EggXpert

You should put the Seasonic Gold-X on your tier listing..  Don't care where, just get it up there somewhere..

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/25/seasonic_x_series_x750_power_supply_review/

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Seasonic_X650

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=169

Wow, nice PSU.  I'll add it in.  Anyone disagree with tier 1?

HardOCP Editor's Choice Gold is nothing to sneeze at -- Tier 1 sounds quite reasonable to me!

Paul's Thoughts:
What is there not to like about the Seasonic X-750? Really? It surpasses the advertised efficiency standards, is ridiculously quiet, has great DC output quality under load, and is amazingly well built.
...
Any product carrying a premier price tag such as this should "WOW!" you, and be worth every penny of that price, and the X-750 "WOWs" in a way that makes it worth every bit of its premium price tag.

- Paul (not the Paul from HardOCP btw )

p.s. ETA is tomorrow!

Yepper add that one to tier 1 High priced for a 750 but well worth the cost IMO.

Another article came up on the Ultra X4 power supplies:

 http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/10/19/ultra-power-supplies-reboot-new-x4-series-is-here.aspx

Strangely enough, it seems many of the articles and reviews written about these  X4 power supplies just completely ignore the X3 series.  They mention how bad the X2 series was(it wasn't all bad, they released one bad 750watt unit at the end which was junk, the rest were fine, budget modular power supplies), and that now Ultra is coming out with a new X4 series. 

I wonder why that is.  

Also, I'm wondering where I can place the Ultra X4 series.  The review results seem to be inconsistent.  ripple varies per review.  So does voltage regulation.  I don't know if its Ultra's problem, or just inconsistencies between the different testing procedures.  

And, I wonder if the 1600watt unit lives up to the precedent set by the last X3 one, but no one has posted a review yet.  

Hey, I'd even do a review.  I've gotten the equipment together necessary to fully load test any PSU(even a 1600watt one), along with an oscilloscope and some digital multimeters.  So, anyone want to share? 

wyldstallyn:

p.s. ETA is tomorrow!

Ya, I've been really considering getting one of those for the past couple weeks... But it's still a tough choice to make..For me, spending the extra money on the PSU means spending less money elsewhere.. In the end, I did go with just a Seasonic M12 and used the money saved there to get an extra 1TB of hard drive space.  If I wasn't forced to cut corners elsewhere due to limited budget, I certainly would have gotten the Gold-X..   I just spent like $600 on a new build, $500 more on hard drives, a few hudnred dollars extra on a RAID card, $400 for a complete rebuild for my little sister, and I'm looking at spending a grand or so on a future SLI setup when the GT300 series comes out in a few months..

For me, the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 isn't as important as the money saved .  But even still, I'm sure there are people rich enough out there to go with a Gold-X..  I'd rather have multiple so-so computers than one insanely fast computer with the best of everything.

Sidicas:

Ya, I've been really considering getting one of those for the past couple weeks... But it's still a tough choice to make..For me, spending the extra money on the PSU means spending less money elsewhere.. In the end, I did go with just a Seasonic M12 and used the money saved there to get an extra 1TB of hard drive space.  If I wasn't forced to cut corners elsewhere due to limited budget, I certainly would have gotten the Gold-X..   I just spent like $600 on a new build, $500 more on hard drives, a few hudnred dollars extra on a RAID card, $400 for a complete rebuild for my little sister, and I'm looking at spending a grand or so on a future SLI setup when the GT300 series comes out in a few months..

For me, the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 isn't as important as the money saved .  But even still, I'm sure there are people rich enough out there to go with a Gold-X..  I'd rather have multiple so-so computers than one insanely fast computer with the best of everything.

 

I should have posted here, the other day zzf had a deal on the enermax revolution 1050Watt for 229 after instant rebate and 149 after mail in rebate.  HOT!!!picked one up for the incoming i7 build.

So, it seems that Sapphire (of ATI graphics card fame) has decided to get into the PSU action.

