Seasonic S12II: 330W to 500W of Silence

Cables and Connectors
 

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the 330W version doesn't have nearly as many cables as some other power supplies that we've reviewed. With only 330W available, users definitely shouldn't be thinking about powering multiple graphics cards or a dozen hard drives, and there are enough cables for your typical lower midrange PCs. The S12II 330W has six Molex and four SATA connectors for peripherals along with a single 6-pin PEG connector for PCI Express graphics cards. The 4-pin and 24-pin ATX connectors are standard and have a length of 50 and 55cm which is sufficient even for many larger cases. When the other hand, the peripheral connectors are all shorter and the first connectors are only 30cm from the PSU case. We had to rescale our cables graphic, but this isn't necessarily a bad design decision on Seasonic's part. They provide connectors at several different cable lengths, allowing the user to choose the appropriate connector for their specific setup. Moreover, a 330W power supply with shorter cables could be an excellent solution for many of the micro ATX cases on the market; after all, just because you want a smaller computer case doesn't mean you necessarily want a lower quality power supply.
 

The largest S12II is rated at 500W and comes with a few more connectors. There are three cables each with three Molex connectors at different lengths. The shortest distance to the PSU is again just 30cm and the largest distance is 80cm. There are two additional cables that provide three SATA connectors each. For graphics cards, Seasonic includes two 6-pin PEG connectors, one of which can be transformed into an 8-pin PEG connector by using the two additional pins that are next to it. The main 4/8 and 24-pin ATX connectors have a length of 50cm which is about average. All cables are sleeved until the first connector.

The Fans
 

The fans in the S12II series are the same for all four power supplies. Seasonic uses an ADDA AD1212MB-A7GL brushless fan with 0.33A. The 500W model has a small piece of plastic attached to the fan that is used to channel the air deeper into the case in order to improve the internal cooling.