Seasonic PSU Models Help

Meridiusuk · 5 Jul 2019 at 22:34

HI all

I have always bought seasonic psu's but i have not bought one in years and i noticed they have many different versions now.

PRIME Ultra Titanium
PRIME Ultra Platinum
PRIME Ultra Gold

FOCUS PLUS Platinum
FOCUS PLUS Gold

can anyone tell me what the difference is as i have looked and compaired but they all look the same with the same fan and build quality, or am i missing somthing ?

back when i bought mine back in the day you had bronze, silver and gold and it was easy to pick there seems to be a lot more choise but i can not make it out

cheers

bremen1874 · 5 Jul 2019 at 22:54

Different warranty.
Different cable options.
Higher wattage available with the Prime (1000W instead of 850W).
Different cooling modes.

EsaT · 5 Jul 2019 at 23:00

Prime Titaniums are the highest end models of 12 year warranty top line with obviously 80+ Titanium efficiency. And some up to twelve oversizing.
Primary capacitance is big enough for nearly double the hold up time required by ATX specification.

Focus Plus is good performance at good price serie and obviously doesn't have 80+ Titanium efficiency models.

lee32uk · 5 Jul 2019 at 23:35

Seasonic are a bit like Asus. You are paying more just because of the name. You can easily get something as good from a different brand for less £££.

Meridiusuk · 6 Jul 2019 at 00:04

Been looking into them and it seems it works out like this,

NEW in PRIME Ultra (NOT included in the Focus Models)
Seasonic has included a PSU tester in the box that will let consumers perform a quick and easy jump start on the power supply. Each PRIME Ultra Series power supply will also ship with a SATA 3.3 adapter to support the “Power Disable” (PWDIS) feature of the newer, high-capacity hard drives. The inline capacitors on the cables were removed, which takes away the bulkiness inside the system. To maximize flexibility, the 180-degree SATA connectors ensuring more flexibility and easier installation.

PRIME Ultra Titanium... 94 % efficiency at 50 % system load, 135 mm Fan, Premium Hybrid Fan Control, (Fanless Mode 40% Load), 12 Years Warranty.
PRIME Ultra Platinum... 92 % efficiency at 50 % system load, 135 mm Fan, Premium Hybrid Fan Control, (Fanless Mode 40% Load), 12 Years Warranty.
PRIME Ultra Gold......... 90 % efficiency at 50 % system load, 135 mm Fan, Premium Hybrid Fan Control, (Fanless Mode 40% Load), 12 Years Warranty.

FOCUS PLUS Platinum...92 % efficiency at 50 % system load, 120 mm Fan, S3FC (including Fanless Mode 30% Load), 10 Years Warranty.
FOCUS PLUS Gold.........90 % efficiency at 50 % system load, 120 mm Fan, S3FC (including Fanless Mode 30% Load), 10 Years Warranty.

As you can see it boils down on the ultra models to load efficiency and better larger fan, extra 2 years warranty, fanless at 10% more load and better cables which had the capacitors removed on the cables.

just thought i would share as it took some looking into

mikeo · 6 Jul 2019 at 21:12

Should anyone be interested. Then most of the latest Seasonic PSU's (+many others) have been tested on jonnyguru.com

keylion · 10 Jul 2019 at 15:44

Thanks Meridiusuk for the in-depth analysis. I was just looking at power supplies earlier as I'm thinking my 550W EVGA G2 might be a little on the low powered side if I decide to implement a few upgrades later in the year.

I found it a frustrating experience, lots of very similar models and paragraphs of PR spiel. All I want is a simple table showing me how each one differs from another so I can make an informed decision.

Paul_RD · 12 Jul 2019 at 20:15

I've just bought a new FOCUS PLUS Platinum 850 watt PSU (it only arrived this week).
It's for my new build PC (ASUS Crosshair VII x470 with Ryzen 3600x) but the motherboard and CPU have not yet been delivered, so I have yet to install and try it out.
I considered the PRIME models but some of the reviews for the PRIME Platinum and the PRIME Gold put me off (fan noise), so it seemed to come down to the FOCUS Platinum vs the PRIME Titanium.
As the FOCUS Platinum was half the price of the PRIME Titanium (at the time of purchase), I bought the FOCUS Platinum.
I'll report back later when I get it up and running.

