Seasonic X-Series SS-460FL: 460 Watts of Fanless Power
by Martin Kaffei on October 20, 2010 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- PSUs
- X-460
- Fanless
Efficiency and PFC
| 230VAC, 50Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 81% | 0.917 |
| 20% | 87% | 0.970 |
| 50% | 91% | 0.986 |
| 80% | 91% | 0.990 |
| 100% | 91% | 0.993 |
| 110% | 91% | 0.994 |
| 115VAC, 60Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 80% | 0.971 |
| 20% | 86% | 0.988 |
| 50% | 90% | 0.994 |
| 80% | 90% | 0.996 |
| 100% | 89% | 0.992 |
| 110% | 89% | 0.994 |
Considering the 80 Plus Gold certification, we expected high efficiency and that's exactly what we got. The efficiency is as high as the results from our X-750 test. The only blemish is that 10% load on what is essentially 850W design (fanless and down-rated at 460W) "only" comes in at 80%. At this point the efficiency could be better than 80%, but we're being picky. 46W output at 80% efficiency means power draw of 57.5W, where an 85% efficient design would save a whopping 3.5W and get you down to 54W power draw. For the vast majority of PCs that use 60W or more, efficiency will be higher, and loads of 50% to 110% are always above 89% on 115VAC—and up to 91.41% at 230 VAC! The power factor is impressive as well, measuring .97 or higher in every test (outside of 230VAC @ 10%).
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Haravikk - Friday, December 27, 2019 - link
Don't know why I never posted a comment sooner, but I got one of these ages ago, and it's still going strong over six years later.It's been used in two different builds now, and currently in use for a small form factor gaming PC, in a Rajinteck Metis case, which mounts the full-sized ATX PSU vertically at the front. While I'm not going fanless, this arrangement actually works really well for this PSU, as my CPU cooler is able to draw air in through the PSU before exhausting it out the back, which is fine, as with the PSU's high efficiency it doesn't generate much heat at all, and I have just a single fan cooling everything currently in my system, making it nice and quiet.
In future I'll be adding discrete graphics (I've gotten a lot of mileage out the Ryzen with Vega's onboard GPU so far), so that'll be a second fan, it will also be pulling air through the PSU and exhausting it at the back, so I don't expect any issues. Plus the PSU easily gives me the headroom for that.
In such a system as PSU with built in fan would either starving the interior of the case of air (by pulling from inside) or pushing air into a tiny case that only really needs a good exhaust fan to guarantee good airflow.
Sure, it was a hefty price tag for minor benefits, but I've been pleased with it, and will buy fanless again if I can get one to the same high standard (or better).