Here is a review of their Sapphire Pure 950watt PSU:

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/sapphire-pure-950w/1

Has anyone seen any other reviews for Sapphire PSU's?  That review is one of the "plug it into a computer and check voltages" ones, so it doesn't really tell us if the power supply is good or not.  However, up to ~500watts it does have really good voltage regulation. 

CompWiz:

So, it seems that Sapphire (of ATI graphics card fame) has decided to get into the PSU action.

Here is a review of their Sapphire Pure 950watt PSU:

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/sapphire-pure-950w/1

Has anyone seen any other reviews for Sapphire PSU's?  That review is one of the "plug it into a computer and check voltages" ones, so it doesn't really tell us if the power supply is good or not.  However, up to ~500watts it does have really good voltage regulation. 

 Do they crack it open and tell you who made it? It loos like the enermax Revolution 950 in a simple case. modular cables the same including plugs on the psu. has the same pretty uncommon 3 pin rpm sensor.

You nailed it.  It's based on the same platform as the Enermax Revolution, placing it in Tier 1. 

I found a review of the Sapphire Pure 1250watt unit at  Driver Heaven, where they opened it up, confirmed it was based on the Enermax Revolution platform, and load tested it. Excellent performance all around, confirming that Tier 1 is where it should be. 

In fact, also at Driver Heaven, they tested one of the Ultra X4 units, this time the 1200watt one.  Voltage regulation is amazing yet again, however, they don't check the ripple on the output power, so I still don't know whether that was a fluke from the one review, or not. 

I'm going to hold off placing the Ultra X4 for now, and hope that JonnyGuru or HardOCP publishes a review soon.

Also, while we're waiting on that, take a look at the Kingwin Lazer, made by Superflower.  So, Tier 2?  3?

I'm excited to see the pricing on the saphires then. Really great psus, maybe we can get all the goodness of the enermax at a lower cost :)

I vote tier 3 for the kingwin because of the tier descriptions. I dont feel it fits "almost as good power and stability as Tier 1 at comparable wattage levels with lower price/better availability".

Noticed one of our peeps is using  PSU called a Zumax, never heard of, anything on these?

Penewah!

http://hi-techreviews.com/index.php/review-links-mainmenu-80/7705-e-power-zumax-zu-750w    

check it out,, i tried several different reveiws, all looked good, we may have a winner with the Zumax

Zumax is another topower name. While topower can make some pretty good units, most of them have mediocre ripple control and ok voltage regulation, and their choice of component quality is less than steller.

 Stay away from those $20 and $30 zumax's, as they are way overrated ~300W units in higher watt clothing. 

Adding FSP Everest to Tier 5 due to failure in JonnyGuru.com review(it failed in a way that would likely damage your components), and failure while being used by an Eggxpert Member. 

Penewab2007:

Noticed one of our peeps is using  PSU called a Zumax, never heard of, anything on these?

Penewah!

my 550w is still working fine since early jan. this year

 

doesnt have any of the fancy features of the more expensive PSU's but at $40 I am not complaining as long as it keeps running 

You've got some serious issues with your list.

First, what belongs in Tier 1 is server power supplies, the biggest and baddest and those built to standards well beyond any consumer power supply is held....those would include the Etasis built units, the Turbo Cool PCP&C units, the Delta units (Antec Signature) and the Zippy/Emac units.  The rest are consumer based and are nowhere built as well.  The PCB's aren't layered as thick, the components aren't as substantial and they aren't cooled as well.

 Additionally, putting any PCP&C Silencer in Tier 1 while leaving the basis for them, the Seasonics, in Tier 2 is just silly.  PCP&C uses Seasonic as its OEM producer for their entire Silencer line, so you just cannot relegate the Seasonics lower than the Silencers....but neither line belongs in Tier 1.

You need to delete the OCZ EliteXStream from the list since OCZ EOL'd the entire line months and months ago...without a word as to why.