keylion · 12 Jul 2019 at 22:17

Paul_RD said:
I've just bought a new FOCUS PLUS Platinum 850 watt PSU (it only arrived this week).
It's for my new build PC (ASUS Crosshair VII x470 with Ryzen 3600x) but the motherboard and CPU have not yet been delivered, so I have yet to install and try it out.
I considered the PRIME models but some of the reviews for the PRIME Platinum and the PRIME Gold put me off (fan noise), so it seemed to come down to the FOCUS Platinum vs the PRIME Titanium.
As the FOCUS Platinum was half the price of the PRIME Titanium (at the time of purchase), I bought the FOCUS Platinum.
I'll report back later when I get it up and running.

Thanks Paul, it will be good to hear your thoughts. User experience counts for a lot, especially in terms of fan noise.

Meridiusuk · 13 Jul 2019 at 17:22

been looking into this it seems to be a common problem with all there range which i am supprised about as i have always bought seasonic

here is a vidoe of the problem, thjey seem to think seasonic are skimping on the fans to save money and I would not be happy with that. I have 3 seasonic X range form 8 years ago and they dont do that

update: the reason mye X series where ok is becasue The x series used Sanyo Denki San Ace fans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6tE14gQ1Kw&feature=youtu.be
&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uFWCHgw9So

mmm what to do

thanks

Paul_RD · 13 Jul 2019 at 18:04

The other reason why I bought the FOCUS Platinum was that it has a 120mm fan whereas the PRIME Titanium has a 135mm fan.
I figured that if the PSU was good but the fan was at fault, I would have the option of replacing it with a Noctua 120mm (and voiding any warranty).

My curent PSU's are all (Seasonic built) Antec with 120mm fans and I have been really pleased with them, hence why I went for Seasonic for my new build.

mikeo · 13 Jul 2019 at 22:52

The fan on mine is set to run all the time (IE. I don't use hybrid mode) and it's totally silent.

PS. The fans in the above vids (especially the second one) just sound faulty to me. If under warranty, just RMA the relevant unit.

Meridiusuk · 14 Jul 2019 at 06:59

Paul_RD said:
The other reason why I bought the FOCUS Platinum was that it has a 120mm fan whereas the PRIME Titanium has a 135mm fan.
I figured that if the PSU was good but the fan was at fault, I would have the option of replacing it with a Noctua 120mm (and voiding any warranty).

My curent PSU's are all (Seasonic built) Antec with 120mm fans and I have been really pleased with them, hence why I went for Seasonic for my new build.

how is the fan on yours ? I am also going to build a whole new pc, my first in 10 years as i never needed to upgrade.

I have a Sapphire Vega 56 sitting on my bench but nothing ealse, lol looking into a ryzen 3900 build as i will not be building another in 10 years but might be replacing the GFX cards in the future only so the rest of the system needs to be future prof for years to come.

funny thing is i am looking a the 850W focus platinum as well as it can be had cheaper at other places than on here and has the same efficiency as the seasonic ultra platinum PSU just 2 years less warrenty and 10% less load when the fan kick in and 120mm fan instead of a 135mm fan.

since all my seasonic PSu have 120mm fans the 135mm dont realy matter as i bet there is not much difference in sound level when there both on load.

I went onto seasonic website and did the calculator thing and i thought a 750w would do which it would but it recomended me a 805w which i was supprised at, I read that you'd want the psu to run at approx 60-70% for max efficiency so maybe thats why they recomended a higher watt psu

Meridiusuk · 14 Jul 2019 at 07:01

mikeo said:
The fan on mine is set to run all the time (IE. I don't use hybrid mode) and it's totally silent.

PS. The fans in the above vids (especially the second one) just sound faulty to me. If under warranty, just RMA the relevant unit.

I know whta your saying but doing a search and this seesm to be on a lot of units and you never herd of this problem before they changed the fan which makes me think that seasonic still make exellent psu but have reduced the coast by fitting less quality fans meaning it might be hit and miss but it could be that you get more problems with the fans on these units.

mikeo · 14 Jul 2019 at 08:58

Meridiusuk said:
I know what your saying but doing a search and this seems to be on a lot of units and you never heard of this problem before they changed the fan which makes me think that seasonic still make excellent psu but have reduced the coast by fitting less quality fans meaning it might be hit and miss but it could be that you get more problems with the fans on these units.

