PSU comparison

[TheBean]

SeaSonic M12II 520W fully modular

vs

SeaSonic S12II 620W non-modular

 

the 520W one is about a US$5 bump in price. However, i am looking to make my build really nice looking and i am not going to be overclocking that much so i was thinking to get the 520W. also, what is the difference in the m12II and S12II versions?

 

Part List:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/sakgoy2001/saved/sHwK8d

 

[HKZeroFive]

The only significant difference I'm aware of is that the S12II is non-modular and the M12II is fully modular. You could also get the Corsair CX450M instead of the group regulated Seasonics... it's semi-modular, can power your build just fine and has all-black cables so it ain't that bad looking.

[TheBean]

3 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

The only significant difference I'm aware of is that the S12II is non-modular and the M12II is fully modular. You could also get the Corsair CX450M instead of the group regulated Seasonics... it's semi-modular, can power your build just fine and has all-black cables so it ain't that bad looking.

the corsair one is the same price as the seasonic one so i would rather just get that one as it's fully modular and it has a higher wattage for future upgrades

[mariushm]

Go with the Seasonic G series  550w power supply : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119

 

it's $70 but you get a 10$ rebate, dropping the price to 60$ which is very good.  10$ extra for a gold efficiency and good internal components is worth it.

 

it's semi-modular, the atx and cpu power are not removable but you have to use those anyway. they're sleeved in black. The other cables are black ribbon and modular.

 

[TheBean]

6 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Go with the Seasonic G series  550w power supply : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119

 

it's $70 but you get a 10$ rebate, dropping the price to 60$ which is very good.  10$ extra for a gold efficiency and good internal components is worth it.

 

it's semi-modular, the atx and cpu power are not removable but you have to use those anyway. they're sleeved in black. The other cables are black ribbon and modular.

 

i am kinda on a budget.....and i think that the seasonic m12II should suffice

[HKZeroFive]

51 minutes ago, saksham said:

the corsair one is the same price as the seasonic one so i would rather just get that one as it's fully modular and it has a higher wattage for future upgrades

Not everything is as clear cut as modularity and wattage. I'd argue that the Corsair CX450M is a better choice because it's not group regulated unlike the Seasonic S12II/M12II, but at the end of the day, you can't exactly go wrong either way.

[TheBean]

7 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

Not everything is as clear cut as modularity and wattage. I'd argue that the Corsair CX450M is a better choice because it's not group regulated unlike the Seasonic S12II/M12II, but at the end of the day, you can't exactly go wrong either way.

what is group regulation?

[mariushm]

Group regulation vs DC-DC converters

 

in more modern designs, the power supply produces all power on 12v which is the most used voltage in computers these days, and then a DC-DC converter takes power from 12v and produces 5v and 3.3v that computers also require,as much as needed.  This conversion is done with potentially higher efficiency, up to 90-95% efficiency.

If the computer only needs 20 watts in total on the 3.3v and 5v voltages, then that's how much it's produced by the DC-DC converters.

 

In group regulated power supplies, a portion of the total output power of the power supply is reserved for the 3.3v and 5v power supply and the "quality" of the power delivered on 3.3v and 5v depends on the amount of power consumed from 12v. 

For example, if the computer uses only 50-100 watts from 12v, the power supply may output only 4.95v instead of exactly 5v - in real world, this doesn't really matter.

This design is cheaper but it's slightly less efficient, the 3.3v and 5v will be produced at the lower efficiency of maybe 80-85%.

 

Regarding the Corsair vs Seasonic power supplies .. from efficiency point of view, yes the Corsair would be slightly better. However, even though it has a good warranty, Corsair cut corners by using lower quality components especially in the capacitors department. The fan they use is also not that great. Capacitors are sensitive to heat and degrade over time - perhaps the internal construction and fan is good enough to keep the temperature inside low so that the power supply would last for 5 years (or whatever the warranty is) but the Seasonic power supplies have high quality components inside which would last more than 5 years without any problems.

 

[TheBean]

3 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Group regulation vs DC-DC converters

 

in more modern designs, the power supply produces all power on 12v which is the most used voltage in computers these days, and then a DC-DC converter takes power from 12v and produces 5v and 3.3v that computers also require,as much as needed.  This conversion is done with potentially higher efficiency, up to 90-95% efficiency.

If the computer only needs 20 watts in total on the 3.3v and 5v voltages, then that's how much it's produced by the DC-DC converters.

 

In group regulated power supplies, a portion of the total output power of the power supply is reserved for the 3.3v and 5v power supply and the "quality" of the power delivered on 3.3v and 5v depends on the amount of power consumed from 12v. 

For example, if the computer uses only 50-100 watts from 12v, the power supply may output only 4.95v instead of exactly 5v - in real world, this doesn't really matter.

This design is cheaper but it's slightly less efficient, the 3.3v and 5v will be produced at the lower efficiency of maybe 80-85%.

