STRMfrmXMN's PSU Whitelist (No longer updated)

[STRMfrmXMN]

I DO NOT UPDATE THIS ANYMORE. INFORMATION HERE MAY BE OUTDATED OR MY OPINION MAY HAVE CHANGED BY NOW. PLEASE REFER TO THE PSU TIER LIST PINNED TO THIS SUBFORUM IF YOU'D LIKE GENERAL PSU HELP OR WANT TO KNOW HOW GOOD YOUR UNIT IS

 

This is my personal whitelist (and somewhat of a blacklist - labeled if a specific model is to be avoided) of power supplies that you may be looking at or have in a system now. This is a reference for anybody looking at PSUs and doesn't know much about the in-depth specs of them or OEMs and whatnot. So I created this - the list of PSUs that won't blow up your system as well as some little tidbits to look out for. Note that if a PSU in particular isn't here it may not be completely terrible, it may just be such poor value for money that considering it should be out of the question.

I drew out a list of some of the most common PSU brands as well as some not-so-common ones. If the brand isn't on here then it is generally best to avoid it, though it never hurts to ask. If you have any questions then feel free to ask here or personally PM myself or @quan289 (this guy knows his stuff, even more so than myself).

 

A-DATA

Spoiler

 

All HM-series

All BN-series

Unless A-DATA starts making power supplies again, this means that all of their PSUs are OK.

 

Aerocool

Spoiler

 

GT-SG 700W

All HorsePower series

Hero series 675

 

Andyson

Spoiler

 

Almost all Andyson PSUs. Andyson is also an OEM for many brands and is a good OEM.

Antec

Spoiler

 

BP300P

EA350/450/550 Green (650 IS PRONE TO CATCHING FIRE DO NOT BUY IT)

EA450G

BP430

BP 430 Plus

BP500U

BP550 Plus

VP350/P

VPF350

VP450

VP450P

VP450F

VPF450

VP500P v2

VP550F

VP550P/V2

VPF550

VP600P

VP630F

VP650P/V2

VP650PM

VPF650

VP700P

All EarthWatts series (Platinum ones are not great however. Too much focus on efficiency and not enough on voltage regulation or performance in general)

All High-Current Gamer and High Current Gamer M series

All True Power Classic series

All True Power Gold Series

All Edge Series

All Edge 2 series

All High Current Pro Series

All High Current Platinum Series

All Digital Titanium Series

All Signature/CP series

PP380V - be warned that this is an AT, not ATX-sized PSU so you likely aren't going to be using this power supply

All True Power Pro series

NeoPower 480W

Neo HE500/550/650/650 Blue

All Neo Eco series

All TruePower New series

All TruePower Quattro series (though not the best cabling system in the world for those cable management attentive folks)

Antec has many, many more. Feel free to ask if you couldn't find a unit on this list.

Azza

Spoiler

 

All Azza PSUs bar the Dynamo

 

be quiet!

Spoiler

 

All Dark Power Pro P10/P11 series

All Straight Power 10/CM

All Straight Power E9

All Efficient Power F1

All Pure Power L7 under 600W

Pure Power CM L8 should be avoided

Pure Power L8 over 400W should be avoided

All System Power series

All Power Zone series

All Dark Power Pro series

All Straight Power E8/E7 series

All Straight Power Golden series

All Straight Power CM E8/E7 series

All SFX Power 2 series

All TFX Power 2 series

Pure Power L9 are very, very poor value for money but are not bombs.

 

BitFenix

Spoiler

 

All Fury series - comes with pre-sleeved cables! Note: not a "Haswell/Skylake compatible PSU" meaning that you'll have to allow the system to enter shallower states of sleep (easy, just done in the BIOS/UEFI) to let the PC resume properly with Intel CPUs that are Haswell age or newer.

Whisper

 

Cooler Master

Spoiler

Silent Pro M series

Silent Pro M2 series

Silent Pro Gold series

Silent Pro Hybrid series

Silent Pro Platinum series

All VS-series

All V-series

All MasterWatt Maker (name subject to change but that appears to be the most up-to-date name as of April 2016)

All GX 2 series (first revision has some iffy units)

All GX 2 Pro series

All G-series

All Silent Pro I series

All I series

Thunder series 500W and up

B-series is OK but not the best for the money

Real Power Pro series

Real Power M series

 

Corsair

Spoiler

CX450M, CX550M, CX650M

CX750M and 850M - newest revisions that have a white logo rather than a green and white one.

Vengeance series

CS series

VX450

MOST older TX-series. Not all are created equal. Since the list of TXs is quite vast just look for reviews of the unit you’re interested in.

