Seasonic M12II Evo 850 - DEAD!

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 09:27

My Seasonic seems to have given up the fight - It keeps on burning out the fuses in the plug and tripping the main breaker as soon as it is powered up!

Any ideas what could have caused it? It was working without issue up till this and never whined or made any odd noises. I am quite surprised as it is only about 2 1/2 years old and Seasonic have a good rep for reliability

Currently in the market to buy a replacement - any ideas?

I am thinking almost a direct replacement for another M12 or is there other quality parts in that price range I should consider?

Borealis · 8 Jul 2016 at 09:58

What's your system spec? Unless you've got an SLI/Xfire setup, 850W is overkill.

pastymuncher · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:06

It has a 5 year warranty so rma it. Personally I would buy a better psu in the meantime and then sell the Seasonic when it's replaced. There are far better psu's available. If you are running a single gpu then you only need around a 550w psu even with overclocking. Post your spec up and we can suggest a better psu.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:06

i5 6600k @ 4.6Ghz
8GB DDR4
970 @ 1500Mhz/2000Mhz DDR5

The 850 was overkill for the spec but at the time of build I was planning an SLI setup but then changed my mind

I could get away with a 650w based on current setup and overclocks. 750 for breathing room

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:08

pastymuncher said:
It has a 5 year warranty so rma it. Personally I would buy a better psu in the meantime and then sell the Seasonic when it's replaced. There are far better psu's available. If you are running a single gpu then you only need around a 550w psu even with overclocking. Post your spec up and we can suggest a better psu.

I was going to RMA it but I dont have the receipt anymore, and I changed banks in the meantime so no proof of purchase!

james.miller · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:17

B1gdeano said:
i5 6600k @ 4.6Ghz
8GB DDR4
970 @ 1500Mhz/2000Mhz DDR5

The 850 was overkill for the spec but at the time of build I was planning an SLI setup but then changed my mind

I could get away with a 650w based on current setup and overclocks. 750 for breathing room

I think you're possibly over estimating the power consumption, there. Have you had it on a power meter? My stock i5 and 970 @ 14550/2000 pulled 310w from the wall.

pastymuncher · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:21

Can you download a invoice from the place you purchased it from. Most retailers will have it listed under your purchase history.

Take a look at the excellent EVGA Supernova G2 series. They are Superflower built units and based on their own Leadex Gold platform but with no tacky led's, a different fan and a longer warranty. The G2 650w and below have a 7 year warranty while the 750w and above have a 10 year warranty.

Your pc will be pulling less than 350w at the wall under load. Reviews show that even 970 sli systems only pull around 450w at the wall. The 900 series gpu's are extremely efficient and the new 1000 series are even more efficient.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:29

pastymuncher said:
Can you download a invoice from the place you purchased it from. Most retailers will have it listed under your purchase history.

Take a look at the excellent EVGA Supernova G2 series. They are Superflower built units and based on their own Leadex Gold platform but with no tacky led's, a different fan and a longer warranty. The G2 650w and below have a 7 year warranty while the 750w and above have a 10 year warranty.

Your pc will be pulling less than 350w at the wall under load. Reviews show that even 970 sli systems only pull around 450w at the wall. The 900 series gpu's are extremely efficient and the new 1000 series are even more efficient.

I admit I havent used an actual meter to read of the pull at the wall, just gone off those online calculators

Are they really out by that many W's?

I have seen the CPU draw about 80 -85W under stress tests using HWmonitor though. Cant tell what the 970 uses though without an actual monitor

If that is correct then I should be fine with a 650W PSU

On the invoice front - I actually bought it in store from Overclockers. The invoice was the receipt that I lost!

Will take a look at those PSUs....

Borealis · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:49

Online calculators are usually way out. I reckon they try to calculate the power at max TDP or something - who knows. If you plugged your PC into a power monitor, you'd find that pastymuncher is correct and the power draw is way less.

I can highly recommend the EVGA G2 series as well. I've got the 750W model and I recently put a G2 650W in my dad's PC after a 2-year old Seasonic G-series PSU failed.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:51

Borealis said:
Online calculators are usually way out. I reckon they try to calculate the power at max TDP or something - who knows. If you plugged your PC into a power monitor, you'd find that pastymuncher is correct and the power draw is way less.

