[psucultists] PSU Tier List

[LukeSavenije]

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.6

Last Update: 29-11-2020

 

Gray - EoL / obsolete. Generally not recommended for purchase since it's going to be pre-owned, refurbished or old stock.
Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs)
Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue color in tier A)
Blue - quiet operation under moderate load (see details in the spreadsheet)

 

See spreadsheet for changelog, methodology, detailed description of colors, sources, notes on grayed-out units including issues like GPU incompatibility or quality and performance issues, and other additional info.

 

Tier A • Recommended for high-end systems

( multi/single-rail switchable )

• be quiet! | Dark Power Pro 10 / Pro 11 / Pro 12
• Cooler Master | V Platinum 2019 [MPZ]
• Corsair | AXi (<=1500W / 1600W) - RMi - HXi - HX Platinum - Vengeance Silver
• Enermax | Digifanless
• NZXT | E

( multi-rail )

• Antec | High Current Pro [HCP] Gold / Platinum
• be quiet! | Straight Power 11 Gold / Platinum
• Bitfenix | Formula Gold =>650W - Whisper =>650W
• Deepcool / Gamer Storm | DQ-M (not V2 / -V2L)
• Enermax | Platimax (1200/1350W) / Platimax D.F =>750W - Revolution D.F - MaxRevo 1350/1500W
• LEPA | MaxPlatinum 1050W/1375W

( single-rail )

• Abkoncore | CR Platinum
• ADATA / XPG | Core Reactor
• Aerocool | Project 7
• Andyson | N - R - PX - TX
• Antec | Earthwatts [EA] Gold Pro post 2018 y. [1] - High Current Gamer [HCG] Gold post 2018 y. [1] / Extreme post 2018 y. [1] - Signature Platinum / Titanium - Earthwatts [EA] Gold Pro White - Edge =>850W
• ASUS | ROG Strix post 2018 y. [1] / Thor
• Chieftec / Chieftronic | Powerplay Gold / Platinum - GPS-500C Fanless
• Cooler Master | Masterwatt Maker MiJ - V Gold 2013 [RS] Semi-Modular [VSM] / Fully Modular - V Platinum 2013 [RSC] - V SFX Gold
• Corsair | AX Gold / Platinum / Titanium - RMx 2015 (White) / 2018 (White) - RM Gray - SF Gold / Platinum [2] - TX-M 2017 (Gold)
• Cougar | GX-F (Aurum) - LLC
• Enermax | Platimax D.F <=600w - Maxtytan
• EVGA | Supernova G2(L) / GS =>850W / P2 / PS / T2 (<=1200W/1600W)
• Fractal Design | ION+ Platinum / SFX Gold
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Aurum PT / Pro - Hydro G / G Pro / X / PT / PTM
• Gamdias | Cyclops X1
• Great Wall | E Gold (Frozen)
• Green | Overclocking DG
• Huntkey | MVP-G Gold - MVP-P Platinum
• Kingwin | Stryker
• Kolink | Continuum C-PL 1500w
• LC Power | LC1200 Platinum
• Micronics | Astro Platinum
• NZXT | C-series - H1 / NP-S-M
• Phanteks | AMP - Revolt Pro post 2018 y. [1] - Revolt X
• Raidmax | Monster RX-AT
• Riotoro | Enigma G2 post 2018 y. [1]
• Rosewill | Silent Night - Quark - Capstone -XXXM / -1000-M / G <=750W
• SAMA / Xianma | Forza Titanium
• Seasonic | Focus GX / GM / PX [1] / SGX - Prime Gold / Platinum / Titanium / Fanless PX / Fanless TX / Snow Silent (Gold / Platinum / Titanium) / Airtouch - Connect
• Silentmaxx | Fanless II
• Silverstone | Strider Gold S 1500W / Platinum PT <=850W - SX-G <=500W - SX-PT - Nightjar SXL / ATX (Platinum / Titanium)
• Super Flower / Zhenhua | Leadex Gold / Platinum <=1600W / Platinum SE / Titanium / II / III Gold (HG pre/post 2020 y.) (Pro) (ARGB) - Platinum King - Golden Silent
• Thermaltake | Toughpower GF1 (ARGB) / PF1 ARGB / iRGB Plus (Gold/Platinum/Titanium) / Gold Semi-Modular 1500W / DPS G (Gold / Platinum) / DPS G RGB Titanium <=1250W / Grand (non-RGB) Gold / Russian Gold 1500W
• XFX | Pro Black FM / Limited Edition - XTR =>850W - XTS - XTI

