PSU Tier List [OLD]

[Guest]

All Corsair PSUs are 6+2-pin.  

 

CX450 has one PCIe.  CX550 has two.

[Sakkura]

On 29/1/2018 at 5:26 AM, JDE said:

https://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/be-quiet-straight-power-11-1000w-power-supply-review/5/

Straight Power 11 straight to Tier 1?

 

On 29/1/2018 at 6:01 AM, STRMfrmXMN said:

Wow. Yes.

40mV ripple on 12V goes in Tier 1? Seems more in line with the Tier 2 units in the list. Not that there's too much of a practical difference between 40mV and 20mV, but still.

[STRMfrmXMN]

5 hours ago, Sakkura said:

 

40mV ripple on 12V goes in Tier 1? Seems more in line with the Tier 2 units in the list. Not that there's too much of a practical difference between 40mV and 20mV, but still.

OK, it's within margin of error of the TXM so I thought it seemed fair there.

[Stefan Payne]

7 hours ago, Sakkura said:

 

40mV ripple on 12V goes in Tier 1? Seems more in line with the Tier 2 units in the list. Not that there's too much of a practical difference between 40mV and 20mV, but still.

Yes and if there is no practical difference, why care at all?

it's still only 33% of the Spec. And the highest power one of the series (wich usually has the highest ripple).

[Energycore]

7 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

Yes and if there is no practical difference, why care at all?

it's still only 33% of the Spec. And the highest power one of the series (wich usually has the highest ripple).

I (personally) care because I like to see the industry give it their absolute best. Regardless of whether 10mV is practically better than 40, this pressure on the companies to take their PSU technology to the limit is good for us, because it eventually trickles down to the low-end where it's really needed. That's what I care about more so. But in the interest of principle, if you don't have the performance to hang with the top dogs, then y'all ain't no top dawg.

[Stefan Payne]

17 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I (personally) care because I like to see the industry give it their absolute best. Regardless of whether 10mV is practically better than 40,

Yes, but that is still just one factor of many you consider...

 

You have to take everything into account, like fan quality, controller, connectors.

For example the PCIe Y Cables (on one 8pin, not 12pin).

 

Just looking at one factor doesn't make a lot of sense...

[Energycore]

Just now, Stefan Payne said:

Yes, but that is still just one factor of many you consider...

 

You have to take everything into account, like fan quality, controller, connectors.

For example the PCIe Y Cables (on one 8pin, not 12pin).

 

Just looking at one factor doesn't make a lot of sense...

Right, when did I suggest that we don't take everything into account? But if a unit doesn't meet the best standard on every aspect, considering how populated Tier 1 is right now, I'd rather not give it the "best we could find" kind of award.

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 hour ago, Energycore said:

Right, when did I suggest that we don't take everything into account? But if a unit doesn't meet the best standard on every aspect, considering how populated Tier 1 is right now, I'd rather not give it the "best we could find" kind of award.

Well the Corsair TXM has a too-small fan for the frame of the unit, but I put it tier 1 anyways.

 

I think T1 units being "flawless" is nearly impossible to evaluate (unless we're talking about something like the highest of high-end Seasonic units or something).

[awesomegamer919]

Ultimately, as it stands right now,  the scoring system is too vague and doesn't always weight things correctly,  especially stuff like protections, 12V distribution (have fun powering multiple GPUs on a PSU with like 4 rails and all the PCIe on a single rail), wire/connector quality,  fans and even stuff like rise time which is also ever mentioned 

 

The issue is,  do you have strict guidelines for each tier or do you have a reference for each level (how do you decide this?  How often do you update it to keep the requirements in check with modern topologies and updates in MOSFET design) ?  Does a PSU that's T1 in all aspects but 1 which is T3 level sit in T1,  T2 or T3?  

 

Another concern is T1 getting bloated - a TXm or Vengeance is way closer to a GQ in performance than they are with,  say,  an AX1600i but they still are tiered with the AXi  and not the GQ... Putting the TXm and Vengeance on the same level as an AXi/T2/PRIME is unfair to the superior PSU... 

 

A final point,  when does a PSU get removed?  Eventually the list will bloat too much but you don't want to remove units that many users still have... Do you create a spoiler with all units ever on the list?  An external google spreadsheet? 

 

What are all your thoughts on this? 

[awesomegamer919]

7 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Well the Corsair TXM has a too-small fan for the frame of the unit, but I put it tier 1 anyways.

 

I think T1 units being "flawless" is nearly impossible to evaluate (unless we're talking about something like the highest of high-end Seasonic units or something).

