Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 550 or Cooler Master V550?

[catta202000]

Hi All,

I just upgraded my PC except for the PSU. I have an old Thermaltake Smart M650W and i'm thinking about getting a new PSU.

My budget is around 90€, i found this good PSUs on amazon or local stores (im from italy), ordered by price:

- BE QUIET! Pure Power 10 500W (70€)
- BE QUIET! Straight Power 10 500W (88€)
- Seasonic Focus PLus Gold 550W (91€)
- CoolerMaster V550 fully modular (92€)

 

Which one should i buy?

 

This is my actual configuration:
AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X
ASRock - X470 Master SLI
G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200
MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
Fractal Design - Meshify C TG ATX Mid Tower Case
WD Black nvme ssd
3TB HDD
6 * 120mm fans
something like 100 leds

Thanks for any help!

[Jurrunio]

The Pure Power 10 is already good enough. No need to spend extra for the Seasonic or Cooler Master.

[homeap5]

BeQuiet Straight Power or Pure Power 500 W. Or 600 W may be better option.

Personally I have Seasonic Prime Gold, but I think Be Quiet is quieter compare to Seasonic in non-passive mode.

 

[19_blackie_73]

I'd take one of the be quiet ones, never failed on me in various systems.

500w is enough and they are dead silent

[catta202000]

The pure power 10 have only 3 Yr warranty compared to 5 of v550 and 10 of seasonic, I'm ok in spending 20€ more for better quality and longer warranty. 

[catta202000]

The Bitfenix Whisper M 550 just became available at 87€, and the seasonic is now at 84€.

Now im not sure if i should get the seasonic or the bitfenix.

[Stefan Payne]

4 hours ago, catta202000 said:

The pure power 10 have only 3 Yr warranty compared to 5 of v550 and 10 of seasonic, I'm ok in spending 20€ more for better quality and longer warranty. 

Warranty is overrated.

If it fails it usually fails within the first couple of weeks.

 

And when I take a look at the rest of the components, you don't seem to give a damn about Warranty of other Components such as Motherboard. Why do you care about the PSU that cost 1/3 of the Board??

What about the Warranty?? 

Do you get a Harddrive with 5 Years Warranty or do you stick with two? 

 

Why is the Warranty of the PSU, that isn't even an expensive part of the built, important?!

1 hour ago, catta202000 said:

The Bitfenix Whisper M 550 just became available at 87€, and the seasonic is now at 84€.

Now im not sure if i should get the seasonic or the bitfenix.

be quiet Straight Power 11, 450 or 550W.

If not, Cougar GX-F 550W or Bitfenix Whisper M 450-550W

6 hours ago, catta202000 said:

My budget is around 90€, i found this good PSUs on amazon or local stores (im from italy), ordered by price:

- BE QUIET! Pure Power 10 500W (70€)
- BE QUIET! Straight Power 10 500W (88€)
- Seasonic Focus PLus Gold 550W (91€)
- CoolerMaster V550 fully modular (92€)

 

Which one should i buy?

Not the Straight Power 10 as a similar plattform is used in the Pure Power 10.

Either Straight Power 11 or Pure Power 10.

 

Of those I'd take the Cooler Master V-Series, if you don't want a be quiet.

[catta202000]

The straight power 11 is over my budget, while the cougar GX-F looks worse than either seasonic and bitfenix looking at jonnyguru reviews. 

 

I've seen only enthusiast reviews for the seasonic focus plus, but until now nobody voted for the seasonic, I'm confused

[STRMfrmXMN]

All of those PSUs are fine. Get whichever you like.

[seon123]

1 hour ago, catta202000 said:

The straight power 11 is over my budget, while the cougar GX-F looks worse than either seasonic and bitfenix looking at jonnyguru reviews. 

 

I've seen only enthusiast reviews for the seasonic focus plus, but until now nobody voted for the seasonic, I'm confused

The reviews on Jonnyguru don't test the noise, and they apparently have the Focus Plus Gold a way to high score for build quality, considering their cold solder issues. 

[EsaT]

5 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

And when I take a look at the rest of the components, you don't seem to give a damn about Warranty of other Components such as Motherboard. Why do you care about the PSU that cost 1/3 of the Board??

Motherboard, or more precisely CPU on it, usually gets technically obsolete in five years at lates, needing replacing anyway.

PSUs don't do that.

[catta202000]

52 minutes ago, EsaT said:

Motherboard, or more precisely CPU on it, usually gets technically obsolete in five years at lates, needing replacing anyway.

PSUs don't do that.

Yeah I agree with that. 

 

3 hours ago, seon123 said:

The reviews on Jonnyguru don't test the noise, and they apparently have the Focus Plus Gold a way to high score for build quality, considering their cold solder issues. 

I Don't really care about noise (at least up to a resoanable threshold). 

