Seasonic X-Series 750W: Potent for the Price
by Martin Kaffei on April 13, 2010 11:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- PSUs
Efficiency and PFC
Even at 75W (10% load) Seasonic delivers 83.43% efficiency. 115VAC reaches 89% maximum efficiency from 20% to 50% load (150W to 375W), while 230VAC delivers slightly better results as expected. Overall the X750 is as good as the Enermax Pro87+ and Modu87+ with only minor differences. If you want to save energy then the choice between Enermax and Seasonic won't generally affect the result. Instead, you'll want to look at pricing and other features.
At low input voltage, PFC starts at over 0.971 and reaches 0.993 under full load. With 230VAC the trend is lower (again as expected), starting at 0.800 at 10% load. This is still okay for the European power grid.
Cooling
Seasonic has a lot of confidence in their design and so the fan doesn't rotate at all until you hit 20% load. Thus, from 0 to 20% (150W) we have a result of 0 dB(A) on the graphs. From 20% to 50% load the X750 remains silent, but once load goes beyond 50% (375W) the fan RPMs increase rapidly. At high loads the result is more noise than the Enermax Pro/Modu97+, with a maximum noise level of over 30 dB(A). The small heatsinks and open design come into play here, as they have to compensate for the lack of surface area by pushing more air through the PSU. You can also hear the ball bearings inside the fan at maximum RPM.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
38 Comments
View All Comments
cmdrdredd - Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - link
I use an HX1000 Corsair PSU in my system, I would have bought this unit because it's higher quality but they don't make more than 750watt units in this series. Why not?529th - Thursday, April 15, 2010 - link
The 750 should put most machines today in the most efficient part of the efficiency curve.With the 650 model you hit the highest efficiency of 92.1% between 269-292; and most systems draw around there when gaming. My i7 920 (stock clocks,) 5870 (stock clocks,) 6g 1333 1.6v, was right between there; and I'm glad I chose the 650w model. Even then if you are doing a little overclocking, you stay within the 90 percentile between 134w - 588w which is solid. So given the 750w model you can assume another 100w added to the 588w and you'll still be in the 90 percentile which is darn good!
Of course, not all machines are running stock clocks.
529th - Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - link
JonnyGuru did a great review on the[rul=http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReview...]Seasonic X-650[/url]. The ripple suppression on these things are top notch. Check out page 3.Isn't he still a mod here?
MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, April 15, 2010 - link
Got the 750 on ebay for 148 (with shipping) after cashback. Was quite a steal considering the MSRPpower draw at the wall went from 153 to 123 at idle. Quite the change from my old aerocool zeroDBA.
jayce - Thursday, April 15, 2010 - link
Are power supply manufacturer’s going to be moving towards switching topology between lower and higher loads?Given the trend in CPU’s/ GPU’s to use power gating and hard disk controllers spinning down disks when idle, are we going to be seeing power supplies which provide high efficiencies in 50w-150w and 400w+ in the case of a 750w power supply.
Bitgod - Sunday, April 18, 2010 - link
I put together a new system using my old HX620 and I was getting squealing from various components. I decided to take a chance and try a new PSU and I knew I wanted one that was more efficient. I'd seen some of the pics of the inside of the X750 and fell in love with it, it's so clean. So I coughed up the money to get one, and luckily it was worth it because all the squealing noises went away. And it's also drawing less power according to the kill-a-watt tester I plugged it into. So, it's pricey, but if you want a good PSU, this is it.Salsoolo - Thursday, June 3, 2010 - link
thats a fine psu90+ all over over, thats amazing
jed22281 - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
I don't suppose any one could offer some thoughts based on my needs outlined in this thread of mine?http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6...
Much appreciated if anyone can!