Seasonic Platinum Series 860W - Platinum without the Fuss
by Martin Kaffei on February 24, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDelivery Contents, Power Rating, and Fan
The contents of the Platinum 860W package are not as extensive as those of the MaxRevo series from Enermax. However, you still get two different types of cable ties, a user guide, a bag with the modular connectors, screws for installing the PC power supply in the case, a small screwdriver, and a Seasonic sticker. The ATX power supply itself is well protected from dust and dirt with a cloth bag.
One interesting feature is that Seasonic uses a high quality fan from Sanyo Denki, with a twist. As we will see when we take a closer look to the case, there's a small switch next to the modular sockets. This switch allows users to choose between active mode (the fan will always spin, even if slowly) or semi-passive operation. If the latter is selected, the fan won't rotate at loads below 40%. The idea is similar to what Seasonic offered with their X-Series, but now users have the ability to choose non-passive operation if they prefer a small amount of airflow. Seasonic also provides a 7-year warranty, though of course that doesn't say anything about the actual quality of service or support.
Similar to the X-Series the +3.3V and +5V outputs are rated at 25A each. Together these can deliver up to 125W (so it's not actually possible to draw the maximum current from both simultaneously). Meanwhile the more important +12V output is very powerful and can reach up to 852W output, though in practice the +3.3V and +5V will use some of the available power. +5VSB is rated at 3A. The first parts of the serial number tell us that this power supply was produced in December 2011.
Seasonic installed a 9S1212F04 fan from Sanyo Denki, which we've seen in many other expensive power supplies. This fan uses very good ball bearings and has seven fan blades. Seasonic covers part of the fan by a plastic foil in order to better direct airflow and reduce turbulence. In contrast to the earlier design of the X-Series, the fan speed cannot be adjusted by the duty cycle (PWM). Antec has a patent in this area and Seasonic acquired a restricted license only; thus, the fan speed regulation uses different voltages to control RPMs. With 0.19A the fan has a moderate maximum current use.
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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.