This post is more to hardware, but if you have wound up here, I hope it is useful.
I have long recommended people buy good PSUs when building a new PC. If you use it for work, 8h a day or more, it is a requirement.
Failure to do so may cause the PSU to only last a couple of years and be more expensive in the long run due to short warranties for most. Those that don't have a MOV as spike protection, may not protect your hardware from current fluctuations as a good PSU will!
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| Seasonic S12-II 620W |
One of the brands I always recommended and used was Seasonic. It had really good PSUs like the S12-II. The S12-II 430W version was available for around $50 and was built with japanese capacitors and other good features:
- 12V single rail peaking at 360W,
- Silent 12CM fan with fluid dynamic bearings.
- Black cabling and shroud.
- 5 year warranty.
The higher powered versions of S12-II were a bit different but still good. I also have XFX branded Seasonic models that still work great today.
At the time these were available (some 10 years ago), you could purchase equivalent devices from Corsair, Antec, Bequiet! or similar manufacturers that would frequently fail due to lower quality components. Antec would ship review versions with all japanese capacitors and put lower quality parts on retail units - I know, I got one that failed as expected.
Now, imagine that when browsing for a new PSU, it seems Seasonic has turned a page and is now using all kinds of chinese capacitors - not even Taiwanese - in many PSU lines like Core, G12 GC and B12. Some of these are $70-$80 units so this is unexpected at these prices.
PRIME series still seems to be high quality but standards are not set for other lines. Right now, most renown brands are not using quality components:
- Bequiet!
- Cooler Master
- Corsair
- EVGA
- XFX
Though being fair, Corsair RM PSUs are expensive but of good quality. Taiwanese caps used have been Teapo 105ºC, which I have yet to see fail. Their RMA is also top notch and, when mine failed, they did even upgrade me to a better model on the way back.
Otherwise, the Corsair RM have tested as high quality devices for me and others on the web.
Fractal Design
From browsing stores and a good amount of reviews, a better option right now seems to be Fractal Design branded PSUs. They are not the cheapest, going over $100 for ION+ models. The price is definitely worth it, as these have remarkable engineering and top quality components.
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| Fractal Design ION+ 560P - courtesy of 'The FPS Review' |
Some models for servers/build farms, with 10 year warranty:
For work or gaming machines, w/ 7 year warranty:
The ION Gold models are $20-$30 cheaper but feature some Teapo caps on the secondary, which Fractal clearly states in the spec sheet. Which is in itself, remarkable.
From other PSUs I've had, no problems have arisen Teapo and Fractal uses the 105ºC versions, as it should. I have had more issues with Nippon ChemiCon KZG over big time frames than with Teapo. If properly placed and kept cool, these haven't failed spontaneously.
These also have non-technical, smart tweaks like having a spec label on the back of the PSU. It is therefore very accessible to check and leaves the internal exposed panels with a very clean look.
Compared to most on this price range, Fractal seems to be innovating a lot and I can't recommend it enough.
Cooler Master
CM is one of those manufacturers with PSUs of varying quality. You can find a very big range and Masterwatt Lite PSUs are reported as being notoriously bad.
I wouldn't put these before a Fractal PSU, but the quality of specific models can be quite good. So say compared to the Fractal Ion, they can instead have Jap capacitors but be slightly less capable at power delivery.
Keep in mind the part numbers. Names are very similar like "V750 Gold V2" and "MWE 750 Gold V2", but are quite different.
High quality parts, 10 year warranty:
- V750 Gold - P/N MPY-7501-AFAAGV (review)
- V750 Gold V2 - P/N MPY-750V-AFBAG (review)
Lower tier, for non critical systems:
- V850 Gold V2 - P/N MPY-850V-AFBAG (review)
Seasonic
After a while of publishing this, some more research yielded that Seasonic still has some options of very good quality. The Focus GX is a modular PSU of high standards and features a 10 year warranty. I have been able to find this one for $65/€60 on sale. If not at a slightly lower price, I'd go for Fractal PSUs instead but this is still a very solid choice.
Recommended models:
- Focus GX PSU (Gold rated)
I will update the list as new models come out.
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