( low priority units - minor issues or lack of info )

• Antec | Earthwatts [EA] Pro Gold pre 2018 y. [1][4] - High Current Gamer [HCG] Gold pre 2018 y. [1] / Extreme pre 2018 y. [1] - Edge <=750W - Truepower Classic
• Asus | ROG Strix pre 2018 y. [1]
• Bitfenix | Formula Gold <=550W 1] - Whisper <=550W [1]
• Cooler Master | Masterwatt Maker - V Gold 2018 [MPY] =>750W
• Corsair | HX Gold 650W
• Delta | GM - GPS-HB Platinum
• Enermax | MaxRevo 1800W [3]
• EVGA | Supernova G3 - GT - NEX-G 1500W / PG 1500W
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Hydro PTM Pro
• Fractal Design | Edison M
• Gamdias | Kratos P1 Gold
• Gigabyte | XP-M 1200
• Green | Overclocking EVO - High Performance+ - UK+
• High Power | Super GD
• In Win | P - Premium Basic / PB
• Maingear | Ignition
• MSI | MPG A-GF
• Phanteks | Revolt Pro pre 2018 y. [1]
• Riotoro | Enigma G2 pre 2018 y. [1] - Builder 1200w
• SAMA / Xianma | Armor [1] (Pure Power) Gold / Platinum - Forza [1] Gold / Platinum
• Seasonic | Focus [1] Gold / Plus Gold / Plus Platinum - G RM - S12G RT - SSP-SFG - SSP-SUG - SSP-RT - [1] X Gold / Platinum / X Fanless / X Snow Silent
• Sentey | Golden Steel GSP-HM V2 1050W
• Sharkoon | Silentstorm Cool Zero
• SilentiumPC | Supremo FM2 [1]
• Silverstone | Strider Gold Platinum PT =>1000W
• Super Flower / Zhenhua | Leadex II [3] / V
• Thermaltake | Toughpower Grand (non-RGB) Platinum / Grand RGB Gold
• Wentai | Aidan 1616W [3]
• XFX | TS Gold - XT Gold - XTR <=750W - XTR2 - XTS2
• Xigmatek | Hera Gold - XFP
• Zalman | Acrux Platinum [1] - Wattera

[1] Units experiencing tripping issues with high transient power draw GPUs like AMD Vega and high-end nVidia Ampere. Includes Seasonic Focus based units made prior to Jan 2018, source.
[2] Corsair SF units with LOT codes from 194448* through 201148* have potential problems, Corsair conducts a voluntary replacement, source.
[3] Units that don't reach full rated capacity under full rated input voltage range.
[4] Antec EA Pro Gold has versions for Chinese market made by FSP on competely different, worse, group-regulated platform (tier D). Source #1, #2.

Tier B • Recommended for midrange systems
• 1st Player | Steampunk Gold
• Abkoncore | Tenergy Gold X50W
• Antec | Neo Eco Gold yellow-label [3]
• be quiet! | Pure Power 10 =>400W / 11 (CM) =>400W [1] - Straight Power E10 - SFX-L Power
• Chieftec | Smart GPS-C / Power Smart GPS-C - Navitas GPM-C =>1000W / GPM-S / PPS-FC - Polaris - SFX-GD-C - Compact CSN-C
• Cooler Master | MWE Gold - Reactor Gold - V Gold 2018 [MPY] <=650W
• Corsair | CX Gray - CS-m Gold - CX-F RGB
• Cougar | GEX - GX-S 2017
• Delta | GPS-FB Platinum
• Dengen | Gold FM
• Enermax | Platimax <=1000W/1500W - Revolution X't II
• EVGA | Supernova B3 post 2019 y. / G(1)+ / G5 / GD 2017 / GM / GQ 850w+ / (NEX-)G(1) (PG) 1000W / PQ
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Aurum Xilenser
• Gigabyte | AP-GM / P-W
• Great Wall / Hunters | Titan TF - Gaming GX
• High Power | Astro Lite / GD-F HPB <=750W / GD-F HPJ <=750W / GD-F V2 HPM - Performance GD
• Huntkey | MVP K - WDK-K
• Kolink | Continuum C-PL 850W - Enclave G-FM
• LC-Power | GP4 - Arkangel III
• LDLC | US-G / GT-P - XT-P / QS-FL / QS-FLP - QS+ - BQ+
• LEPA | G-MA
• Lian Li | PE SFX-L
• Micronics | Astro GD
• Modecom | Volcano Gold
• Riotoro | Onyx - Enigma Gold
• Rosewill | Capstone / G =>850W - Tokamak
• Seasonic | Core GC / GM / GX
• Segotep / Colorful | GP-P <=700w - GP-T <=700w - ZP500P-SG
• Sharkoon | Silentstorm SFX Gold
• Skydigital | Power Station 5 Gold
• Silverstone | Strider Gold S (V2) <1500w / Titanium <=800W / Platinum PTS / Plus F-PS - Essential Gold ET-G / ET-HG - SX-LG - SX-LTI
• Thermaltake | TR2 Gold
• VIVO | 24K
• Xigmatek | Vector P
• Xilence | Performance X
• Zalman | EBT <=750w - Platinum