For the cold solder, jonnyguru said the 550 version does not have this issue. Seasonic said they never cherry pick PSU for review (ok, we can't really trust their word). 

 

I just ordered the seasonic, I like it more than the whisper (don't really know why), and it has the possibility to add a second gpu in the future, while the whisper doesn't (well probably i won't add a second gpu, but you know "just in case"). 

[Sakkura]

PC Perspective and HardOCP found excellent soldering in Focus Plus Gold units. Both sites handed out Editor's Choice awards.

 

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Seasonic-FOCUS-PLUS-Gold-FX-650W-PSU-Review/Detailed-Look

 

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/07/11/seasonic_focus_plus_gold_850w_power_supply_review/3

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, EsaT said:

Motherboard, or more precisely CPU on it, usually gets technically obsolete in five years at lates, needing replacing anyway.

PSUs don't do that.

See that is the problem.

Because there were some changes in Technology that makes the PSU Obsolete as well. That was the switch from +5V to +12V or Haswell or newer Power Managment of Graphics cards like Kepler and later. That can also make a PSU obsolete. 

 

As for the Motherboard:
before Ryzen I used an MSI X79A-GD45 PLUS, wich came out more than 5 years ago and there are also other cases where you can live happily with more than 5 year old Motherboards easily. So that statement isn't entirely true either.

 

As for the Motherboard:
ASROCK offers one Year Warranty and accept the legal "Warranty" of European Countrys (wich is only 6 Months, not two!)

2 hours ago, catta202000 said:

Yeah I agree with that. 

I don't.

Either you want long warranty fof _ALL COMPONENTS_ or you don't care.
There is no in between.

As Said earlier, you can live today with Hardware from 2008-2011 without any problems.

And there weren't an dealbreaking inventions that made the older Boards obsolete, the only really important thing is USB 3.0

Besides that, nothing.

 

And today it is possible to live with a Westmere based CPU if you already happen to have the right board for that. as for USB, there cards for that like Silverstone ECU05.

 

Anyway, quality of the Warranty is more important than the duration.

Especially if things like "Wear and tear due to normal operation" are the list of things where the Warranty does NOT apply.

Or when some manufacturers say the warranty is void if you bought the PSU on eBay.

 

2 hours ago, catta202000 said:

I Don't really care about noise (at least up to a resoanable threshold). 

For the cold solder, jonnyguru said the 550 version does not have this issue. Seasonic said they never cherry pick PSU for review (ok, we can't really trust their word). 

 

I just ordered the seasonic, I like it more than the whisper (don't really know why), and it has the possibility to add a second gpu in the future, while the whisper doesn't (well probably i won't add a second gpu, but you know "just in case"). 

Getting an Asrock Board but complaining about Warranty is kinda hypocritical when "the others" usually offer 3 Years. And in some rare cases even 5.

 

2 hours ago, Sakkura said:

PC Perspective and HardOCP found excellent soldering in Focus Plus Gold units. Both sites handed out Editor's Choice awards.

Yes and Jonnyguru show bad soldering, there are many complaints about the fan and that is one of the things that isn't really tested.

 

So no, the Focus Plus is not the best of the best, sir. 

With PSU you have many choices and in some cases other PSU are just way better.

 

 

[catta202000]

The Italian legal warranty is way better then the Europe one, and it covers two years. 

Amazon usually just send you another unit without asking any question. 

 

In order to have a 5 years warranty on the motherboard, I would have to spend almost the double, while a PSU with 7 more years of warranty is just 15€ more. 

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, catta202000 said:

The Italian legal warranty is way better then the Europe one, and it covers two years. 

You sure?
because in Germany we still have 6 Months plus an additional 1,5 Years "materials defect liability".

The difference is the proof of defect.

In the first 6 Months the Dealer has to prove that YOU broke it, after that you have to prove that it was defective from the beginning.

 

3 hours ago, catta202000 said:

In order to have a 5 years warranty on the motherboard, I would have to spend almost the double, while a PSU with 7 more years of warranty is just 15€ more. 

3 Years is common, 5 Years only on select ones.
But what you are missing is the Terms of Warranty.

 

And there you have things like:
only from the first purchaser, from an autohrized dealer

sometimes you have to register your product for the Warranty

Damages due to Wear and tear are not covered

and you can't get it on ebay.

 

Oh and if you are a smoker, you are also out of luck and no warranty for you either.

 

The most important thing however is to look for a service point in your country. If one has that and another doesn't have a partner, that is a reason.

 

if one has 7 and the other only 5 is not because you can't know if they are still around in that time or how they will handle your warranty because of their warranty terms it is possible that they reject your RMA due to "normal defect because Wear and Tear".

 

 

So a shorter warranty with less exclusions might be better than the longer with 2 pages of exceptions...

[catta202000]

43 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

You sure?
because in Germany we still have 6 Months plus an additional 1,5 Years "materials defect liability".