Could be I suppose. Or it could have been a bad batch of fans, hard to tell really. Considering the cost of these units, I find it hard to believe that Seasonic would look to cut corners and save what must only be a couple of quid at best. Though I suppose you never know. But if you read enough reviews etc., you can always find some problem or other (a fair few PSU's get slatted for coil whine). I had seen these comments etc. myself. But out of all the Online reviews, I could not find one that complained about a noisy fan. In the end, it comes down to what someone is happy to buy etc.

Meridiusuk · 14 Jul 2019 at 10:12

Just waiting on Paul Rd to tell us what the fan is like on his

been reading up a lot this morning about the PSU and the ones i listed above is basicly all down to efficiency but the thing is theres not much in it between each one as it seems all of them have a high build quality and seasonic have just changed the warranty and larger fan and a littile bit more efficiency for higher price ultras. yes the ultras are better but i dont think the higher price is worth it for little return as seasonic have not skimped on components on the inside any of the units. maybe its just a lot of faulty fans who knows.

you can get a Seasonic Prime Ultra Gold 750w or Seasonic Focus Plus Platinum 850w for the same price

they same to overlap a lot for very littile difference

Paul_RD · 14 Jul 2019 at 10:54

Meridiusuk said:
how is the fan on yours ?

Just waiting on Paul Rd to tell us what the fan is like on his

I'm afraid you will have to wait a little longer - the Seasonic PSU is sat here all new in its box, so is 32GB of RAM, a new Noctua CPU cooler and almost everything else.
The motherboard has been dispatched and is due tomorrow, but the CPU is still pending with no current forecast date.
Considering all the other comments, I'm now beginning to wonder if I bought the right PSU.

Edit: corrected errors (called the PSU a fan)

Meridiusuk · 14 Jul 2019 at 10:56

Paul_RD said:
I'm afraid you will have to wait a little longer - the fan is sat here all new in its box, so is 32GB of RAM, a new Noctua CPU and almost everything else.
The motherboard has been dispatched and is due tomorrow, but the CPU is still pending with no current forecast date.
Considering all the other comments, I'm now beginning to wonder if I bought the right PSU.

The fan you mean ? what system you building

dont know what to do to get one and see what happens as there on offer at the moment

found this, and seems quiet but you can hear that is has some sort of clicking or rattling going on when the fan is spining compaired to the other PSU fan he was testing.

mmm what a pain this is and some comments say the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_AsgmofY8Q

seems this is normal not to sure what to do now as seasonic should have done better, I even found a video that is 1 month old with someone with the same problem. also there replacments are the same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sF0QIyunbA

this is going from bad to worse, as they no longer use good quality fans by the looks of it.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...d-850w-vs-prime-ultra-titanium-850w.18841930/

Paul_RD · 14 Jul 2019 at 11:49

Meridiusuk said:
The fan you mean ? what system you building

Corrected the post above ^^^

Current system: Antec PSU, Sabertooth 990 FX R2.0, FX-8370, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060
New system: Seasonic PSU, Crosshair VII x470, Ryzen 5 3600x, 32GB RAM, RTX 2060

mikeo · 14 Jul 2019 at 14:55

No disrespect intended... But what's wrong with the fan noise in the first review? Even the guy testing the unit comments that it's quiet. Don't forget that he has his mic right next to it, with the sound boosted 6db to make any noise clearer. With the PSU fitted in a case, usually at the bottom these days and the side panel on, then I doubt very much that you would hear anything, however good your hearing is.

I have an aluminium case (not known for its acoustic damping properties), 6 quiet case fans, sat on the table next to me (doubt if it's much more than 2 foot from my right ear) and I can't hear anything. Even before I fitted the power supply, I tested the fan for noise (having read similar reviews etc.). And the only way that I could hear anything, was with my ear stuck right next to the fan. Only noises it made were what you would expect from a fan IE. Slight whoosh of air movement and even slighter sound from what I assume is the commutator.

The problem reading all the reviews / comments on the internet, is that you can easily tie yourself in knotts. In the end, all you can do is buy something with a decent reputation / warranty and if things go wrong, you can rma it. Don't forget, for every -ve review you read, there will be many 1,000's of folks quiet happy with their purchase.

Good luck