( low priority units - minor issues or lack of info )

• Antec | Neo Eco Gold green-label
• Cooler Master | MWE V2 [2] White [MPE] Full-range Input / V2 [2] Bronze [MPE] Full-range Input / V2 Gold - GX Gold - GX Bronze 2020 [MPX]
• CWT / Channel Well Technology | PUO V-G
• Enermax | Platimax 1500/1700W [4]
• EVGA | Supernova B3 pre 2019 y. / B5 / GA
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Dagger Pro

• Greatwall / HGaming G5
• Kolink | Continuum V2 1000/1200W
• In Win | Classic Basic CB
• Micronics | Compact SFX-L PT
• Rampage | Everest Forza FTX / ETX
• Segotep / Colorful | GP-G / KL
• Sentey | Solid SDP-SS
• SilentiumPC | Supremo M1 Gold
• Silverstone | ET-MG - Revolution SFX

• Superflower | Leadex III Bronze Pro
• Xigmatek | Minotaur
• Xilence | SQ

[1] bq! PP10/11 400W SKUs has PCI-e power cables powered only by single rail with total rating of 288W and trips with high transient power draw GPUs like AMD Vega
[2] Cooler Master MWE V2 units have high ripple issues on very low load also resulting in increased coil whine, fix pending.
[3] Units experiencing tripping issues with high transient power draw GPUs like AMD Vega and high-end nVidia Ampere. Includes Seasonic Focus based units made prior to Jan 2018, source.
[4] Units that don't reach full rated capacity under full rated input voltage range.

Tier C • Recommended for cheap mid/low-end systems
• Abkoncore | Tenergy Bronze
• Abysm | Morpheo
• ADX | Power W Gold
• Aerocool | KCAS M 850 / Plus / G(M)
• Aigo | ES Gold
• Andyson | H6 / GX - M5+ =>550W / BX
• Antec | Earthwatts [EA] Gold EVO - High Current Gamer [HCG] Bronze 2012 (M) =>750W - Neo Eco II - VP-F Bronze
• be quiet! | Dark Power Pro P8 / P9 - System Power 9 =>400W / CM / U9 =>400W / B9 =>400W - Power Zone
• Bitfenix | Formula Bronze
• Chieftec | Core BBS - Proton BDF-S / BDF-C - Navitas GPM-C <=850W - A-90 - Silicon SLC-C - Photon Gold GDP-C-RGB - APS-CB =>750
• Coba | NitroX Nobility
• Cooler Master | MWE V1 Bronze [MPX] =>600W - Masterwatt (TUF) - GM - Silent Pro M2 =>720W - GX Bronze 2015 [RS-ACAA-B3]
• Corsair | CX Green =>750W - CX-M Green =>750W / Gray - GS Bronze - CV 650W - HX Gold =>750W - Vengeance Bronze - Enthusiast TX v2 - RM 2013 <=850W [orange-label]
• Cougar | LX - CMD - CMX v3 - GX v1/v2/v3
• CWT / Channel Well Technology | GPS S-G
• Deepcool | Quanta DQ - DQ-ST - DQ Evo
• Delta | GPS-JB / AB
• Enermax | Revolution Duo / X't - Revobron
• EVGA | Supernova B2 - GD 2019 -V* - GQ <=750W - BQ - B 500/600/700W
• Fractal Design | Integra M - Newton R3 - Tesla R2
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Raider II - HEXA 85+ - Hydro GE / Pro - Hyper M85+
• Gamdias | Astrape P1 - Kratos P1
• Gigabyte | G750H - P650B - Sumo Platinum
• Great Wall | M 1200
• High Power | Astro GD-F HPJ =>850W - Direct12 Bronze =>750W / Bronze II
• In Win | A1 Plus - Classic C
• iTek | Taurus GF
• Kingwin | Lazer Gold / Platinum - Absolute Platinum
• Kolink | Continuum 1050/1200W
• LC Power | Gold Series - Prophecy RGB
• LDLC | TA
• LEPA | MaxGold - G-MAS
• Montech | Gamma (II) - Alpha (X)
• Mistel | Vision MX Gold / Platinum
• NZXT | HALE82 / HALE90 / HALE90 V2
• OCZ / PC Power & Cooling | Silencer Platinum 1050W - ZT - SZX - Silencer MK III =>750W
• PC Cooler | GI-P
• Powerspec | PS-GSM / PS-GFM - PSX-GFM
• Riotoro | Builder 500/600W
• Rosewill | Arc 750W - Tachyon - Hive - Hive S =>750W - Hercules (-S) 1600W - Capstone-XXX - Lightning
• Seasonic | G GP / SSR-GP / SSP-GT - M12II (EVO) x50W - S12III - S12D Silver - S12 Energy Plus - SS-HT <=650W / =>750W
• Sentey | Platinum LTP-SM - Golden Steel GSP-HM 1200/1600W - Metal Extreme MHP-XM 1000W - Metal Blade MBP-HM 1000W
• Sharkoon | WPM Gold Zero - Silentstorm Icewind