And about OCZ....you cannot broadly paint each OCZ line---ModXStream, GameXStream, etc., with the same quality brush as their lines are made by several different OEM's within each line with varying quality.

You do not have any of the Antec TruePower New units listed.  As they are Seasonic builds, based on the M12D platform as the PCP&C Silencer 910, you are neglecting an excellent and high value power supply line.

 The entire line of BFG has been redone with new OEM's producing their line with better specs and quality, for the most part, esp. with their high power units being built by Andyson. 

While I understand you pulled this verbatim from XtremeSystems and just have added to it, it needs a complete revamp as many of the listed power supplies and their "ratings" are completely inappropriate now as OEM's have changed for many of the units.

To wit:  You have several Delta builds scattered over the Tiers, such as the Antec Signature line in Tier 1, yet you relegate Delta to Tier 4, which is complete nonsense.  Delta, the largest server power supply manufacturer in the world, builds power supplies of much higher quality than Tier 4......look to the Antec Signature line, as mentioned above, and the Antec Earthwatt line, another Delta built line.   There are others.....

My suggestion....get someone to straighten out the list if you insist upon having one.  As it seems no one has much of an idea as to what really belongs where, the list should be abolished and each unit looked at individually, which is ideally what should be done anyway.  As an example, the Antec Earthwatts 650W unit tested out at JonnyGuru as an excellent budget power supply while the Earthwatts 750W struggled and didn't test out nearly as well.  Same builder, same tester, one did much better than the other.

And that's why these tiered lists are usually inaccurate at best since very few people bother to keep up to date with who builds what, what OEM is being used today vs. last month for a particular power supply, what's gotten better, what's gotten worse, etc. 

And this list does not reflect what's been discontinued and what's currently for sale.  Case in point---the PCP&C Turbo Cool line has essentially been EOL'd by PCP&C.  They're not shipping new units out from that line and haven't introduced a new Turbo Cool in years.  And it's hard if not impossible to find one on store shelves or online now.

 

 

New PSU entry:

OCZ Z Series

This seems to fit nicely into tier 2.  It's got top-notch component selection and build quality(seems Sirtec is moving up in the PSU world), including Rubycon capacitors, which are among the best you'll ever see in a PSU. 

Regulation is decent, although not really worthy of a Tier 1 ranking, I'd say.  It's a good looking power supply, and has modular cables.  Also, it's rated for 80Plus Gold, placing it within the category of the most efficient PSU's on the market. 

Review at HardOCP. 

Anyone disagree with tier 2?

Sounds good to me.

I have been looking into UPSs recently and trying to figure out how they have the wattage rating different than the volt-amp rating even though active PFC is pretty much universal now..  I think that assumption that the load wattage is lower than the volt-amp rating is due to an assumption that the load has no power factor correction..

 For example, the UPS I have now is 650 Volt-Amps but lists it as (approx. 390 watts).. With a PSU that has 99.9% PFC that would mean that the apparent power and real power would be within 0.1% of each other.. Does this mean I should be able to pull 600+ watts out of a 650 Volt-Amp UPS if all the PSUs hooked up to it have 99.9% PFC?

I'm totally confused how PFC affects what kind of UPSs you can get by with..  I mean, certainly having PFC should help *a lot* when it comes to plugging a quality PSU into an UPS unit as the UPS unit wouldn't have to work as hard to generate the larger amount of "apparent power" to keep the PSU fed with the waves that it needs.

Edit: Everything I'm reading seems to suggest that the reason APC and others use VA ratings instead of watt ratings is because the watt ratings are highly dependant upon the load itself and what it does to the incoming AC waves (power factor)...  But I still just don't know if the limit of the 650 VA UPS can be closer to 650 watts if you have perfect PFC? Or if the limit is really the ~390 watts estimated rating that APC advertises and the VA rating is just the capability to handle cheap hardware with no PFC that really require 650 VA available to function, but don't pull more than 390 watts of real power..

