PSU Tier List [OLD]

[deXxterlab97]

1 minute ago, Ghavio1516 said:

I have Cooler master masterwatt lite 500 for this spec

 

Athlon X4 870K @4.0GHz

8GB DDR3

Radeon HD 5870 @1GHz

160+500GB HDD7.2k rpm

1 case fan

 

 

Should i buy a better power supply or use the 500??

those are low powered components and pretty cheap so even if things go kaboom you would not waste much money

i think you are ok

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, Rexper said:

Yes, and it's also better than the CXM and Vengeance. Why is it still in T3?
 

Show a review of that unit and we might consider it.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Rexper said:

Why are Corsair CX 2017 Tier 3, when they're better build quality/performance than the CXM with a better fan (which was the only thing "holding the CXM back"). It's probably better than the Vengeance which is in Tier 1.

I work for Corsair and even admit that the current Vengeance shouldn't be in tier 1.  It's double forward amd doesn't have an FDB or DBB fan.  My guess is it's there because it has Japanese caps.

 

There's lots of examples like this on this list that makes this list a "loose reference" at best.

 

But that's why this isn't my list. 

[SpencerC]

3 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

I work for Corsair and even admit that the current Vengeance shouldn't be in tier 1.  It's double forward amd doesn't have an FDB or DBB fan.  My guess is it's there because it has Japanese caps.

 

There's lots of examples like this on this list that makes this list a "loose reference" at best.

 

But that's why this isn't my list. 

Would you be able to explain the hub-bub around Japanese caps? I haven't quite understood why anything that doesn't have these parts is "bad".....

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, SpencerC said:

Would you be able to explain the hub-bub around Japanese caps? I haven't quite understood why anything that doesn't have these parts is "bad".....

Mostly marketing.  It's Japanese.  Not Chinese.  Therefore it must be better.

 

I think I've only seen this stand true with rechargeable batteries and even that's bound to change in the near future.

 

Ironically, 99% of the Japanese caps used in PSUs made in China are made in China, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. themselves.

 

The one thing that Japanese caps may have that others don't (depending on the make and series of capacitor) is a electrode foil that made from more pure aluminum than aluminum obtained from local suppliers.  I've found though that this makes the biggest difference in the "bulk" or "primary" caps.  Not so much on the secondary caps as long as a good brand cap that is appropriate for the application is used.

 

But over the past decade, non-Japanese cap manufacturers have been more discerning about their raw material suppliers and have been making caps just as good as Japan.  They realize that for companies to start buying their caps again, they have to provide a good product.  If they sell crap, people aren't going to buy it.  We're actually seeing a lot of factories close down completely because they can't make good caps and people aren't buying their crap.  As a side note, China is also shutting down a lot of factories for not meeting environmental sanctions put forward by the government.  If a company is going to build a new, environmentally friendly factory and expect profitability, they better build a product people WANT.  People don't want shitty caps.  A new factory might get away with producing five years of crap, but after people stop using your product due to constant failures, your sales are going to tank and you're not going to see an ROI on that factory.  At the end of the day, it's just not worth it.
 

[Shreyas1]

Where's diablotek and logisys? Tier 12?  

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

I work for Corsair and even admit that the current Vengeance shouldn't be in tier 1.  It's double forward amd doesn't have an FDB or DBB fan.  My guess is it's there because it has Japanese caps.

 

There's lots of examples like this on this list that makes this list a "loose reference" at best.

 

But that's why this isn't my list. 

I put it up there because of electrical performance, but enough people have complained about it I bumped it down one.

[STRMfrmXMN]

47 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

Where's diablotek and logisys? Tier 12?  

Their value for money is terrible as they're practically useless without one of these.

https://www.amfam.com/insurance/home/coverages

[Stefan Payne]

56 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

Where's diablotek and logisys? Tier 12?  

Pollution, not a real product ,)

[Rexper]

8 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Show a review of that unit and we might consider it.

For the GW version of CX 650: https://club.dns-shop.ru/hardware/Обзор-и-тестирование-блока-питания-Corsair-CX650/

GW version of CX 450: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=VUm

GW version of CX 550: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=CUj

 

There are only review/tastings of the GW variant, as far as I can see. As you already mentioned in another forum the fan is rather loud for the CX450 at low load.

[STRMfrmXMN]

13 minutes ago, Rexper said:

For the GW version of CX 650: https://club.dns-shop.ru/hardware/Обзор-и-тестирование-блока-питания-Corsair-CX650/

GW version of CX 450: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=VUm

GW version of CX 550: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=CUj

 

There are only review/tastings of the GW variant, as far as I can see. As you already mentioned in another forum the fan is rather loud for the CX450 at low load.

The second and third link seem to endlessly load for me, but the first review provided great information, thank you. Graphs are in Russian but I got the gist.

[Rexper]

Cybernetics website seems to be a bit buggy.