• Sentey | Golden Steel GSP-SM 850/1050W
• SilentiumPC | Supremo [3] L2 / M2 - Vero L3 / M3
• Silverstone | Decathlon DA-G 1650W - Strider Bronze ST-SF / Gold ST-SF-G v1/v2
• Super Flower / Zhenhua | Golden King - Leadex Silver / Platinum 2000W - Iceberg Kingdee - Golden Green
• Thermaltake | BlueEvo 2.0 - Smart BM2 / DPS G Gold X50W / G / Gold X00W / Pro RGB / M =>750W / SP-P 750W - Toughpower DPS G RGB Gold / GX1 (RGB) / Gold Semi-Modular <=1200W / European Gold <=650W / Russian Gold (<=750W / 850-1200W) / SFX / Grand RGB Gold Sync Edition / Grand RGB Platinum - TR2 RX Bronze =>850W
• ThunderX3 | Plexus
• Vinga | VPS Gold / Platinum
• XFX | Black Edition Silver - Core =>650W - TS Bronze =>650W - Pro XXX
• Xigmatek | Cerberus (III) S =>550W - Centauro
• Xilence | Performance A+ X30w / A+ III X50W
• Zalman | EBT =>850W - GVM =>850W - GigaMax GVII - LX 700W - TX

( low priority units - minor issues or lack of info )

• ADATA | XPG Pylon
• Aerocool | Strike-X =>800W - GT S Bronze =>700W / SG Gold - Aero Bronze
• Antec | High Current Gamer [HCG] 2018 - Neo Eco Zen
• Apevia | Prestige
• ASUS | TUF Bronze
• BR ONE | Rainbow
• Boostboxx | Power Boost 600/700W
• Chieftec | Nitro2 85+ BPS-C2 - APS-C 1000W
• Cooler Master | MWE V2 [1] White [MPE] 230V Only / V2 [1] Bronze [MPE] 230V Only

• Cougar | BXM
• Deepcool | DA-N 500/600W - DQ-M-V2L [2]
• Enermax | Marblebron
• EVGA | BA - BR - GD 2019 -B*
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Hydro GD / MX / K Pro - MS 600W
• Goldenfield | ATX-W Gold
• Green | ESD - EUD - HED
• G.Skill | MB-G [2]
• High Power | Performance Pro
• Hiper | HPB-FM - HPB-RGB
• Huntkey | GS
• IPPON | Platinum
• In Win | Compact / CS - F1
• Kolink | Classic KL-v2 / Modular KL-M
• LC Power | Gold Series - Prophecy RGB
• Micronics | Astro G - Compact SFX GD - Classic II Bronze - Cyclone III - Performance II PV - Zero
• Montech | Century [2]
• Powerspec | PS-BSM 750W
• Raidmax | Cobra AE Gold =>850 / AE-B / AE-M - Vortex Gold AE-V - Vampire GH
• Rosewill | Fortress - Photon =>850W - Lepton - Valens
• Seasonic | S12II EVO
• Silverstone | SX-G =>600W
• Skydigital | Validus LP
• Super Flower / Zhenhua | Eco Silver
• Thermaltake | Toughpower GX2 / European Gold =>750W / Russian Gold GF1
• Xigmatek | Shogun G - Tauro 700W
• Zalman | Wattgiga

[1] MWE V2 units have high ripple issues on very low load also resulting in increased coil whine, fix pending.
[2] CWT GPX based units have problems with failing burn-in test under sub 90VAC input, treat as 230V only, source.
[3] Units experiencing tripping issues with high transient power draw GPUs like AMD Vega and high-end nVidia Ampere.