New TXM 2017

Corsair RM - has a lot of controversy surrounding the capacitors on older generations but it's still a good PSU, just not the best for the money

RMi-series (not the RM, they are different)

RMx-series - same as RMi without Corsair Link compatibility and a Rifle bearing fan as opposed to a fluid dynamic bearing fan (superior) in the RMi

SF series

All HX series

All HXi series

All AX series (beware of coil whine)

All AXi series (and here too with the coil whine)

Cyonic

Spoiler

 

All AUx series - Made by Seasonic!

 

Techpowerup only has reviews for the 550W and 650W AUx so keep this in mind. Not a lot of documentation about their PSUs.

Delta

Spoiler

 

Everything made by Delta is great or better build quality, even basic OEM units (only a select handful are truly terrible). They manufacture much more than just power supplies - they make fans, thermal management solutions, networking systems, healthcare systems etc. They make server-grade power supplies, the best quality possible. If you want a good PSU then one with a Delta OEM or a Delta-branded PSU is a very solid choice.

 

Delta PSUs can often be found in HP and Dell PCs.

Enermax

Spoiler

 

If it’s from Enermax and doesn’t cost over 100 USD then it’s probably not great.

EVGA

Spoiler

All Supernova G2 series

All Supernova G3 series

All Supernova B2 series

All Supernova P2 series

All Supernova T2 series

All Supernova GS series

All Supernova PS series

All Supernova GQ series

Supernova G1 1000W

Supernova NEX 1500W

Classified SR-2 1200W (older unit but made by Enhance so it's good)

The 500B/600B/700B are good for lower-end builds (and yet there's a 700W version why?)

The G1 is not a bad quality PSU, however if you're considering buying one, skip it and grab the GQ/GS/B2 as they're about the same price and perform much better.

Firepower/PC Power & Cooling

Spoiler

 

 

Firepower is what OCZ and PC Power and Cooling were previously. Any solid designs from either of the brands likely have carried over to Firepower.

 

All Silencer series MK 1 and 3 (keep in mind a lot of these are actually fairly loud)

All ZT Series

All ZX series

All ZS series

Fractal Design

Spoiler

 

All Edison M series

All Newton R3 series

All Tesla R2 series (not the original revision)

Integra M series (not something you should put in a super high-end system but it's still not bad for most people's systems)

Kingwin

Spoiler

 

All Absolute series
All Lazer Platinum series
All Stryker Fanless Series
All Lazer Gold series
All Lazer series
All Mach 1 Series
All Maximum Power series
All MK series
All KX series

LEPA

Spoiler

 

MaxPlatinum series

G-series

B450-SA

B550-SA

B650-SA

B700-MAS

B800-MAS

W-series

Check Google for any not listed here - LEPA is usually pretty solid.

NZXT

Spoiler

 

All Performance Power series

All Hale82 (non V2 and non N)

All Hale90 and Hale90 v2 series

OCZ

Spoiler

 

All ZS series
All ZT series

All ZX series

OCZ is part of Firepower nowadays so you can't actually buy new OCZ PSUs.

Raidmax

Spoiler

 

 

Raidmax is not recommended by and large. There are a few high-end Andyson units but you should generally avoid anything from Raidmax.

Rosewill

Spoiler

 

All Lightning series

All Capstone Modular series

All Capstone series

All Capstone G series

All Quark Series

Silent Night series

Tachyon series

Fortress series

Tokamak 1500W

Seasonic

Spoiler

 

Literally everything. Everything. You are buying "Safe"sonic, even on their lower-tier stuff. Just be aware of "Hydance by Seasonic" an other "designed by Seasonic" type branding out there as that does not quantify a good PSU. Also note that, just because no Seasonic PSU is truly terrible, you should not be pairing a low-end unit like the ECO series with a GTX 590, for example. It's all relative.

Sentey

Spoiler

 

All Platinum Power series

All Golden Steel Power SM series

All Hard Blue Power series

All Solid Power SS series

All Extreme Rock Power SM series

All Extreme Rock Power SS series

Silverstone

Spoiler

 

All Strider Gold Evolution series

All Strider Gold S series

Strider Plus Silver efficiency w/ a mix of Bronze units.

All Nightjar series

All SFX PSUs

All Zeus Series

Super Flower

Spoiler

 

A Super Flower will give your PC Super Power. VERY Safe -just as safe as Seasonic or Delta

Fun fact - Super Flower is supposed to be pronounced Super Flow(like airflow)-er, not like the plant!

Thermaltake

Spoiler

 

 

DPS Gold

All Toughpower series

All Paris series

All London series

Most Germany series

Thermaltake offers more PSUs than any brand on my list by far and away and I just do not have the time to go through every single one. I can say based on ethics alone ("Thermalfake") that you should look elsewhere.