Forgot to note this,  550/650 should be T2: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12070/the-corsair-tx550m-80plus-gold-psu-review/4 52mV ripple in a 12V load and 1.2 - 1.5% VReg isn't T1 material

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, awesomegamer919 said:

Ultimately, as it stands right now,  the scoring system is too vague and doesn't always weight things correctly,  especially stuff like protections, 12V distribution (have fun powering multiple GPUs on a PSU with like 4 rails and all the PCIe on a single rail), wire/connector quality,  fans and even stuff like rise time which is also ever mentioned 

 

The issue is,  do you have strict guidelines for each tier or do you have a reference for each level (how do you decide this?  How often do you update it to keep the requirements in check with modern topologies and updates in MOSFET design) ?  Does a PSU that's T1 in all aspects but 1 which is T3 level sit in T1,  T2 or T3?  

 

Another concern is T1 getting bloated - a TXm or Vengeance is way closer to a GQ in performance than they are with,  say,  an AX1600i but they still are tiered with the AXi  and not the GQ... Putting the TXm and Vengeance on the same level as an AXi/T2/PRIME is unfair to the superior PSU... 

 

A final point,  when does a PSU get removed?  Eventually the list will bloat too much but you don't want to remove units that many users still have... Do you create a spoiler with all units ever on the list?  An external google spreadsheet? 

 

What are all your thoughts on this? 

I use the 650G2 as a reference for T1.

 

I use the GQ for T2.

 

Then, with the new CX T3 is kind of scatterbrained. I feel like it's the most flawed because the unit is great but let down by the fan. That tier, because of that, is the wildest bunch.

 

I realize a TXM is not a Prime, but the Prime and TX mean the same thing for 99.9% of system builders.

 

It doesn't AFAIK. I don't think I've removed one yet. If a unit becomes so dated and irrelevant that nobody talks about it then perhaps I'll manually remove it.

[awesomegamer919]

7 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I use the 650G2 as a reference for T1.

 

I use the GQ for T2.

Fair enough there although that's still quite vague - do you have to match it in all areas to be a contender,  what about if you beat it everywhere except 1 area (for instance the new BQ Straight Power 11 with the ripple) does that instantly disqualify it for that tier? 

7 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Then, with the new CX T3 is kind of scatterbrained. I feel like it's the most flawed because the unit is great but let down by the fan. That tier, because of that, is the wildest bunch.

Agreed,  I'm really not sure what could be done about that short of a T2.5 for those units... 

7 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I realize a TXM is not a Prime, but the Prime and TX mean the same thing for 99.9% of system builders.

Sure,  but it's still very misleading to put then in the same tier, by that logic a GQ should be T1 because no one will notice the difference between it and a TXm unless they have a load tester and a good DMM... 

7 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

It doesn't AFAIK. I don't think I've removed one yet. If a unit becomes so dated and irrelevant that nobody talks about it then perhaps I'll manually remove it.

Then can we nuke the NZXT stuff?  They haven't made them in ages and they were never exactly popular... Sane with some of the older Antec units (VPF,  Earthwatts etc).  

[Guest]

Keep in mind that the EVGA manages better ripple than the TX-M because it has in-cable capacitors.  Something Jeremy started scoring against despite the improved ripple results.  The TX-M does not have any caps in the cables.

[awesomegamer919]

8 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Keep in mind that the EVGA manages better ripple than the TX-M because it has in-cable capacitors.  Something Jeremy started scoring against despite the improved ripple results.  The TX-M does not have any caps in the cables.

Sure, but some users prefer to have the caps and better ripple whilst others prefer the cleaner cables... Jeremy's scoring here is irrelevant and his based on his preferences... 

[STRMfrmXMN]

46 minutes ago, awesomegamer919 said:

Fair enough there although that's still quite vague - do you have to match it in all areas to be a contender,  what about if you beat it everywhere except 1 area (for instance the new BQ Straight Power 11 with the ripple) does that instantly disqualify it for that tier? 

Agreed,  I'm really not sure what could be done about that short of a T2.5 for those units... 

Sure,  but it's still very misleading to put then in the same tier, by that logic a GQ should be T1 because no one will notice the difference between it and a TXm unless they have a load tester and a good DMM... 

Then can we nuke the NZXT stuff?  They haven't made them in ages and they were never exactly popular... Sane with some of the older Antec units (VPF,  Earthwatts etc).  

If the PSU is on-par on all things but one, bar the fan being the one (say, sleeve vs ball), then unless the manufacturer horribly dropped the ball on the one thing that was worse then it will probably be put in the same tier.