Tier D • Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems
• 1st Player | Black Widow - DK 5.0 / 6.0
• Abko / Suitmaster | Mighty
• Aerocool | Aero White - Cyclon - KCAS (M) Bronze (<=800W,1000W) - Lux RGB - Strike-X <=600W - VX (Plus) (RGB)
• Andyson | M5+ 450W
• Antec | Atom - Basiq 80 Plus / VP Plus / VP-P (Plus) / VP-PC / VP-F 80+ - Earthwatts [EA] Gold Pro Chinese versions / Platinum / 80+ / (D) Green - Neo Eco Classic NE-C (X50W/X20W) / Modular NE-M / NE-M v2 - NX - Ares AP
• Apexgaming | AJ / AG
• Argus | APS - RGB
• be quiet! | Pure Power L8 / L9 / 10 <=350W / 11 <=350W - Straight Power E8 / E9 - SFX Power / Power 2 - System Power 7 / 8
• CWT / Channel Well Technology | GPK-S / GPT-S
• Chieftec | Photon Bronze CTG-C-RGB - A-80 - Task TPS-S - Force CPS-S - Neutron <=600W BLC-S - APB-8B - APS-C <=650W - APS-CB <=650W - APS-S - APS-SB - GPA-S8 - GPB-S - GPC-S - GPE-S - GPS-A8 - ELP-S - SFX-BS - PSF-B
• Cooler Master | GX 2010 [RS-ACAA-D3] - GXII - MWE V1 Bronze [MPW] / V1 White [MPX] <=550W - Masterwatt Lite - Silent Pro M2 <=620W
• Corsair | Builder CX(-M) 2012 <=600W [green-label] - CV <=550W - VS 2017 [gray-label] - RM 2013 1000w [orange-label]
• Cougar | CMX v1/v2 - STE - STX - VTC - VTE - VTX - XTC
• Deepcool | DA / DA-M / DA-N 700W - DN
• Delta | GPS-HB A Bronze
• EVGA | BT - B <=600W - BV - GS 550/650W [3] - Supernova NEX-B / PB / G5 1000w <2020 - Supernova NEX-G <=750W / G(1) <=750W / PG <=750W - W3
• Enermax | Cyberbron - NaXn 82+ - MaxPro / MaxPro II
• FSP / Fortron / Quanhan | Aurum 92+ / CM / Gold / S- Dagger SDA - Raider - HD - Hexa 80+ - HEXA+ (II) - Hyper / S / M / K - Hammer - Hydro / K - PNR - PNR-i - PNR Pro - 60GHS / 60GHS(85)
• Fractal Design | Integra R2 / SFX
• Gamdias | Astrape M1 White
• Gamemax | GM
• Gigabyte | BH - PB500 - PW
• Great Wall / Hunters | Gaming G5 Bronze - BH - Lightning
• Green | ECO / ECO rev 3.1
• High Power | Astro GD HPA - Element Smart EP-S - Simplicity ST HPG-T12S
• Hiper | HPB-SM
• Hydance | HY-CT
• In Win | A
• Kolink | Core - SFX
• LC Power | GP3 Silver - Super Silent - Silent Giant GP3 Bronze
• LDLC | EC - BG - FP
• Micronics | Caslon II - Compact SFX Bronze <=450W - Classic II 80+ - Zero Plus
• Montech | Beta
• NZXT | HALE82 V2 / HALE82-N / HALE90 V2S
• OCZ / PC Power & Cooling | Silencer MK III <=600W - ModXStream Pro
• Powerspec | PS-BF - PS BGM <=650w
• Raidmax | Thunder V2 RX-AP / RGB RX-AP-R - Cobra AC-B / AF-B - Vortex Bronze / White
• Rosewill | Arc <=650W - Arc M - Hive S <=650W - Glacier - TFX Bronze - TFX Gold
• Seasonic | SS-ET