The difference is the proof of defect.

Yeah i'm sure, i already had full refunds for requesting warranty after more than 1 year, both in local store and online store, without any question.

[Sakkura]

5 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Yes and Jonnyguru show bad soldering, there are many complaints about the fan and that is one of the things that isn't really tested.

 

So no, the Focus Plus is not the best of the best, sir. 

With PSU you have many choices and in some cases other PSU are just way better.

 

 

Jonnyguru showed bad soldering in one out of three units. All that shows is that they're not always perfect, and that Seasonic is seeding real-world units (unlike many other brands).

 

The units you seem to be in love with can easily have the same soldering issues, and may be seeding cherry-picked units for reviews.

 

As for the fan, the Seasonic unit has a 10 year warranty. If the fan fails, you get a new power supply. Problem? I don't think so. As for the alternative units you're suggesting, they also have questionable fans... except without that long warranty coverage. So you're objectively making a bad recommendation.

 

Here's what Jonnyguru has to say about the Bitfenix Whisper M, for example:

 

Quote

Our FDB fan of the day comes from Martech, a company I know nothing about. I don't have too much confidence in this fan, to be honest... as mentioned at length earlier in this review, I hold little trust for all sleeve bearing variants now. Some work well, some don't, some don't even try to improve on the sleeve bearing and just call it improved, and I'll be damned if I can tell the differences between any of them.

 

Quote

CWT build quality can be spotty on the soldering, but that was not the case today. I found nothing to complain about, except perhaps the fan, but with a 7 year warranty I'll let that go.

So you get the same fan complaints, except with a shorter warranty, and from a manufacturer known for spotty soldering.

 

"Just way better" indeed...

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, Sakkura said:

As for the fan, the Seasonic unit has a 10 year warranty. If the fan fails, you get a new power supply. Problem? I don't think so. As for the alternative units you're suggesting, they also have questionable fans... except without that long warranty coverage. So you're objectively making a bad recommendation.

What are you talking about?! If you don't get what I was saying, ask and I will answer. 

You just defend Seasonic without even knowing what I was talking about...

 

So here what users say:

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/netzteile-und-gehaeuse/475570-seasonic-prime-nur-im-hybrid-modus-leise.html

 

And there are a couple more who had 5 or so Seasonic units and complained about fan noise..

And you come with the Warranty?!

SRYSLY?!

 

And as I mentioned erlier, wear and tear is not covered by the Warranty!

Quote

• The product was not damaged due to normal wear and tear or acts of nature, such as lightning, flood or fire.

That is something to keep in mind when talking about them replacing the unit when the fan is defective. You just don't know if they will replace the fan at all. And also you forget the location. He is in Italy, I don't know who has service points there but that's something to think about because shipping outside the country is darn expensive!

Like 5-7€ inside a County and 15€ or more for shipping outside the Country. And now take the guys with the 5 Seasonic units. Thats 5-7€ each time -> 25-35€ just for shipping. And that is inside the Country. If he has to ship it outside, that's 75€! For that he can get a new one. 

 

Although good quality fans last for a long time and might also be salvagable out of the PSU, they are not necessarily covered by the warranty and that is what I was saying.

 

It is possible that the manufacturer might refuse some/many claims because they don't have the budget for it this month...

Those Long time Warranty promises should just be seen as a bonus and not influence the desicion for or against a PSU or not!

Quote

So you get the same fan complaints, except with a shorter warranty, and from a manufacturer known for spotty soldering.

See above. Fan isn't necessarily covered by Warranty, if they don't want to, they don't have to replace it. And that depends on how healthy they when you ask them for a replacement. It might look good now, but you can't know how it will be in 5 or 7 Years, do you? Because 5-7 Years ago, Enermax was still around and had some decent options. And now you don't see much of them.

 

Or lets talk about OCZ, PC-Power & Cooling, Tagan, Nesteq, Silver Power...

And when did you recommend an Antec the last time??

 

 

What about cold solderjoints?

Or places where there is not enough? Yes, they are ugly at times but does it influence the PSU?? 

Are you an engineer who has the experience to talk about solderjoints?

 

 

 

Quote

"Just way better" indeed...

Yes, it is better because multiple OCP Channels, fan without much Motor/Bearing noise, no PCIe-Y Cables (=2 PCIe Cables on one 8pin Connector on the PSU)...

Way less Fan/Bearing Noise also.

 

And since I already mentioned Enermax, they switched from Serial Number RMA to Receit. Because you have to keep the Receit for the RMA: If not -> NO RMA for you.

And that is a good  way to not accept RMA because most people don't keep the Receit of a sub 100€ Product for 10 Years or so....

 

 

[Sakkura]

16 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

What are you talking about?! If you don't get what I was saying, ask and I will answer. 

