Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W
by Christoph Katzer on November 22, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Seasonic X900 - 900W
What a beauty Seasonic has here! Unfortunately, it's not even available in the United States. As we stated before, the US market doesn't need to be too sad since we will see the same power supply under a different name. Still, it's funny to see a little sticker showing 200-240VAC on the back suggesting this power supply should only be used in Europe. We have tested this unit on 90VAC and 120VAC without problems, so you can ignore the misleading sticker. Of course, Seasonic probably has reasons for these actions.
Four times 18A for the 12V rails is good. With a combined power of 72A, the 12V rails can almost reach the rated 900W on their own.
Cables and Connectors
This power supply also has the cables sleeved with black mesh. The cables are quite short, which is surprising for a high-end unit that will likely be used in a bigger case. Apparently, Seasonic feels differently, and they have attached many harnesses with lengths of 25cm to 65cm. The amount of connectors is good and the lengths will work well in smaller cases; then again, smaller cases probably don't need this many connectors.
Opening the unit, we find a unique and sleek design which is made for cooling by a single 80mm fan. The heatsinks are T-shaped and only allow for horizontal airflow. Comparing this unit to the nice 750W red one from before, there are several added components that help it reach the higher performance rating. Again, we see a high-quality Nippon Chemi-Con cap in the primary. The temperature of the heatsinks is been also very good, but this is due largely to a very annoying fan.
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tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
the efficiency charts are fantastic as you can see exactly how all the units compare at a specified wattagebut then you go back and do the acoustics charts by % load? why?
if i want to see how all the units compare at a 500w load, there's no easy way to do that as that might be a 68% load on one unit and a 55% load on another unit
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Next time will doVidmar - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
Thanks for doing the charts in watts instead of load. I've been asking for that for some time. As has been said here it makes it much easier to find a good unit based upon a known wattage your system uses. Good article.tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
great!and then once all units are tested to the same baseline, that opens the door for dynamic comparisons
as you build up a database of reviews, you could have a dynamic system where you can choose a 400-500 watt unit you reviewed 9 months ago and a 600 watt unit you just reviewed and it will generate the comparison charts on the fly
something for the future perhaps ;)
Etern205 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Newegg is selling the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 at $249 whilethe 1KW version is selling for $299 with a -$80 instant rebate!
850w version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
1KW version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Traciatim - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Could you please design and test with a machine that actually uses 700+ Watts of DC output?Jjoshua2 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
I like the old review better. I don't have time to read the whole reviews, so I just read the conclusion and then go over a few interesting paragraphs. I hope you have a longer conclusion next time!Thanks.
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Ehm there are 8 pages comparison/conclusion.... not enough?Of course people not appreciating the work and just read the last page find it boring... so next time I write a page about 10 PSUs and that'd be enough? ...
Googer - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Check the hot deals section of Anandtech forums, a little while ago I posted a $50 price drop of the Silencer 750 down to a budgetable $150.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...=40&...
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
That would be a really good deal indeed.