Corsair AX850 or Seasonic Prime TX-850

[BobT36]

Hmm I seem to remember the Seasonic PSUs were much higher up the list on the old Tier lists. (I remember looking at a spreadsheet version).

 

I'm mulling between:

Corsair AX850 (or AX860)

and

Seasonic Prime TX-850

 

I looked at some of the other brands in the S-Tier and they had quite bad reviews re: reliability or noise. Currently running a Corsair HX-1050 that has done me well for 8 years, but my PC is now rebooting during games, so looking for a reliable, and quiet replacement, any recommendations?

 

Hoping I can get away with an 850w as I now have a single Geforce 980ti instead of two 590s.

I presume the Corsair AX850i etc is S tier due to the ability to configure single or multi-rail mode, while the other two are static as single? I've noted many user reviews stating the i versions are quite unreliable though, multiple units dying after just a few months, coin whine, etc. As mentioned my current one has lasted over 8 years so..

 

Otherwise though, many user reviews note some "grinding" fan noise with the Seasonics, argh.

 

PC Specs:

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3960X Hex-Core CPU, 3.9GHz
Graphics Card: ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 980 TI, 6GB   (Slightly OC'd to 1317 MHz)
System RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 16GB
Storage (SSD): 1x Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD, 1x Samsung 850 Pro 2TB SSD
Storage (HDD): 2x Samsung F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200RPM HDDs.
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i V2

Power Supply: Corsair HX1050

[SansVarnic]

6 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

Otherwise though, many user reviews note some "grinding" fan noise with the Seasonics, argh.

I only buy Seasonic and I have never had any issue with one of their psu's. Just letting you know.

[Jurrunio]

reboot during games? If it doesn't shutdown/restart when idle for no reason (try leave it turned on overnight), it could be a thermal problem.

[ntuason]

Just curious, isn’t the AX850 and Seasonic 850w the same PSU just relabeled? So you can’t really go wrong with either.

[Spotty]

10 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

I'm mulling between:

Corsair AX850 (or AX860)

and

Seasonic Prime TX-850

The AX850 Titanium is a rebranded Seasonic Prime Titanium.

 

11 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

Currently running a Corsair HX-1050 that has done me well for 8 years, but my PC is now rebooting during games, so looking for a reliable, and quiet replacement, any recommendations?

Remove your overclock and see if that fixes it

[BobT36]

13 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

reboot during games? If it doesn't shutdown/restart when idle for no reason (try leave it turned on overnight), it could be a thermal problem.

Nah temps are fine when monitoring. Stress-testing is alright too. Certain things trigger it pretty fast, one being the Steam Overlay. Weird eh?

GPU seems fine otherwise, only had it a few years. Was thinking it would likely be due to the PSU. The cables for the GPU on the HX1050 aren't removable either so I can't check those.

 

GPU overclock is set though the ASUS GPUTweak 2 tool, just setting it from "Gaming Mode" to "OC Mode". Seems to reboot regardless.

 

Was thinking it was likely due to my PSU being old (I presume 8+ years is old nowadays..) and it being about ready for a replacement. Presume newer ones could handle the 980ti better?

 

Thanks for the notes about the rebrand, I'd read about that but didn't know those two specific models were literally the same.

There's not many reviews for the Seasonic Prime on Amazon, seems they re-listed it in September. Something to do with consolidating model branding?

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

Thanks for the notes about the rebrand, I'd read about that but didn't know those two specific models were literally the same.

There's not many reviews for the Seasonic Prime on Amazon, seems they re-listed it in September. Something to do with consolidating model branding?

Check ACTUAL reviews and not just Amazon reviews.

 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, BobT36 said:

Nah temps are fine when monitoring. Stress-testing is alright too. Certain things trigger it pretty fast, one being the Steam Overlay. Weird eh?

GPU seems fine otherwise, only had it a few years. Was thinking it would likely be due to the PSU. The cables for the GPU on the HX1050 aren't removable either so I can't check those.

 

GPU overclock is set though the ASUS GPUTweak 2 tool, just setting it from "Gaming Mode" to "OC Mode". Seems to reboot regardless.

 

Was thinking it was likely due to my PSU being old (I presume 8+ years is old nowadays..) and it being about ready for a replacement. Presume newer ones could handle the 980ti better?

