consider aesthetics and modularity to be secondary or unnecessary features, the Seasonic S12G is definitely worthy of strong consideration.
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Samus - Saturday, March 1, 2014 - link
Just buy a PCP&C 750 Quad and take the fan out/unplug it. I've had mine like this for 5 years. It doesn't even get warm pulling 300 watts. JohnnyGuru found it to be the coolest running PSU he ever tested at full load, so running 1/2 load doesn't even require active cooling. They have no electronic noise.They're $50 used on eBay.
tosisgray - Saturday, March 1, 2014 - link
Thanks! That's the kind of testing I want to see. Embarrassingly, I have not heard of JohnnyGuru before. I will look him up.geniekid - Monday, March 3, 2014 - link
I've owned 4 Seasonic power supplies. One of them had coil whine, and it wasn't fanless.nagi603 - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
I have an X-400. Best PSU I've ever bought. No buzz, no problem of any kind.MuteyM - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Going forward, it would be nice if the graphs used Wattage instead of Load % on the X-axis. This would make it easier for people to compare differently-rated PSUs for their own particular needs. For example if I know my computer idles around 50W and maxes at 400W, I could compare all reviewed PSUs and see which are the most efficient at my particular use cases.With Load % as it is now I have to manually do a bunch of math for that comparison.
GiantPandaMan - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Good idea. Or they could just dual axis it.E.Fyll - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
That actually is a very good idea. I will see if I can make a dual axis graph or simply replace the % axis with wattage. Thank you MuteyM.lever_age - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
It's only Seasonic's X and Platinum lines that use the San Ace fan. All others pretty much use an ADDA.Also, the B in AD1212MB-A70GL should indicate it's a 2BB fan, not hypro. This is the model used in most of their power supplies and often even the ones they build for other brands.
lever_age - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
...that is, in the current lineup. Prior M12D or whatever previous high-end model may have also used San Ace.Flunk - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Not to nitpick, but if you're putting together a "powerful cyptomining system" you generally don't use a case at all. Not only that, but you're going to need more powerful or multiple power supplies.