PSU's that deliver cleanest power?

[gizmetti]

I'm assuming when it comes to delivering the cleanest power to your components you'd go by Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum PLUS yes? How does one figure out the PSU with the highest quality electricity going to my components to make them stable and last longer? 

[MegaDave91]

Just buy a good quality power supply from a reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine. The 80+ X rating is the efficiency of the power supply.

[LIGISTX]

Platinum PSU's you would assume have the cleanest power, because high efficiency goes hand in hand with high quality components which means clean power. Although, I am not sure if there is a major difference between gold and platinum for example. Honestly, any good name high end PSU will give very clean power. My TX750 doesn't have power fluctuations much at all. Very stable power.

[Izaya Orihara]

A bad rating like 80+ Bronze (yes i think anything under gold is bad.) does not mean ''dirty power'' it just means that a certain amount is lost as heat while converting AC to DC Power.  

[madscientist56]

80 plus bronze, gold, silver, etc. Is a measure of efficiency however it can be used to tell the general quality of a psu. Also there isn't really such thing as "cleaner electricity" its all the same

[quan289]

Efficiency doesn't have to with that. You can have a Gold unit that perform and built worse than a Bronze unit.

 

To determine the quality of the power supply, you need to look at reviews that test it with an ATE, multimeter, oscilloscope, etc. as well as have them disassemble the unit to do a technical analyst on the internal components / design. Site like Jonnyguru, Techpowerup, HardwareSecrets, HardOCP, etc does this.

[TheDigitalRealm]

Electricity cannot be "clean" or "dirty" it's just the movement of charged electrons through wires. As others have said before, the "80plus" rating is one of efficiency, measuring how much power from the mains outlet actually reaches your computer, and how much is wasted as heat and sound.

[LIGISTX]

It is true that this rating doesn't directly mean clean or dirty power. BUT, one that runs at higher efficiency should delivery good power, just because of the quality of components. And you can't really build a Gold certified PSU with crappy components, it just wont get the efficiency ratings required. But like others have said, do some research if you really want the BEST PSU, and see which deliver the best and most constant volts. 

[quan289]

In recent events, the Corsair RM series (Gold unit) had been criticized for not being as good as the TX series (Bronze) in respect to component choices and performance, as well as stated by a rep from Corsair here. Of course, it isn't a crappy PSU and may be worth considering depending on the price. Another example would be the lower-end FSP Aurum design. While it isn't a bad unit, it isn't particularly great either. It utilized the ACRF topology which helps to achieve high efficiency up to Gold/Platinum. However, this Aurum design shows that is exhibit higher ripples, looser voltage regulation due to it's group regulated design, and some variants from other brands such as the BeQuiet Straight Power E9 that utilized this platform uses second-rate Chinese caps from CapXon.

 

Of course, that is does not mean the component selection does not affect efficiency. The point is that higher efficiency doesn't necessary correlate to better quality. It can go both ways really. Since the transition of higher efficient units are migrating into the lower-end segment of the market, OEMs are starting to designing and utilizing specific topology for their PSU accomplished this while using price cut components. Sure, utilizing a DC-DC converters for the minor rails can not only improve voltage regulation but as well as efficiency, and you can also do so by soldering the modular PCB directly to the mainboard. On the other hand, by limiting the space that the currents needs to pass through can also improved efficiency, in which you can used less filtering components to improve it at the cost of performance and quality. Even the addition of a PFC stage offer reduced efficiency in comparison to a non-PFC due to the extra components to make it.

[Jumper118]

i have an evga supernova nex750b and its got a 10 year warranty. it has 4 12v rails and is 80+ bronze. unless you folding or mining a platinum/gold are a waste of money 

[ericlee30]

 unless you folding or mining a platinum/gold are a waste of money 

Or you want to save alot more on your Electric bill each month. Since I have replaced all 8 of my builds with 80+gold PSU's my electric bill has dropped almost $180 a month  from what it use to be

[Jumper118]

Or you want to save alot more on your Electric bill each month. Since I have replaced all 8 of my builds with 80+gold PSU's my electric bill has dropped almost $180 a month  from what it use to be

yes, but your case is quite an extreme one. i only have 6 pc's and i only fold on one so i'm not to fussed. i'll replace psu's before they would have paid for itself in electricity because im always upgrading hardware.

[ericlee30]

yes, but your case is quite an extreme one. i only have 6 pc's and i only fold on one so i'm not to fussed. i'll replace psu's before they would have paid for itself in electricity because im always upgrading hardware.

You have a good point. Im not much that really cares how much my electric bill ends up being every month anyways, but it is a noticeable amount that I noticed. For someone that has one rig and uses a 80+ gold PSU though, they save around $25-$30 a month ( give or take how much they use their rig and what they have in it ) so the PSU would pay for its self in around 3 to 4 months depending on how much the PSU cost.

[Jumper118]

You have a good point. Im not much that really cares how much my electric bill ends up being every month anyways, but it is a noticeable amount that I noticed. For someone that has one rig and uses a 80+ gold PSU though, they save around $25-$30 a month ( give or take how much they use their rig and what they have in it ) so the PSU would pay for its self in around 3 to 4 months depending on how much the PSU cost.

it would also depend on how much you use your pc. i havent played a game for about 4 months so the only time its using power is when im benchmarking. it also depends on electricity prices.

[ericlee30]

 it also depends on electricity prices.

electricity prices play a big factor in it, in some places electricity is very cheap and in others its just out of this world.

[Jumper118]

electricity prices play a big factor in it, in some places electricity is very cheap and in others its just out of this world.

indeed. personally i don't even pay mine so its all good

[ericlee30]

indeed. personally i don't even pay mine so its all good

LMAO I wish I could say the same

[Jumper118]

LMAO I wish I could say the same

one of the advantages of living with your parents. i pay £30 a week in rent which is fairly cheap but it'll still pay for most of my food and electricity. 

[Admire]

one of the advantages of living with your parents. i pay £30 a week in rent which is fairly cheap but it'll still pay for most of my food and electricity. 

 

 

I want to move back home again......