Nah that sounds a lot more like dodgy graphics card settings. If it's the PSU, stress testing the system at stock clocks should shut down the system real quick

[BobT36]

10 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Check ACTUAL reviews and not just Amazon reviews.

 

I've tried to read both. Sometimes it's tough finding the exact ones due to branding changes (such as the Seasonic), or the review listed being for 2012 or something, whereas the models I was looking at were the 2018+ ones. Such as I heard a lot of the problems with the Corsair AXs were now fixed? Etc.

 

I remember reading the Seasonic was listed better for noise etc, but now it seems further down the tier list. Must have been a different model I was looking at though if the AX850 Plat and the Seasonic Prime Tx 850 are literally the same, just different brands.

 

Sounds like I couldn't go much wrong with either?

[Juular]

12 hours ago, BobT36 said:

I presume the Corsair AX850i etc is S tier due to the ability to configure single or multi-rail mode, while the other two are static as single?

Yes, but AX and AXi are two different lineups based on completely different platforms. Almost all Seasonic made PSUs are single-rail (with the exception of NZXT E and maybe some other older stuff). Why you've stuck to those two options anyway ? And you don't need 850W PSU for this build, 650W would be a plenty. Cheapest 650+W PSU available in UK right now are Seasonic made Riotoro Enigma G2 850W or it's OEM version - Seasonic Focus GX 650\750W for a bit more. Or if you want multi-rail - Bitfenix Whisper M 650\750W.

[BobT36]

I don't mind splashing out a tad more for a bit more efficiency / reliability. I'll be adding/upgrading some components at some point, too. I'd have thought as long as I could afford it, it would be better to go with the Prime than the Focus? (If choosing Seasonic). My current one has lasted me a good 8 years so I'm hoping for similar. Didn't see much difference in reviews on JonnyGuru's page, besides a bit better build quality in the primes.

 

I was choosing 850w as most calculators seemed to state around 800w was required (one even said 856 but I discounted that). Further reading indicated I can probably get away with a 750w. Unsure if I want to knock it right down to 650w as it might be cutting it a bit close. (Isn't just the card I need to power, plus I've OC'd it a bit through GPUTweak2).

 

Price-wise there's not much difference (about £10-20) between the lower powered units and the 750-850w ones on Amazon UK.

 

 

Still unsure whether single / multi-rail is a thing I need to cater for. I've watched Jonny's video so I "get" the basics, but my current HX1050 is single rail I believe and never had any issues till recently (even with this card). I understand it gives better protection if something goes wrong, but if even the top-end Seasonics are set to single, nothing to worry about?

 

Yeah I get the AXi's are different, user reviews seemed to list a lot of reliability problems though, having to RMA 3+ times etc (just bad luck?), plus it seems quite hard to get a hold of the AX860i at the moment. Only the 1200w versions seem readily available and I don't need THAT much power.

 

Anything I'm missing?

[seon123]

6 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

I was choosing 850w as most calculators seemed to state around 800w was required (one even said 856 but I discounted that). Further reading indicated I can probably get away with a 750w. Unsure if I want to knock it right down to 650w as it might be cutting it a bit close. (Isn't just the card I need to power, plus I've OC'd it a bit through GPUTweak2).

All pSu CaLcUlAtOrS are useless and overestimate by a ton. Expect the system to draw closer to 400W under a gaming load. 650W is not cutting it close at all, and 850W is just overkill.

8 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

Still unsure whether single / multi-rail is a thing I need to cater for. I've watched Jonny's video so I "get" the basics, but my current HX1050 is single rail I believe and never had any issues till recently (even with this card). I understand it gives better protection if something goes wrong, but if even the top-end Seasonics are set to single, nothing to worry about?

Single rail is just another way of saying that they omitted multi rail OCP. There will be no issues, unless something goes wrong. Same as with any other protection. Seasonic cheaped out on the protections on their highest end PSUs, I'd say that's a reason not to get them. Another thing they cheaped out on was the fan, which is a pretty mediocre Hong Hua fan. One of the downgrades from the RMx to the RM is changing out the NR135 with basically the same fan that Seasonic uses on the Prime Titanium... Says a bit.

10 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

Yeah I get the AXi's are different, user reviews seemed to list a lot of reliability problems though, having to RMA 3+ times etc (just bad luck?), plus it seems quite hard to get a hold of the AX860i at the moment. Only the 1200w versions seem readily available and I don't need THAT much power.