Edit #2:  *sigh* found the answer..  Both 390 watts and the 650 VA ratings on the UPS that I have are unsurpassable maximum limits, you can't go higher than either of them.. The only reason the VA is higher than the watts is to indicate that the UPS will accommodate really cheap hardware with no PFC, however this hardware is still limited by the UPS's max "real wattage" draw of 390 but the UPS can provide the 650 VA of apparent power that it may need if your PSU has no PFC..   

Looks like it's time for me to buy another UPS  ...

JMayer:

First, what belongs in Tier 1 is server power supplies, the biggest and baddest and those built to standards well beyond any consumer power supply is held....those would include the Etasis built units, the Turbo Cool PCP&C units, the Delta units (Antec Signature) and the Zippy/Emac units.  The rest are consumer based and are nowhere built as well.  The PCB's aren't layered as thick, the components aren't as substantial and they aren't cooled as well.

 Some of the power supplies that you think don't belong in Tier 1 actually perform better than the units you talk about.  HardOCP reviewed both an Ultra X3 PSU and a PC P&C Turbo cool, and the Ultra X3 both put out more wattage and performed better.  Andyson, the manufacturer of the Ultra X3 and X4 power supplies, is a server PSU company, so by your own definition they should fit in tier 1. 

Then, the XFX Black Edition was able to run at its full rated wattage with voltage regulation across all the rails at 1% or better with intake air temperatures of 41°C.  That's nice, and once again better regulation than some of the power supplies you mentioned. 

The Sapphire, Seasonic, and Enermax revolution units all exhibit great voltage regulation, high efficiency, and clean power output.  They've won top awards at PSU review sites for this. 

The new Ultra X4 units have also shown some great voltage regulation.  On the Ultra X4 1050watt PSU the 12v rail only varies by 0.07v between PSU loads of 202watts and 1064watts.   Then, the 3.3v and 5v rails only vary by 0.02v between 202 and 1064watts.  I don't think I've seen a PC PC&C unit do that good of regulation.  I haven't placed the Ultra X4 units yet, so they may or may not end up in tier 1. 

JMayer:

 Additionally, putting any PCP&C Silencer in Tier 1 while leaving the basis for them, the Seasonics, in Tier 2 is just silly.  PCP&C uses Seasonic as its OEM producer for their entire Silencer line, so you just cannot relegate the Seasonics lower than the Silencers....but neither line belongs in Tier 1.

The Silencers were already there on the old list, those haven't been changed.  However, Seasonic makes various quality levels of PSU.  For example, the Antec Earthwatts are lower quality than the Silencers.  The Silencers are near the top of the PSU's that Seasonic manufactures.  And, Seasonic does have an entry in Tier 1. 

Now, maybe the Silencers do belong better in tier 2.  Could you look up a couple reviews at HardOCP.com, JonnyGuru.com, HardwareSecrets.com, etc, and post a quick summary of why they belong better in tier 2?  Maybe their regulation isn't all that great, or they use some iffy components. 

JMayer:

You need to delete the OCZ EliteXStream from the list since OCZ EOL'd the entire line months and months ago...without a word as to why.

No, we'll keep it around.  This guide isn't just for people buying PSU's, it's also for people who are wondering whether the PSU they've got in their computer is good or not. 

JMayer:

And about OCZ....you cannot broadly paint each OCZ line---ModXStream, GameXStream, etc., with the same quality brush as their lines are made by several different OEM's within each line with varying quality.

To begin with, the ModXStream series is not on the list yet, as I was unsure where to place it.  It may end up in Tier 3.  The GameXStream, StealthXStream and ModStream PSU's are all made by FSP, and are almost identical in their construction.  The EvoStream and ProXStream are really nice units, I believe that the ProXStream was reviewed at HardOCP.com(vs the GameXStream 1010watt PSU), and the EvoStream was reviewed a while ago at JonnyGuru.com. 

All of the OCZ units in the list earned their place in their respective tiers, they were not grouped together simply because they have an OCZ label on them. 