 

Regarding the Corsair vs Seasonic power supplies .. from efficiency point of view, yes the Corsair would be slightly better. However, even though it has a good warranty, Corsair cut corners by using lower quality components especially in the capacitors department. The fan they use is also not that great. Capacitors are sensitive to heat and degrade over time - perhaps the internal construction and fan is good enough to keep the temperature inside low so that the power supply would last for 5 years (or whatever the warranty is) but the Seasonic power supplies have high quality components inside which would last more than 5 years without any problems.

 

so for the same price, the seasonic one is better? because i dont want to go through the warranty process.

also, i really dont understand what you wrote clearly. do you simply mean that the group regulated "share bandwidth" of the total output of the PSU and DC-DC PSU's make how much is needed on a separate unit inside the PSU? If so, what sort of difference does it really make?

[mariushm]

Let's compare

 

Seasonic M12ii 520w EVO Edition : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093&ignorebbr=1

Corsair CX450M : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139146

Corsair CX550M : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139147

(adding it because there's a 20$ rebate on it, bringing the price down to 45$ making it worth it, but in the end it's up to you if you trust rebate processes not to mention they can take months to process)

 

A power supply needs to produce 12v, 5v and 3.3v to computer. 12v is most important, then 5v which is used mainly by classical hard drives and SSDs and some components on the motherboard. 3.3v is barely used these days.

 

The M12II can output 480w on 12v and can produce up to 130w on both 3.3v and 5v ( 24A on each voltage or up to 80w on 3.3v and up to 120w on 5v, but both at the same time may not exceed 130 watts). All three voltages together may not exceed 520 watts.

The CXM 450w can output 448w  on 12v and can produce up to 110 watts on 3.3v and 5v (20A on each voltage but both at same time may not exceed 110w). All three together may not exceed 450 watts

The CXM 550w can output 550w on 12v and up to 120w on 3.3v and 5v (25a and 20A, but both at same time may not go over 120 watts). And all three together may not go over 550 watts.

 

So let's imagine we have two computers, one that uses maybe 20 watts on 3.3v and 5v (just some usb ports, some chips on motherboard and a single hard drive) and another computer which has lots of hard drives, so let's say it uses 100 watts on 3.3v and 5v.

 

In the case of first computer,

with the m2ii  those 20 watts would be served with no problems, and you have the full 480 watts available for 12v

with the cx450 , those 20 watts of power  are produced from 12v with around 90% efficiency, so on 12v you'd have about 450w - 25w = ~ 425w for 12v

with the cx550, those 20 watts are produced from 12v with around 90% efficiency, so you'd have aroun 550w - 25w = 525w of power on 12v

 

in the case of second computer, where we have 100 watts on 3.3v and 5v (extreme situation, you rarely have this)

 

The m12ii can produce in total 520w of power, so if we use 100 watts on 3.3v and 5v, it means the power supply will only be able to produce 520w - 100w = 420w on 12v

The CX450 will produce 100w from 12v with maybe 95% efficiency, so basically around 110w, therefore there will be 450w-110w = 340w available on 12v for everything else.

The CX550 will also use 110w to produce those 100 watts on 3.3v and 5v, so you're left with 550w - 110w = 440w on 12v 

 

So the CX550m wins by still being able to offer 20w more than the m12ii and at same time to 3.3v and 5v will be more accurate and less "noisy" compared to the m12ii psu (but well within standards in both psus)

 

So as you can see if you check carefull, the M12ii 520w behaves more like a CX550m power supply.

 

By producing all the power on 12v, power supplies like the Corsairs can get better efficiency and then the overall efficiency goes even higher by using those dc-dc converters (instead of producing 100w with 80% efficiency, the produce it from 12v with 90-95% efficiency, but the main 12v is still produced with 80-85% efficiency)

 

So it's a tradeoff - they spend a few dollars more  on the dc-dc converter compared to using group regulation, but the can save money on the actual high voltage to 12v power supply using cheaper components, while keeping the overall efficiency above 80%

 

Don't concern yourself too much about topology, either one of those would be fine for the system you make.

Ideally, i'd recommend spending the extra 10$ or so to go with the G series psu and have a cooler and more silent PC (as fan will spin at less rpm and psu won't heat up as much) and the psu will also last longer (in theory)

 

 

[STRMfrmXMN]

5 hours ago, saksham said:

SeaSonic M12II 520W fully modular

vs

SeaSonic S12II 620W non-modular

 

the 520W one is about a US$5 bump in price. However, i am looking to make my build really nice looking and i am not going to be overclocking that much so i was thinking to get the 520W. also, what is the difference in the m12II and S12II versions?

 

Part List:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/sakgoy2001/saved/sHwK8d

 

They're similar in size. 520W is still more than double what your system would require with overclocking. The M12 is modular while the S12 is not. They both are a little ugly but get the job done.

 

Just get whichever one suits you. If you want a modular unit then grab the M12. If it doesn't matter to you then get the S12.