As we all know, anecdotes trump data...

 

 

You could consider the RM650i, RM750i, HX750 or HX850. Some other options would be the Formula, Whisper M, Straight Power 11 or Dark Power Pro 11, which are not very quiet at high load (DPP11 is also semi-modular), and the Ion+, RMx or Leadex III which lack multi rail

[BobT36]

Thanks Seon. Something that's not stupendously noisy would be good. I might look at the HX750 then, since my HX1050 has done me quite well for 8 years (and I don't need that much power now that I have a "newer" card, and no longer running SLI).

Edit: Scratch that, the HX850 is literally just £5 more than the HX750.. I presume no downside (other than price) to getting higher wattage if it's that close?

Edit 2: Lots of people in reviews complaining about Coil whine / shutdowns, so they bought an EVGA or Seasonic Prime instead. Argh! lol.

 

As to the Seasonic's Huong Hua fan, maybe that's related to the "I ordered a PSU, not a coffee grinder!" reviews I'm seeing, which is what was mainly putting me off those. Many people have posted vids where the fan emits a loud "clicking" sound when it's on. I presume the same issue would be present with the AX's (non i) if they're the same?

 

Regarding anecdotes, true. That's why I liked the old spreadsheet based tier list, nice and easy to compare specific factors from one PSU to another.

 

Funny how the top-end variants seem to be "worse" in some ways than the mid-tier. Normal fan "noise" isn't too bad, but I have semi-open backed headphones and HATE coil whine, so units that are not known for that would be nice.

 

Looking at the HX850, it seems to have a switch for Single / Multi-rail mode, so that's something (along with Price, and a better fan(?)) it has over the Seasonic Prime, lots of complaints around the "flat" cables though, apparently. Why would I choose the RMs over the HXs? (other than price).

The Whisper M & Dark Power PSUs seem to have worse reviews. Straight Power ones seem decent though. Having a look now.

[BobT36]

After a bit more digging (and reading your advice, though I didn't like the look of the Bitfinex ones), I'll probably will go with one of these:

• Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850w - £207
   
• Be Quiet! Straight Power 11 750w - £130 (or 850w at £150)
   
• Corsair HX850 - £166
   
• Corsair HX850i - £180
   
• Corsair AX850 - £178
   
• Seasonic Prime TX-850 - £250

 

Btw 750w versions either aren't available, or are literally only £10 less. No AXi versions in the wattage I want available at reasonable prices either. Unless they're really THAT much better, I won't bother looking elsewhere.

 

The HX850i is more expensive than the AX850. Am I missing something here? Not that bothered about Corsair Link support. I do use it for controlling my H80i Cooler though, but I can't imagine using it much for managing the PSU.

 

Had a scout at some other units, but the user reviews didn't look too great. Why is the Dark Power Pro only semi-modular, yet the "lesser" version is fully? Am I missing something there too? My current HX1050 is semi-modular, even the GPU power cables are built-in, which is why I'm looking for something "newer".

 

Going to try and compare between the above on some of the professional reviews, though some are a bit baffling when it goes into rippling and amps etc. I basically just want something long-lasting, safe / reliable, quiet (even with fan on. Hum is ok, but no clicking or grinding), and hopefully no coil whine. Don't mind paying a tad more to ensure that.

 

As mentioned am concerned about some negative reviews around the Seasonic fan noise (and highest price!), so currently leaning towards one of the others.

[Juular]

8 hours ago, BobT36 said:

Had a scout at some other units, but the user reviews didn't look too great.

User reviews mean nothing unless there's some repeating issue they're all talking about (not just a few such reports).

 

Out of those options you mention go for the cheapest, bq! SP11, it's good.

[Spotty]

10 hours ago, BobT36 said:

• Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850w - £207
   
• Be Quiet! Straight Power 11 750w - £130 (or 850w at £150)
   
• Corsair HX850 - £166
   
• Corsair HX850i - £180
   
• Corsair AX850 - £178
   
• Seasonic Prime TX-850 - £250

The Straight Power 11 would be good for the system you have, and since it's the cheapest by a significant margin I would recommend that.

[BobT36]

Cheers guys. Anywhere I can directly compare the difference in features, noise, quality, cables etc? Other than just pulling up the pro reviews for each.