Of course, you can argue this if you think that they are not placed fairly.  Pick one, find reviews to back you up, and post it.  I'm open to making changes. 

JMayer:

You do not have any of the Antec TruePower New units listed.  As they are Seasonic builds, based on the M12D platform as the PCP&C Silencer 910, you are neglecting an excellent and high value power supply line.

Please post a link to a review.  I'd be happy to post those up as soon as I see a good review.  As you can see from this thread, we are constantly adding new units as people find reviews of ones not currently listed.  That would probably go in Tier 1, as both the Silencer and the XFX PSU's in tier 1 also use the M12D platform. 

JMayer:

 The entire line of BFG has been redone with new OEM's producing their line with better specs and quality, for the most part, esp. with their high power units being built by Andyson. 

Yes, once JonnyGuru finished switching Ultra over to Andyson and Seventeam, it seems that he defected to BFG to do the same.  There are a couple of the new units up on the chart, but perhaps we're missing some.  Please post links to reviews, and I'll get them added to the chart. 

JMayer:

While I understand you pulled this verbatim from XtremeSystems and just have added to it, it needs a complete revamp as many of the listed power supplies and their "ratings" are completely inappropriate now as OEM's have changed for many of the units.

 Well, that would be nice, but that would likely take an incredible amount of work.  I simply don't have time for it right now.  Why don't you start a new thread, and begin a new list.  I'd be happy to help you get a completely refreshed list going. 

JMayer:

To wit:  You have several Delta builds scattered over the Tiers, such as the Antec Signature line in Tier 1, yet you relegate Delta to Tier 4, which is complete nonsense.  Delta, the largest server power supply manufacturer in the world, builds power supplies of much higher quality than Tier 4......look to the Antec Signature line, as mentioned above, and the Antec Earthwatt line, another Delta built line.   There are others.....

Delta was in tier 4 from the old list.  It may well be the case that it does not belong there.  But, I can't move it up just because Delta manufactures some good power supplies.  The Delta branded power supplies are what the Delta would refer to on this list.  Just look at FSP.  Many of their self-branded PSU's are junk, yet OCZ has them manufacturing a few of their PSU series, which perform very well.  FSP branded power supplies are in tier 3 and lower, while some of the power supplies that they manufacture(for other companies) are in Tier 2. 

I'd be happy to remove Delta from Tier 4, and then add in specific Delta PSU series to whatever tiers are appropriate.  Please post a links to reviews of Delta PSU's, along with a suggestion of which tier they belong in. 

JMayer:

My suggestion....get someone to straighten out the list if you insist upon having one.  As it seems no one has much of an idea as to what really belongs where, the list should be abolished and each unit looked at individually, which is ideally what should be done anyway.  As an example, the Antec Earthwatts 650W unit tested out at JonnyGuru as an excellent budget power supply while the Earthwatts 750W struggled and didn't test out nearly as well.  Same builder, same tester, one did much better than the other.

It seems that this new Antec Earthwattts unit is manufactured by Delta, rather than Seasonic, as the older ones were.  You are correct, it does perform worse, and I'll have to move that model to Tier 3 or 4. 

And here I thought you liked Delta. 

As to each unit being looked at individually, the problem is that people simply don't do that.  This list is here to prevent people from wasting money and destroying their computers with units like RaidMax, PowMax, Apevia, Deer, and other bad brands.  While it may have errors, it is largely very helpful and useful.  It is of course better to read a good review of a power supply before buying it.  But then, that leads to another problem; many PSU reviews are not done well.  Many review websites plug a PSU into a computer, load it up to 200watts, and check the voltages using the program that came with the motherboard while running superPI.  Normal consumers have no idea that this review is useless.  This list is essentially the combined knowledge of all of the good PSU reviews, so that people can quickly check to see if a PSU they're looking at is worth the money, or even worth considering. 

It's a whole lot better than nothing.  If you'd like it to get even better, link reviews and suggest changes.  Or, make your own list, and start from scratch if you'd like. 