XFX

Spoiler

 

All XFX PSUs

 

"Wait, gotcha!" said XFX as they decided to release the XT series! The XT is an EVGA 500B/Corsair CX R2 and doesn't fill the magic golden rule anymore.

Xigmatek

Spoiler

 

 

NRP-HC series

Vector S series

Vector G series

Vector P series

Tauro series 700W non-modular

Zalman

Spoiler

 

All GoldPower series

1250W Platinum

ST-series 500W/600W versions

All HP series 750W or higher

All SV-series

All GV-series

All XT-series

All Goldrock Series

 

This list is subject to change as new power supplies come out on a regular basis (and my facts may be wrong!).

I'm also going to link a few things that can help you out as well.

PSU Tier List

How much wattage you really need

My guide to 80 PLUS efficiency (pinned on the PSU/Cases subforum)

[Comessy]

You know how I feel about the corsair CX

[STRMfrmXMN]

On 7/11/2015 at 0:51 AM, Comessy said:

You know how I feel about the corsair CX

this post has been edited woopie

[Enderman]

in addition:

[MattTheMayor]

thank you man! really helps me and a lot of people <3 bookmarking this

[Delusional Phil]

Well then ... Safe Sonic it is ... Screw Corsair ... 

[Tech_Dreamer]

Cool list, thanks bro..

[Unlikelyjoker]

Are you being sarcastic about Super Flower....

[Guest]

Finally no more "What PSU should I get?" posts filling my notifications 

[ApolloX75]

Finally no more "What PSU should I get?" posts filling my notifications 

No. There will still be tons of those. Same with the "AMD vs Intel" ones. They'll never fully die out.

[EarthboundHero]

Finally no more "What PSU should I get?" posts filling my notifications 

Even if this is stickied, there will still more.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Are you being sarcastic about Super Flower....

Super Flower genuinely is fantastic.

[Guest]

No. There will still be tons of those. Same with the "AMD vs Intel" ones. They'll never fully die out.

 

Even if this is stickied, there will still more.

At least all we need to do is link this to them then leave it as is

Unless their going to rant about their bias to each brand

[DigitalHermit]

Please blacklist:

Dynamics

CDR-King

Intex

MorrLogic

 

Gray list:
FSP Hexa

 

Whitelist:

FSP Aurum

[Gale]

The CX line has been so good to me. I guess I just have good luck... and I'm just one person.

[STRMfrmXMN]

The CX line has been so good to me. I guess I just have good luck... and I'm just one person.

Low ambient temp tolerance, avoid hot and heavy hardware with 'em

[STRMfrmXMN]

GG I forgot be quiet!... must add....

[handymanshandle]

Fortunately an acquaintance from Middle School used a CS550M his build certainly isn't the prettiest but I guess for CS:GO and WoW @ 720p or 1080 Medium to High settings it works.

 

Personally I'm more a frivolous type so I generally don't care if something will cost more if it's going to help the subjective or overall appearance/performance of the build. 

Sort of like how Apple doesn't want consumers to open up their iMacs/MacBooks/MacBook Airs/MacBook Pros/iPhones/iPads/iPods yet Apple uses matte black PCBs.

[Nonco]

Whats wrong with the Corsair RM series?

[WoodenMarker]

Whats wrong with the Corsair RM series?

It used CapXon caps which are sub-par for the how 'high-end' the psu was advertised. 

The RM series is good but generally overpriced. 

[Nonco]

It used CapXon caps which are sub-par for the how 'high-end' the psu was advertised. 

The RM series is good but generally overpriced. 

If I was eventually going to get a 1000W PSU, whats the absolute best one you can get?

[WoodenMarker]

If I was eventually going to get a 1000W PSU, whats the absolute best one you can get?

There are several top-notch psus and I don't know if only one would take the title of being the absolute best. 

One example would be the 1000G2 / P2 is excellent which comes with a generous 10 year warranty. 

[Aniallation]

in addition:

-

 

I've seen this list a few times and it is actually inaccurate in quite a few ways, people should honestly refrain from using it.

 

Corsair GS and EVGA B1 are not better in Corsair RM and shouldn't be in a higher tier

Makes no sense to have Seasonic M12II in tier 1 while G series are in tier 2

While most Seasonic G are in tier 2, some of it's rebrands like Cooler Master V and XFX XXX are in tier 1, that doesn't make sense

 

And likely more errors as well I just don't feel like looking through it all cause I just woke up

[flibberdipper]

The CX line has been so good to me. I guess I just have good luck... and I'm just one person.

Two people.

[MasterAli]

What about a Rosewill Photon PSU?