 

You can go to the database, https://cybenetics.com/index.php?option=database

 

Select Corsair start slowly scrolling down, when you reach the bottom of page keep scrolling. This is a trick that sometimes work for me, otherwise the page won’t load properly.

 

from there you can find their ratings on the CX series as well as testing PDFs.

[Energycore]

3 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I put it up there because of electrical performance, but enough people have complained about it I bumped it down one.

Wait, shouldn't it be T3 if it doesn't have a FDB fan?

4 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

But that's why this isn't my list. 

We do try to make it as accurate as possible while remaining parsable for your usual customer who doesn't wanna learn the difference between Double Forward and Half Bridge. So if you have any inputs we'll listen to them

[LienusLateTips]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

Wait, shouldn't it be T3 if it doesn't have a FDB fan?

I think Rifle/Ball take it out of T3 as well.

[Energycore]

36 minutes ago, JDE said:

I think Rifle/Ball take it out of T3 as well.

Fair enough, had forgotten. If it's rifle then it can go over T3.

 

(double) Ball bearings aren't really unreliable, they're just noisier so no problems there.

[turkey3_scratch]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

Fair enough, had forgotten. If it's rifle then it can go over T3.

 

(double) Ball bearings aren't really unreliable, they're just noisier so no problems there.

I think DBB might even be more reliable than FDB normally. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe Aris stated that in a Tomshardware article recently.

[Canada EH]

I always pick Corsair CX###M so I need to study up on some other Tier 1 and Tier 2 models!

[turkey3_scratch]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

I always pick Corsair CX###M so I need to study up on some other Tier 1 and Tier 2 models!

They're gonna cost more.

[Canada EH]

4 minutes ago, turkey3_scratch said:

They're gonna cost more.

because you know I am cheap!!! And its true!!!

[turkey3_scratch]

26 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

because you know I am cheap!!! And its true!!!

As long as you buy what's in your best interests and consider your interests...

[Guest]

1 hour ago, turkey3_scratch said:

I think DBB might even be more reliable than FDB normally. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe Aris stated that in a Tomshardware article recently.

I don't agree.  FDB should last just as long as DBB.

 

I do agree that rifle bearing should knock something down to tier two.  No need to knock it down to tier three just because of the fan bearing unless the bearing was sleeve.  Then it should be tier 4 at the highest.

[Stefan Payne]

9 hours ago, Rexper said:

For the GW version of CX 650: https://club.dns-shop.ru/hardware/Обзор-и-тестирование-блока-питания-Corsair-CX650/

GW version of CX 450: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=VUm

GW version of CX 550: https://www.cybenetics.com/code/pdf.php?id=CUj

 

There are only review/tastings of the GW variant, as far as I can see. As you already mentioned in another forum the fan is rather loud for the CX450 at low load.

And the CWT Version?
That is the problem right now that there aren't many tests about the CX series because you need them both tested...

And I like the GW version more for some reasons...

 

And that russian thing is the CWT version...

You can identify them easily with the secondary heatsinks...

 

1 hour ago, turkey3_scratch said:

I think DBB might even be more reliable than FDB normally. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe Aris stated that in a Tomshardware article recently.

Only at high temperatures and many start/stopp cycles. But you can rectify it like Noctua did with a magnet or so.

 

And also DBB is rather annoying. They might last for forever but at what noise levels??

[Energycore]

Just now, jonnyGURU said:

I don't agree.  FDB should last just as long as DBB.

 

I do agree that rifle bearing should knock something down to tier two.  No need to knock it down to tier three just because of the fan bearing unless the bearing was sleeve.  Then it should be tier 4 at the highest.

I think I'd rather keep PSUs with sleeve bearing fan and a lengthy enough warranty on T3, but could consider bumping some of the units with sleeve bearing and 3 years or less warranty down. Because even if the fan dies early, if the PSU's still under warranty the user's got that going for themselves.

 

Would FDBs last as long as DBB even in very high RPM server fans? I see those still be mostly DBB.

[Stefan Payne]

3 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Would FDBs last as long as DBB even in very high RPM server fans? I see those still be mostly DBB.

Because:
a) they were always 2BB

b) they might think about high ambient temperatures for whatever reasons...

 

 

And because they always did it is sadly an argument for many people and also some industrys...

[Stefan Payne]

7 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

Because:
a) they were always 2BB

b) they might think about high ambient temperatures for whatever reasons...

 

 

And because they always did it is sadly an argument for many people and also some industrys...

Oh and another thing:
There aren't many manufacturers with FDB at all!

Because its still patented and you might have to have a license from Panasonic. ANd thus you only have Protechnic doing real FDB.

 

And because the companys they work with don't have FDB...

Mostly you see something like Nidec, Sanyo Denki, maybe Delta in Servers...

 

But on the other hand there were some manufacturers selling "High Quality Sleeve Bearings" even back in the day - EBM Papst for example with their Sintec Bearing.