 

It would just be adding more tiers, and I think 7 is plenty really.

 

I guess you're right, but I don't think the top tier, at least with as many as I have, needs to be legendary units only. Obviously an AXi is better than most of the units in T1, but I'm not going to squish other stuff down because it's not within 1% of the electrical performance of it.

 

I've seen enough of the NZXT units to leave them up here. Keep in mind I'm in the USA where NZXT is really popular for chassis, so people assume they make good PSUs too.

[Energycore]

2 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Then, with the new CX T3 is kind of scatterbrained. I feel like it's the most flawed because the unit is great but let down by the fan. That tier, because of that, is the wildest bunch.

Do we wanna do a Tier 2.5 of "PSUs with T2 electrical performance but a short-lasting fan"?

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Do we wanna do a Tier 2.5 of "PSUs with T2 electrical performance but a short-lasting fan"?

nah

 

I already specified why they'd get bumped down to T3. Adding more tiers is not the way, I feel.

[Energycore]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

nah

 

I already specified why they'd get bumped down to T3. Adding more tiers is not the way, I feel.

The problem I see is both the clutter with the asterisks*** and the inconsistency in electrical performance inside T3. Normally we allow for some variation inside a Tier like say, not all T1 PSUs have to be as good as the AX1600i, but the spread is too big on a tier that has both the DQ-ST and the Straight Power 10 / New CXM which both showed great performance beside the fan.

 

That's my reasoning behind suggesting T2.5. Of course it's not as simple as "more tier is better" but it's one way to potentially solve the problem of the big performance spread. Generally speaking a PSU with T1-like performance will have an HDB or Ball Bearing fan, on the flip side PSUs with sleeve bearing fans like the Early 2017 CXM¹ tend to not break over the T2 levels.

 

It's only 3 series in T3 right now that are like this, so maybe this could be addressed once the clutter is more significant.

 

¹ You know, because everyone should adopt Apple's naming scheme for stuff, and their ecosystem while they're at it.

[Energycore]

3 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Keep in mind that the EVGA manages better ripple than the TX-M because it has in-cable capacitors.  Something Jeremy started scoring against despite the improved ripple results.  The TX-M does not have any caps in the cables.

I don't mind in-cable caps as much as long as they're not cluttery. Unless they have another disadvantage I'm not aware of, other than the impact on ease of handling.

[LienusLateTips]

50 minutes ago, Energycore said:

The problem I see is both the clutter with the asterisks*** and the inconsistency in electrical performance inside T3. Normally we allow for some variation inside a Tier like say, not all T1 PSUs have to be as good as the AX1600i, but the spread is too big on a tier that has both the DQ-ST and the Straight Power 10 / New CXM which both showed great performance beside the fan.

 

That's my reasoning behind suggesting T2.5. Of course it's not as simple as "more tier is better" but it's one way to potentially solve the problem of the big performance spread. Generally speaking a PSU with T1-like performance will have an HDB or Ball Bearing fan, on the flip side PSUs with sleeve bearing fans like the Early 2017 CXM¹ tend to not break over the T2 levels.

 

It's only 3 series in T3 right now that are like this, so maybe this could be addressed once the clutter is more significant.

 

¹ You know, because everyone should adopt Apple's naming scheme for stuff, and their ecosystem while they're at it.

I've been splitting Tier 3 with sleeves going in the 3a tier and worse Tier 2 units thrown into there to in my WIP tier list.

[cedierickles]

an evga gd series? it was only released in ASia. On what tier can it be placed?

[Energycore]

19 minutes ago, cedierickles said:

an evga gd series? it was only released in ASia. On what tier can it be placed?

Show us a review and we'll figure that out, right now there are none. Play it safe and don't buy one until it's been reviewed, no matter who the manufacturer is.

[siggames]

Is Corsair CX550M (2015 edition) a good power supply? Which tier is it? 

 

 

[siggames]

Which is the best power supply?

 

EVGA 500 Watts 80 plus white

EVGA 600B 80 plus Bronze

XFX XT 500/600 series

Corsair CX550M/CX650M

 

[Energycore]

Just now, siggames said:

Is Corsair CX550M (2015 edition) a good power supply? Which tier is it? 

 

 

There is no 2015 CX550M. The 550W model is from the 2017 series.

 

The CX500M from before that is Tier 4. Don't run it under conditions with bad cooling as some of the old CXs don't have OTP

Just now, siggames said:

Which is the best power supply?

 

EVGA 500 Watts 80 plus white

EVGA 600B 80 plus Bronze

XFX XT 500/600 series

Corsair CX550M/CX650M

Easily the CXMs