• Segotep | BP
• Sharkoon | WPC Bronze
• Silverstone | Strider Gold Evolution - Strider Essential ET-B / F-ES / F-ES230 / F-ESB / F-ESG - Strider Titanium =>1100W / Plus F-PB - SX-LPT
• Skydigital | Power Station 5 80+ White
• Superflower | Bronze King - Bronze FX - Mega
• Tacens | Radix VII
• Thermaltake | Smart 80+ / SE / BM1 / BX1 (RGB) / DPS G Bronze X00W / 80+ RGB / M <=650W / SP-P (X30W/650W) / German series Bronze (Pro RGB) - TR2 Bronze / S X50W / 80+ White / RX 80+ White / RX Bronze <=750W - Toughpower PF1 (not ARGB) / DPS G Titanium 1500W - Litepower (RGB)
• Xigmatek | Centauro S - Cerberus (III) S450 - X-Power / X-Power II - Tauro <=600W - X-Power III - Spectrum - Z-Power
• Xilence | Gaming - Performance C / A
• Zalman | GLX - GS - GT - GV - GVM <=700W - LE - LE II - LX - LXII

( low priority units - minor issues or lack of info )

• Aerocool | Integrator - Lux RGB - VX (Plus) (RGB)
• Antec | High Current Gamer [HCG] Bronze 2012 <=620W [1]
• Apevia | Jupiter
• Bitfenix | BPA - Fury

• EVGA | W1
• Modecom | Volcano Bronze
• Seasonic | A12 [2] - S12II 80+ / Bronze [1] / EVO [2] - S12III [2] - M12II (EVO) [1] x20W - ECO [1] SSP-ST / SS-BT / SS-ES
• Sentey | SDP 80+
• SilentiumPC | Elementum E2 - Vero L2 / M2 - Supremo M1 Platinum
• Vinga | VPS-B - VPS-P
• XFX | XT Bronze [1] - TS Bronze <=550w [1] - Core <=550w [1]

[1] Seasonic S12II Bronze and related units have or had UVP issues, source.
[2] Seasonic S12III, S12II EVO and A12 - OCP (on any rails) not claimed, nor present in supervisor IC, neither does 12V UVP/OVP. No reviews to prove otherwise.
[3] OCP not present on any rails apparently. No reviews to prove otherwise.

Tier E • Potentially dangerous in multiple scenarios
• Armageddon | All units
• BR ONE | BR-X
• Chieftec | Non-rated units
• Corsair | VS 2012 orange
• Cooler Master | Elite - Realpower - B2
• Diablotek | All units
• EVGA | N1 - N2

• Gigabyte | P-GM
• LC Power | Non-rated units
• Lepa | MaxBron
• Linkworld | All units
• Logisys | All units
• MS-Tech | All units
• NOX | All units
• Raidmax | Non-rated units
• Rasurbo | All units
• Rhomburtech | All units
• Sempre | All units
• Speedlink | All units
• Tacens | All units
• Trust | All units
• Ultron | All units

 

Credits

Spoiler

Created and maintained by @DatTestBench, @Stefan Payne, @GreatMasterAden, @Juular, @Elisis, @Maurice from Madagascar, @boghubodaghi, @breixobaloca, @b3nd0vah and @LukeSavenije

 

Creative Commons License

Spoiler

This work by Luke Savenije et al. are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

Common mentioned terms

Spoiler

Protections

Spoiler

 

Voltages

Spoiler

12V rail

The most important rail in current PSUs, mostly used by the power hungry parts like the GPU and CPU, but also part of the motherboard and part of the molex connector.

 

5V rail

An important, but much less used rail, mostly used by storage and part of the GPU.

 

3.3V rail

A rail that gets less and less relevant, it provides power to the RAM (though this can be 12v as well these days), chipset and M.2 drives

Single- and Multirail

Spoiler

Single rail

A single rail lets all the current of a voltage, in this case 12v go over a single trace or “rail” (see them as breakers in your house). This has the advantage of turning off less quickly, but does mean it allows full current to go through a single wire or connector, potentially melting or burning it before shutting down

 

Multi rail

Multi rail these days aren’t physical rails, rather they have multiple points where they measure the current (generally 2-8). it can shut down the psu earlier to protect itself, with a lower chance of burning through connectors and/or cables with a catastrophic failure.

 

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?3990-Single-vs-Multiple-12V-rails-The-splitting-of-the-12V-rail

Regulations and Topologies

Spoiler

 

Digital parts

Spoiler

Digital Monitoring

Monitors current and reports it to software like NZXT CAM or Corsair iCue, generally using the OCP rail to measure.