 

Something like the old spreadsheet, though I think that was the old tier list and has now been replaced by the new one.

 

I'll probably go with the Straight Power, unless I see something off. How come the Dark Power is only semi-modular, isn't that supposed to be "better"?

 

As mentioned price is a nice bonus, but not the main factor I'm looking at.

[Juular]

These options all have relatively same quality and performance, but both bq! units and HX850i are multi-rail, Corsair are digital also, meaning you can tweak protections tripping point and fan curve, but neither of this really matters for your build. Speaking of noise, bq! units are definitely quiet, not sure about other ones but at least HXi can be quiet after fan curve tweaking even if it's not on stock. You can do your research yourself, most of them should have reviews by Aris on THG and TPU which are very sophisticated. But since bq! SP11 are cheapest anyway, at least from the ones you've filtered out, i don't see the point in that, just buy it, it's good.

[BobT36]

Pff seems those I linked were the older, gold versions. Amazon UK doesn't have the platinum Straight Power 11.

 

Overclockers and Scan do though, same prices on both sites. The 850w plat is only 14 quid more than the 750w too, so may as well get that, even if it's a tad excessive. I'll do some final reading but I think I'll be going for this:

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-straight-power-11-850w-80-plus-platinum-modular-power-supply-ca-143-bq.html

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-be-quiet!-straight-power-11-platinum-fully-modular-80-plus-platinum-quad-rail-70a-135mm-fan-atx

 

User reviews on the old Gold versions were good. Pro reviews on the new plat seem good too, the only complaint was a 5 year warranty instead of higher. Looks a good choice!

 

So last off, overclockers or scan? Long time since I've bought from either, opinions seem to be mixed and threads were from 2013.

[Juular]

9 hours ago, BobT36 said:

Amazon UK doesn't have the platinum Straight Power 11.

Neither you need it, Gold version are exactly the same performing other than for 3% efficiency boost which doesn't matter.

[BobT36]

May as well though for the same price, (well, £1 cheaper lol).

 

I'd prefer Amazon if they had it as I know they're good with returns, but the other two should be good enough.

[Falkentyne]

7 hours ago, BobT36 said:

May as well though for the same price, (well, £1 cheaper lol).

 

I'd prefer Amazon if they had it as I know they're good with returns, but the other two should be good enough.

 

Before buying a completely new power supply, contact Corsair (be very polite) and ask if they will sell or even give you a spare set of CPU EPS 12v and PCIE connector cables for that old PSU, assuming they still have parts sitting around, and then use those cables and see if the problem goes away.  That might save you money, especially if they're nice enough to only charge you shipping.

 

Everyone here seems to forget that cables can and *do* degrade with age and stress, and if the +12v drops below 11.50v at full load, the system can black screen or reboot.  I saw this happen with the first cable (daisy chain split) i used on my Seasonic 1000W and a R9 290X, since I wasn't using one cable per connector.  12v dropped down to as low as 11.25v under load and it would black screen (MUCH more often either idle while browsing, or in some very light load game like League of Legends, or in the match "intermission" screen in Overwatch (where the FPS gets capped at 60).

 

When I replaced that one cable with two spare cables from the box, the 12v was back at 11.75v and all the crashes stopped.

[BobT36]

I'm "hoping" that's the same issue I'm seeing, as it seems stable enough when idling. However the HX1050 is only semi-modular. The MOBO & PCIE cables for the GPU power are all inbuilt into the PSU.

 

Even if it's possible, I don't feel confident enough taking it apart. If it was less than 8 years old I'd definitely try that approach though, cheers. But I think it's time for a new one, I've switched out almost every other component in my PC besides the CPU & PSU over time.

[Spotty]

5 minutes ago, BobT36 said:

However the HX1050 is only semi-modular. The MOBO & PCIE cables for the GPU power are all inbuilt into the PSU.

The PCIe cables are modular on the older semi-modular HX. It's the Mobo and CPU power cables that are fixed.

[BobT36]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

The PCIe cables are modular on the older semi-modular HX. It's the Mobo and CPU power cables that are fixed.

Not on mine! I checked and they're both within the cluster of sleeved cables coming straight out of the PSU.

 

I looked when I read some advice on not to use split cables for the GPU power etc, but found there was nowt I could do as although they look separate, the cables are fixed anyway.