You just defend Seasonic without even knowing what I was talking about...

 

So here what users say:

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/netzteile-und-gehaeuse/475570-seasonic-prime-nur-im-hybrid-modus-leise.html

 

And there are a couple more who had 5 or so Seasonic units and complained about fan noise..

And you come with the Warranty?!

SRYSLY?!

 

And as I mentioned erlier, wear and tear is not covered by the Warranty!

That is something to keep in mind when talking about them replacing the unit when the fan is defective. You just don't know if they will replace the fan at all. And also you forget the location. He is in Italy, I don't know who has service points there but that's something to think about because shipping outside the country is darn expensive!

Like 5-7€ inside a County and 15€ or more for shipping outside the Country. And now take the guys with the 5 Seasonic units. Thats 5-7€ each time -> 25-35€ just for shipping. And that is inside the Country. If he has to ship it outside, that's 75€! For that he can get a new one. 

 

Although good quality fans last for a long time and might also be salvagable out of the PSU, they are not necessarily covered by the warranty and that is what I was saying.

 

It is possible that the manufacturer might refuse some/many claims because they don't have the budget for it this month...

Those Long time Warranty promises should just be seen as a bonus and not influence the desicion for or against a PSU or not!

See above. Fan isn't necessarily covered by Warranty, if they don't want to, they don't have to replace it. And that depends on how healthy they when you ask them for a replacement. It might look good now, but you can't know how it will be in 5 or 7 Years, do you? Because 5-7 Years ago, Enermax was still around and had some decent options. And now you don't see much of them.

 

Or lets talk about OCZ, PC-Power & Cooling, Tagan, Nesteq, Silver Power...

And when did you recommend an Antec the last time??

 

 

What about cold solderjoints?

Or places where there is not enough? Yes, they are ugly at times but does it influence the PSU?? 

Are you an engineer who has the experience to talk about solderjoints?

 

 

 

Yes, it is better because multiple OCP Channels, fan without much Motor/Bearing noise, no PCIe-Y Cables (=2 PCIe Cables on one 8pin Connector on the PSU)...

Way less Fan/Bearing Noise also.

 

And since I already mentioned Enermax, they switched from Serial Number RMA to Receit. Because you have to keep the Receit for the RMA: If not -> NO RMA for you.

And that is a good  way to not accept RMA because most people don't keep the Receit of a sub 100€ Product for 10 Years or so....

 

 

So you're using anecdotal complaints? That just immediately shows there's no merit to your claims.

 

If the fan fails, that's covered by the warranty. Obviously.

 

Their health, WTF are you talking about?

 

With regard to the soldering, I've posted what OklahomaWolf at Jonnyguru thinks.

 

Keeping the receipt for warranty is standard practice, and obviously not an issue when everything goes by email these days.

[catta202000]

45 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

So here what users say:

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/netzteile-und-gehaeuse/475570-seasonic-prime-nur-im-hybrid-modus-leise.html

 

And there are a couple more who had 5 or so Seasonic units and complained about fan noise..

 

Yes, it is better because multiple OCP Channels, fan without much Motor/Bearing noise, no PCIe-Y Cables (=2 PCIe Cables on one 8pin Connector on the PSU)...

Way less Fan/Bearing Noise also.

 

This kind of motivations for suggesting me one PSU over another is what i wanted, not just a pointless "this one is better".

 

Anyway i already ordered the Seasonic now, so i will test it, and if the noise is really annoying, i will send it back and take a Bitfenix whisper.

[awesomegamer919]

On 19/07/2018 at 2:23 PM, Stefan Payne said:

 

Either you want long warranty fof _ALL COMPONENTS_ or you don't care.
There is no in between.

 

 

 

I disagree, a PSU can last through multiple builds if you get a good quality one, replacing your motherboard after 3-5 years is nothing uncommon whilst a PSU can easily last double that.

[Stefan Payne]

6 hours ago, awesomegamer919 said:

I disagree, a PSU can last through multiple builds if you get a good quality one, replacing your motherboard after 3-5 years is nothing uncommon whilst a PSU can easily last double that.

I disagree

 

A good motherboard can last for many years because the increase in CPU Performance isn't that huge in the last couple of years and when you replace it in 6-8 Years, you should also replace the PSU and not keep it.

 

What you are missing is that most people don't replace the Motherboard within a 3-5 Year timeframe because they see it as a pain in the butt and try to get around that if possible. 

 

And just look at how many people today have either Sandy or Ivy Bridge machines. And even haswell is old right now.

And why would you want to replace an i7-4790k system??

 

Your problem is that you assume the standpoint of a "power user", who wants to have the best of the best. While that might apply to you and your surrounding, most "normal people" don't do it that way and replace the CPU/Board only if one of those is broken or has some serious issues with modern games.

 

And that is why a good quality board that will last long is important. Because it will be used until it breaks!