 

Digital Circuit

Analog and digital circuits at the end have one goal: transmit data and process information into other forms(sound, light, etc). Digital circuits function on two fixed signal levels, 1s and 0s(binary). This allows for better control of switching frequencies under different loads and can achieve really high efficiency, but is also much more expensive to implement

Specifications

Spoiler

ATX specification

A certification maintained by Intel that sets baselines for PSUs to meet.

 

c6/c7 crossloads

c6/c7 sleep states or “Haswell ready” connects to a sleep state used on Intel processors of 4th gen or newer. AMD has these sleep states too, but doesn’t specifically name them. most importantly it has to meet a crossload performance and that it has to be keepable to do a zero-load-power, that most group regulated units can’t meet, it’s highly recommended you pick something up for modern systems that meets this.

 

ATX 2.3: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150114105013/http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/PSU_DG_rev_1_1.pdf

 

ATX 2.31: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20160414133738/http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/Power_Supply_Design_Guide_Desktop_Platform_Rev_1_2.pdf

 

ATX 2.4: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20170718011357/https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/power-supply-design-guide.pdf

 

ATX 2.52: 

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/power-supply-design-guide-june.pdf

 

ATX 12vo:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/single-rail-power-supply-platform-atx12vo-design-guide.pdf 

Other

Spoiler

Ripple

Ripple is mostly the noise in DC not filtered out from the AC current. A high ripple can shorten part’s lifespan. Intel allows up to 120mV, but we prefer to keep it below 50.

 

Inrush current limiting

An inrush current limiter tries to limit inrush current, the instantaneous current electronic devices draw when turned on. This is normally done with a so called NTC Thermistor.

 

 

Legacy list:

Spoiler

 

[Den-Fi]

[emosun]

Does the list only contain products currently sold brand new? as I don't see my psu in it

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, emosun said:

Does the list only contain products currently sold brand new? as I don't see my psu in it

sorry, we don't do hamsters in this list

 

seriously though, what model?

[Gegger]

I'll count the number of haters this time

 

actually that'd take too long considering SOME PEOPLE don't give feedback on how to improve it

[Fasauceome]

@LukeSavenije there was some unhappiness with the fact that there are so many tier list versions on our forum, can you add a disclaimer that the 3,0 would have been updated into this anyway if lienus still maintained it? (this is a bit of a 3.5)

Edited October 23, 2019 by Fasauceome

[Princess Luna]

@Den-Fi Hey hey, this time there was a reason to though, @LienusLateTips has informed he will not longer be available to manage the OP on the current Tier List and therefore asked someone else to take it forward on a new thread.

 

We have also tried to update the list and decided to keep it simple and straight forwards just for people to have a quick reference to check, as always anyone looking to purchase a brand new PSU is always advised to make their own proper individual threads for the best assistance possible from our community.

 

Cheers :3

[Den-Fi]

1 minute ago, Princess Luna said:

@Den-Fi Hey hey, this time there was a reason to though, @LienusLateTips has informed he will not longer be available to manage the OP on the current Tier List and therefore asked someone else to take it forward on a new thread.

 

We have also tried to update the list and decided to keep it simple and straight forwards just for people to have a quick reference check, as always anyone looking to purchase a brand new PSU is always advised to make their own proper individual threads for the best assistance possible from our community.

 

Cheers :3

Makes sense.

Would love to see an effort made to cite where this information is sourced.

Methodology and sources are the backbone of lists like this. It would go a long way to keep this list strong and relevant as it ages.

[LukeSavenije]

7 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Would love to see an effort made to cite where this information is sourced.

I'll soon be working on that, give me a while

 

methodology is in the spoiler above

[givingtnt]

Is it just spam at this point ? lol

Still no sources

I don't get what's the difference between the last one other than the post is newer & higher amongst the posts in the section 

 

 

You know.. the point of revisions is to keep the last update up as long as possible, updating it as things come out / you add sources.

 

Just dumping the same info in another post with none of the suggested improvement brings nothing to the table

[Den-Fi]

2 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

I'll soon be working on that, give me a while

 

methodology is in the spoiler above

It should have been a top priority as the list was published. Just as you’ve all put lots of work into this, so did your sources. I won’t dwell on it any further as I’m sure you will do it, but I hope this happens soon for the sake and credibility of this project. 

[seon123]

18 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

It should have been a top priority as the list was published. Just as you’ve all put lots of work into this, so did your sources. I won’t dwell on it any further as I’m sure you will do it, but I hope this happens soon for the sake and credibility of this project. 

When I brought this up internally, quite a while ago, the response was that it was too much work, and that he was busy. One of the several reasons I decided to get less involved, and eventually leave. And that has pretty much been his response to pretty much everyone for quite some time. 