I can highly recommend the EVGA G2 series as well. I've got the 750W model and I recently put a G2 650W in my dad's PC after a 2-year old Seasonic G-series PSU failed.

Interesting to hear another 2 year old Seasonic dying

I thought Seasonic were one of the good guys?! They seem to get good reviews and use good parts etc?

lee32uk · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:52

The Corsair RMx is a good alternative to the EVGA G2 as you get a 10 year warranty on all units and not just the higher wattage ones.

Borealis · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:00

Seasonic are good quality and generally use good quality parts, but every OEM has lemons that escape quality control. Usually a lemon will fail early on though.

pastymuncher · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:20

Just to give a idea of power consumption, the pc in my siggy pulls a maximum of 452w at the wall but only if I run Furmark and IBT both at the same time. Normal gaming use is anything between 122-365w depending on the game with the exception of Anno 2070 which makes the pc draw 422w. Idle power draw is only 68w.

The 900 and 1000 series cards are much more efficient than my GTX780.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:28

What are thoughts on the EVGA Supernova GS compared to the Supernova G2 that is touted here?

Price is about £5 cheaper? Worth the extra £5 for the G2?

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:29

pastymuncher said:
Just to give a idea of power consumption, the pc in my siggy pulls a maximum of 452w at the wall but only if I run Furmark and IBT both at the same time. Normal gaming use is anything between 122-365w depending on the game with the exception of Anno 2070 which makes the pc draw 422w. Idle power draw is only 68w.

The 900 and 1000 series cards are much more efficient than my GTX780.

Is any of your kit overclocked?

What voltages to get that power draw?

I am just concerned that if I take the PSU down to all that is required then my headroom for future OCing goes with it?

Edit - Just noticed your location is Aberlour! One of my favourite whisky is Aberlour!

Borealis · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:52

Pasty's system is OC'd and custom water cooled.

For a single GPU setup, a 550W PSU is all you need. I've run an overclocked system off 550W with no issues. In fact I could get away with a 550W unit with the build in my sig. I ended up with the 750W because it was on special offer and I was considering SLI 970s at the time.

What is your full system spec? If I had a bucket load of hard drives, then I might up it to 650W.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:09

Borealis said:
Pasty's system is OC'd and custom water cooled.

For a single GPU setup, a 550W PSU is all you need. I've run an overclocked system off 550W with no issues. In fact I could get away with a 550W unit with the build in my sig. I ended up with the 750W because it was on special offer and I was considering SLI 970s at the time.

What is your full system spec? If I had a bucket load of hard drives, then I might up it to 650W.

System spec isnt anything fancy - as posted above but with 1 x Samsung F1 1TB drive and 1 x Samsung 850 Evo SSD 500GB

MoBo is Asus Maximus VIII Ranger

Oh and a bog standard DVD Writer

Not very much extra outside the usual CPU/GPU combo

pastymuncher · 8 Jul 2016 at 13:24

Cpu and ram has been overclocked since the day they were installed. Cpu voltage is 1.265v for 4.4Ghz, cpu cache voltage is 1.3v for 4.4Ghz, cpu input voltage is 1.9v and ram voltage is 1.5v (4x sticks). Gpu is factory overclocked and is close to 780ti performance so haven't seen the need to clock it further. I have 2x 200mm fans and a 120mm fan in the case on a fan controller with built in temp sensors and live system power draw display. I also have a pair of water pumps and six of the OCUK/Silverstone 120mm fans on my rads on another fan controller as well as a couple of temp sensors and a few leds.

The G2 is better than the GS series. Longer warranty too.

B1gdeano · 8 Jul 2016 at 13:30

I think I am going to go for the SuperFlower Leadex Gold 550W

If the power consumption figures being floated here are correct then this should be sufficient for my rig

Also the Leadex seems to be pretty good like the G2 - While I am not keen on the LED's I can live with it

If OC had the G2 in the 550W variety I would have went for that but the Leadex wil be fine

lee32uk · 8 Jul 2016 at 13:57

This comes with a 10 year warranty. A solid power supply.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair RM Series RM550X '80+ Gold' 550W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020090-UK)= £84.95

Total: £94.85
(includes shipping: £9.90)