Where to buy Seasonic & Which One

Clocker

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I'd like to get a nicer new PSU. I heard the Seasonics are good. I think something in the 500W range will be fine for me (if not more than enough).

Can someone recommend a model & vendor?

Thanks,
C
 

MaxBurn

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I got a couple from newegg, my last one was this because it was SLI certified:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027


Good choice in Seasonic, quiet and reliable. Excellent level of finish too.

If you have maybe even a hint that you may get a 2900xt or newer video cards you might want to be sure they have the EIGHT pin PCIE power connector available. This is a new spec and I don't think Seasonic has them yet. There are a few PS's out there that have that available, mostly the modular ones as you just need the cable.

edit: just so I am not spreading misinformation the 2900xt does not "require" the eight pin PCIE power, it will work fine with two six pin connectors but the overclocking features will be automatically turned off in the control panel with two six pin power connectors attached. As far as I know anyway, I am reading this from other sources.
 

CougTek

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According to SPCR, the dearer M12 models (with modular cables) are slightly noisier than the Energy Plus. I would therefore recommend either the 550W or 650W Energy Plus.

For the same price as the Seasonic Energy Plus 550W, you can get an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 Pro with a 500W power supply that features active power factor correction and is fairly quiet (but non-standard form factor).

I sell both Seasonic power supplies and Arctic Cooling enclosures. 550W Energy Plus for 130U$ shipped to your door step.
 

Clocker

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I assume you meant it's made by Seasonic? Looks like a good deal for that one on Newegg...
 

ddrueding

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My system continues to have issues posting. Looks like I'm in the market for a 700W+ PSU. With support for a crapload of SATA drives. I really like Antec's modular cabling system as I ordered a bunch of additional SATA cables and added more SATA plugs on them. Suggestions?
 

CougTek

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Seasonic M12-700W. It is noisier than the Energy Plus models, but it is quieter than almost anything else in this power range and it has modulable cables. Efficiency is upward to 80 percent too.

If you can wait, Seasonic is about to release a newer model and IIRC, the efficiency is supposed to reach 88% and feature modulable cables.

Silverstone also makes decent high power PSUs too.
 

Piyono

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Just to veer *slightly* off-topic, are there any sites besides SPCR that use a calibrated rig for testing power supplies? Are there any using a Chroma 8000?

Piyono
 

Handruin

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I ended up buying the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 this evening. I've been having instability issues with my system specifically while playing games and it turns out the ATI card I have is recommended to have at least 22A available on a single rail. I was having trouble locating a power supply I trusted with this kind of amperage so the PC P&C 750W has a single rail with 60A available for a continuous load. It might not be the quietest, but I'll let you know how it is when I get it.

I might add it is claimed to be over 80% efficient (80 Plus).
 

Clocker

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Handruin

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Even looking at that Corsair, it can only produce 18A max on any of its given 3, 12V rails (at least for me isn't enough). Still seems like a good price.
 

Clocker

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I'm thinking about the Gigabyte Aurora 570. I don't like working inside the P180 & the plastic feels cheap to me. I also want more room and easier access to HDD drive bays for swapping drives in and out.
 

Clocker

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Even looking at that Corsair, it can only produce 18A max on any of its given 3, 12V rails (at least for me isn't enough). Still seems like a good price.

Yeah, I was just posting because I thought the price was nice.
 

Stereodude

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Even looking at that Corsair, it can only produce 18A max on any of its given 3, 12V rails (at least for me isn't enough). Still seems like a good price.
I think the SPCR review mentioned that the rails aren't completely independent and that they will share power if one is overloaded.
 

Handruin

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I got the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 installed this evening and it really is virtually silent even though it has an 80mm fan. After running for several hours the casing around the unit is still cool to the touch. It was a pure bitch to get it to fit into the Antec P180. The PSU is much longer than my previous one so I had to switch the lower case fan with one from above because the other fans are skinnier. It took some work to get all the cables worked in there.
 

ddrueding

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I picked up a Seasonic M12 700W the other day. I am really impressed with it; I even threw some extra drives in to see what additional load it could handle (sig).
 

ddrueding

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The chassis holds 12 ;)

The second RAID0 array of Raptors is only online part-time, when I'm doing more intense video encoding stuff.
 

P5-133XL

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I got the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 installed this evening and it really is virtually silent even though it has an 80mm fan. After running for several hours the casing around the unit is still cool to the touch. It was a pure bitch to get it to fit into the Antec P180. The PSU is much longer than my previous one so I had to switch the lower case fan with one from above because the other fans are skinnier. It took some work to get all the cables worked in there.

I put in the same PS (750 silencer Quad) in a P180 case too. However, I simply totally removed the bottom fan. Without the fan, there is lots of room for the PS. My theory is that with the top and bottom air-sealed, the air-draw from the PS should be enough to cool the HD's. It is a straight-line airflow through the HD's to the PS and that should make the bottom fan unnecessary. My big complaint is that the cables are not really long enough to use the back-side cable management system of the case.
 

Bozo

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I also removed the fan behind the power supply in all the P180 cases I've installed lately. I then mounted an 80mm fan to the intake grill to push some air across the hard drives. I used wire ties to attach the fan. The opening looks large enough to accomodate a 90mm fan.

Bozo :joker:
 

ddrueding

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I found the air drawn past the lower drive in a P180 from the power supply sufficient to cool 1 or 2 7200RPM drives, but more drives or a faster speed caused the drive to exceed my 40C comfort zone.
 

Bozo

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I also instaled the 120mm fan from behind the power supply to the fan bracket in front of the upper hard drive enclosure.
Plenty of air flow in the case and still quiet.

Bozo :joker:
 

Handruin

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Weird, I didn't try doing that. I just squeezed in the smaller fan from the top of the case. It's tight, but it fits. I have 3 drives in the lower bay and I didn't feel the PCP&C's fan would be enough to pull air across my 3 drives. I find the PCP&C until to run very cool and quiet so far, so the fan doesn't spin very fast.
 
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