CompWiz:

If you'd like it to get even better, link reviews and suggest changes.  Or, make your own list, and start from scratch if you'd like. 

I know it...  There's always the critics, who go on and on about how everybody else is wrong, but when you go up to them and ask them to do it the "right" way then they just disappear into the darkness and you never hear from them again. If they were capable of doing it "right" themselves they would have done it by now, but since they're not capable, all they do is just throw criticisms from afar without quality references to back up what they're saying.

As always, keep up the great work.

There are many problems with this list, the worst problem is that you don't address them. You always quote jonnyguru.com, HardOCP, etc... about their power supply reviews but you never go there and post on the forums. Post this list on the JG forum, and say that it is pretty accurate. JonnyGURU and Oklahoma Wolf themselves will laugh you off the forums. The guy who does HardOCP and Hardwaresecret's reviews also post there quite often.

"As to each unit being looked at individually, the problem is that people simply don't do that."  People do this all the time. 

21 pages on internal pics from different brand and discussions on them: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1178

Continued: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7335

"I'd be happy to remove Delta from Tier 4, and then add in specific Delta PSU series to whatever tiers are appropriate.  Please post a links to reviews of Delta PSU's, along with a suggestion of which tier they belong in."

There's no reviews of these, so they are instantly terrible. That makes a TON of sense. How about instead make a "presumably good, but no reviews" section of the list, or a "good internal built quality, but no reviews" section based on brand reputation. That would make much more sense than to just call something terrible because you know nothing about it. That would be like me saying you are a terrible person without ever meeting you. Would it make you mad me going around telling everyone you are a terrible person without ever meeting you? Ya, it would. (I'm not saying in any way, shape, or form that you are a bad person. You actually seem like quite a good person from what I have seen around the forum, just the best example I could think of,) 

"Delta was in tier 4 from the old list.  It may well be the case that it does not belong there.  But, I can't move it up just because Delta manufactures some good power supplies.  The Delta branded power supplies are what the Delta would refer to on this list."

If you recall, on the JonnyGURU bargain basement power supply roundup, a delta 300W was tested. It ran up to 290W (the exact spec right on the label "total combined wattage of 12v 5v and 3.3v cannot exceed 290W") with very in-spec ripple and good voltage regulation. Even Oklahoma Wolf himself said on the forums one time when a question about seasonic versus delta came up:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=50297&postcount=17

This is coming from the guy that does the reviews for jonnyguru.com. 

"All of the OCZ units in the list earned their place in their respective tiers, they were not grouped together simply because they have an OCZ label on them."

I don't know why but for some reason you think OCZ is super good. Their new FSP units are very good, their old 3Y (AHH HEM, aka AcBel) units were also very good. But when they switched to FSP and Sirtec, they became complete c**p. Sorry, Epsilon and sirtec based units are tier 4 grade.

370forlife:

There are many problems with this list, the worst problem is that you don't address them. You always quote jonnyguru.com, HardOCP, etc... about their power supply reviews but you never go there and post on the forums. Post this list on the JG forum, and say that it is pretty accurate. JonnyGURU and Oklahoma Wolf themselves will laugh you off the forums. The guy who does HardOCP and Hardwaresecret's reviews also post there quite often.

"As to each unit being looked at individually, the problem is that people simply don't do that."  People do this all the time. 

21 pages on internal pics from different brand and discussions on them: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1178

Continued: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7335

"I'd be happy to remove Delta from Tier 4, and then add in specific Delta PSU series to whatever tiers are appropriate.  Please post a links to reviews of Delta PSU's, along with a suggestion of which tier they belong in."