[MEC-777]

28 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

Is it just spam at this point ? lol

Still no sources

I don't get what's the difference between the last one other than the post is newer & higher amongst the posts in the section 

 

 

You know.. the point of revisions is to keep the last update up as long as possible, updating it as things come out / you add sources.

 

Just dumping the same info in another post with none of the suggested improvement brings nothing to the table

As stated in the "best answer" post at the very top, the OP of the last list stepped down from keeping the list updated. This required changing hands to someone else who was willing to keep it updated.

[LukeSavenije]

@seon123 @Den-Fi @givingtnt i got a small update for you, with some sources gathered from internal talk and a bit of help

[givingtnt]

22 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

As stated in the "best answer" post at the very top, the OP of the last list stepped down from keeping the list updated. This required changing hands to someone else who was willing to keep it updated.

Ah.

[MrFixitBlankFace]

I haven’t ever checked one of these lists out.

What have I been missing?!

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, MrFixitBlankFace said:

I haven’t ever checked one of these lists out.

What have I been missing?!

psu talk, complaints and a list of psus

 

that's pretty much the last years summed up in a tldr

[mariushm]

I'd change the Tier D - Not Recommended to some different wording.  Some people may read it as "Trash, avoid them" and they'll go for some local no-name crap instead which will be even worse.

There's quite a few solid power supplies in that Tier D category, which could be considered "high end" in some regions where there's not much selection or options to buy online.

 

It would make more sense to have the list as an excel/google docs sheet because it would allow for some comments columns

 

I'd add a comment to psus that are rated for less than 40c ambient temperature ex EVGA N1 being rated 400w @ 25c or older Corsair VS rated for 30c (current models are 40c)

I'd also consider warranty - for example should be noted any psu that has less than 5 years warranty if it's in tier B... there's power supplies with 5y or more years warranty in Tier C

 

The list should use a better font, maybe something sans-serif, makes it more readable.

Even using source code snippets would make it more readable, here's an example :

 

Aerocool	Project 7
Asus		ROG Thor
BeQuiet		SFX-L
Cooler Master	V Semi-Modular, Masterwatt Maker MiJ, V-Gold 2013/2018, V-platinum 2013
Corsair		RMx, AX 2013, RM 2019, HX Gold 750w+, TXm Gold, Vengeance Silver, SF, AX 2018
Cougar		GX-F Aurum, GX-F
Enermax		RG, GX
EVGA		PS, G/P/T2
Enermax		Platimax
FSP		Aurum PT/Xilencer/Pro, Hydro G/X/PT/PTM, Dagger SFX
Gamdias		Astrape P1
Kolink		Continuum
Mistel		MX
NZXT		E
Rosewill	Capstone, Lightning, Silent Night, Photon
Sama		Armor Gold/Platinum, Forza Titanium
Seasonic	Focus GX/GM/PX, Prime, X/XP2/XP3, Snow Silent
Super Flower	Golden Green, Leadex I/II/III
Thermaltake	Toughpower Grand Gold/Platinum, iRGB Plus, DPS Gold
XFX		Pro Black Edition Limited, XTS 1000w, Pro Black FM 750w+

 

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, mariushm said:

I'd change the Tier D - Not Recommended to some different wording.  Some people may read it as "Trash, avoid them" and they'll go for some local no-name crap instead which will be even worse.

any suggestions on that? the tier d's are for a reason not recommended to use, but not straight up bombs like tier e (kinda) is

 

2 minutes ago, mariushm said:

I'd also consider warranty - for example should be noted any psu that has less than 5 years warranty if it's in tier B... there's power supplies with 5y or more years warranty in Tier C

this would for one make things pretty complicated, as not all warranties are the same everywhere, both in policy and even duration for some locations. and to name an example: if you smoke in the living room, a psu warranty can sometimes be worthless already

 

the other things i can't give any comments on as of right now

[Flying Sausages]

WHERE IS EVGA G2?!

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, OlympicAssEater said:

WHERE IS EVGA G2?!

tier a?

[Flying Sausages]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

tier a?

 

Oh

 

EVGA PS, G/P/T2

 

I was confused at that part.

[Windows7ge]

Let's get some server PSU's in here. Where's my Zippy's at?

 

[Tech_Dreamer]

[LukeSavenije]

19 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Let's get some server PSU's in here. Where's my Zippy's at?

those fsp's? i could find so little about them, maybe a couple internal shots at best