There's no reviews of these, so they are instantly terrible. That makes a TON of sense. How about instead make a "presumably good, but no reviews" section of the list, or a "good internal built quality, but no reviews" section based on brand reputation. That would make much more sense than to just call something terrible because you know nothing about it. That would be like me saying you are a terrible person without ever meeting you. Would it make you mad me going around telling everyone you are a terrible person without ever meeting you? Ya, it would. (I'm not saying in any way, shape, or form that you are a bad person. You actually seem like quite a good person from what I have seen around the forum, just the best example I could think of,) 

"Delta was in tier 4 from the old list.  It may well be the case that it does not belong there.  But, I can't move it up just because Delta manufactures some good power supplies.  The Delta branded power supplies are what the Delta would refer to on this list."

If you recall, on the JonnyGURU bargain basement power supply roundup, a delta 300W was tested. It ran up to 290W (the exact spec right on the label "total combined wattage of 12v 5v and 3.3v cannot exceed 290W") with very in-spec ripple and good voltage regulation. Even Oklahoma Wolf himself said on the forums one time when a question about seasonic versus delta came up:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=50297&postcount=17

This is coming from the guy that does the reviews for jonnyguru.com. 

"All of the OCZ units in the list earned their place in their respective tiers, they were not grouped together simply because they have an OCZ label on them."

I don't know why but for some reason you think OCZ is super good. Their new FSP units are very good, their old 3Y (AHH HEM, aka AcBel) units were also very good. But when they switched to FSP and Sirtec, they became complete c**p. Sorry, Epsilon and sirtec based units are tier 4 grade.

You have been asked on several occasions to stop whining about the list.

You have been told several times you are perfectly free to make your own list.

You are now under Moderation for continuously bickering in our forums.

Please read our rules

 

 

370forlife:

There are many problems with this list, the worst problem is that you don't address them. You always quote jonnyguru.com, HardOCP, etc... about their power supply reviews but you never go there and post on the forums. Post this list on the JG forum, and say that it is pretty accurate. JonnyGURU and Oklahoma Wolf themselves will laugh you off the forums. The guy who does HardOCP and Hardwaresecret's reviews also post there quite often. 

 You forget, JonnyGuru was one of the ones who originally wrote this list.  He has stated that since then, the list got out of date.  So, we've been working here to update it.   

370forlife:

"As to each unit being looked at individually, the problem is that people simply don't do that."  People do this all the time. 

If people did this all the time, Newegg would not be selling RaidMax, Apevia, PowMax, Deer, etc... power supplies, would they?  Professional reviews agree that all of these supplies are terrible, and yet people are still buying them.  Many people just look for the highest wattage at the lowest price.  If this is a PowMax Beast, well, that's how it goes. 

In fact, Newegg has, for years, been selling the Apevia Iceburg PSU's.  These units have a see-through plastic casing, and they actually start melting while in use, just from they heat that they generate.  If people read professional reviews, Newegg would not keep stocking these units, as no one would buy them. 

There are only a very small percentage of people who actually look up power supply reviews.  You can look through the old posts here on the power supply forums.  Many times, people would say "is x power supply good for my build?", where x is a junk unit.  Eggxpert Members quickly set them straight, but from that post, you can see that they did not look up any good reviews. 

And, as I said before, many of the sites doing PSU reviews are useless.  They hook the PSU up to a Computer that maxes out at maybe 200watts, and then run SuperPI, while using a software program to monitor voltages.  Almost every unit that they review gets editors choice.  The vast majority of people have no idea that this is a useless review, and will then go on to buy this power supply, not knowing that it is really junk that could damage their computer. 

 

370forlife:

"I'd be happy to remove Delta from Tier 4, and then add in specific Delta PSU series to whatever tiers are appropriate.  Please post a links to reviews of Delta PSU's, along with a suggestion of which tier they belong in."

There's no reviews of these, so they are instantly terrible. That makes a TON of sense. How about instead make a "presumably good, but no reviews" section of the list, or a "good internal built quality, but no reviews" section based on brand reputation. That would make much more sense than to just call something terrible because you know nothing about it.

I'm not calling it terrible.  JonnyGuru and friends on XtremeSystems called it terrible when they made the list.  I just haven't seen any professional reviews to refute it yet. 

Some people say that HEC is a high-quality server power supply manufacturer, and yet Newegg has a bunch of HEC Orion units on sale with internals that look like a Deer unit. 

But, hey, I have a solution.  You're a Delta fan, right?  You've got Delta units around?  I just got together all of the equipment needed to fully load test power supplies.  I've got a variable load(up to 500amps), some smaller loads for the non-12v rails, a pile of digital multimeters, and one of those Stingray Digital Computer Oscilloscopes that most of the good review sites use.  So, if you'll mail me a Delta unit, I'll write up a review, and send the unit back.  We can settle this once and for all.  I'll publish the review on line so everyone can reference it, and edit the Tiered PSU list as neccesary. 

370forlife:

"Delta was in tier 4 from the old list.  It may well be the case that it does not belong there.  But, I can't move it up just because Delta manufactures some good power supplies.  The Delta branded power supplies are what the Delta would refer to on this list."

If you recall, on the JonnyGURU bargain basement power supply roundup, a delta 300W was tested. It ran up to 290W (the exact spec right on the label "total combined wattage of 12v 5v and 3.3v cannot exceed 290W") with very in-spec ripple and good voltage regulation.

Well, adequate voltage regulation anyway.  Thank you for mentioning the review, based on that I think that the Delta DPS series could be added to tier 3.  What does everyone else think?  review link: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story2&reid=71

370forlife:

Even Oklahoma Wolf himself said on the forums one time when a question about seasonic versus delta came up:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=50297&postcount=17

Yes, and reading down that thread, we get this:

Travis:

Delta Electronics as a company is much larger than Seasonic, but what you get from them depends on how much you pay.

So, their power supplies could be good, or they could be bad.  It all depends on what price point Delta Marketing wanted to target, and how much profit they thought they could get away with. 

370forlife:

"All of the OCZ units in the list earned their place in their respective tiers, they were not grouped together simply because they have an OCZ label on them."

I don't know why but for some reason you think OCZ is super good. Their new FSP units are very good, their old 3Y (AHH HEM, aka AcBel) units were also very good. But when they switched to FSP and Sirtec, they became complete c**p. Sorry, Epsilon and sirtec based units are tier 4 grade.

Sirtec has been sub-par in the past, but so has FSP for that matter.  Much with any PSU manufacturer, it depends on how much you pay them.  OCZ has made a habit of taking manufacturers who make somewhat sub-par PSU's, fixing the design flaws, and then providing great PSU's at amazing prices.  I picked up several 500watt and 600watt StealthXStream units for under $20 at newegg, which is really amazing. 

You should take a look at the recent review at HardOCP of the OCZ Z Series PSU.  It's made by Sirtec, and they found it performed very well. 

From the article:

370forlife:

The OCZ Z850M represents the best overall performing OCZ branded power supply we have seen to date. The Z850M features very good build quality, good voltage regulation, excellent efficiency that meets 80Plus Gold Standards at 25C, very good DC Output Quality, and is quiet for an 850W power supply.

So, better than a ProXStream, better than an EliteXStream, and better than a GameXStream.  Remind me, how is Sirtec Tier 4?  The EliteXStream is a tier 1 unit. 

So, like I said, if you'd be willing to mail me a Delta unit, I'll load test it and review it, and send it back.  Contact me if you're interested. 

Xion Real Power PowerReal (great name, huh?) placed in Tier 4, based on JonnyGuru review. 

 Also, take a look at the Antec Earthwatts 750watt PSU review. 

I don't think that it belongs in Tier 2 with the other Earthwatts units, but would it fit better in Tier 3 or 4?  Voltage regulation is pretty good, but ripple is not.  Generally, if a unit does exceed the ATX specs for voltage regulation or ripple, it would immediately go into tier 4 or 5.  This unit is just barely going out of spec, so it's hard to say.  I am leaning toward Tier 4. 

Read the review and post what you think.  Tier 3 or 4?