Power Supply Units - Is The Watt the whole story?

6

I wanted to buy a new PSU I narrowed it down to 2 options :

1)Theres a PSU by Antec that costs 655 (NIS) which provides 900W. Now, Antec is a very well-known company and they make awesome products. They have 5 years warranty and their trusted.

High Current Gamer 900W Active PFC 13.5cm PSU HCG-900

2)Theres another PSU by SeaSonic. This one costs 770 (which is about 27$ more than the Antec one) and it only provides 760W. I don't know that company but I'll assume its a famous company with quality products.

760W Gold X-Series Active PFC 12cm Fan Modular PSU X-760

QUESTION : Money not being the issue, Why would I go with a more EXPENSIVE psu that provides LESS watt. compared to a CHEAPER psu that provides MORE watt?

Both quality products, both companies are well-known and I just can't find the difference.

user779444

Posted 2012-01-06T21:02:23.883

Reputation: 233

Question was closed 2012-01-06T22:12:09.303

To all future visitors, the reason link only content is bad, is after 3 years stuff is removed. This question is less helpful because the model of the PSUs are not known. – Ramhound – 2016-09-28T01:21:50.277

seasonic is one of the best PSU makers out there. antec is good but seasonic and PC power and cooling are the top of the line – Lamar B – 2012-01-06T21:19:13.447

Answers

1

What would influence me on this?

  1. Quality, Seasonic are a good make that we use in our servers.
  2. Efficiency, the efficiency of a PSU is important in my case due to heat production and my company wanting to be seen as a "green" company (not so important for a gamer).
  3. Noise levels, which is quieter, check the specs.
  4. The Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of the unit.

Personally, the five year warranty on the Antec would make it a serious contender.

Tog

Posted 2012-01-06T21:02:23.883

Reputation: 4 747

1a power supply with a high-efficiency also implies that it's made with higher quality components... and as a result tends to be less likely to fail... (or more specifically fail badly). So even for a gamer... I would suggest getting a PSU with a high efficiency rating if possible. On a side note... Corsair makes some AWESOME power supplies... better than Antec imho. – TheCompWiz – 2012-01-06T21:21:42.457

Hmm.. The Antec is 80PLUS bronze and the SeaSonic is 80PLUS Gold. The difference between those is 5% (http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSupplies.aspx). At 50% load I get 765W from the Antec (85%) and 684W from the SeaSonic(90%). MTBF on Antec is 100,000 hours (11 years) and SeaSonic doesn't say. Lastly antec doesn't say give information about the noise of the fan and SeaSonic does. What do you guys think?

– user779444 – 2012-01-06T21:41:04.713

@user779444 Personnally, I'd stay away from a PSU that don't provide noise ratings - it's a key decision factor for me, but you can perhaps find test reviews. Also, modularity is something to take into account: unpluggable cables is a useful feature which also add costs. – mtone – 2012-01-06T23:56:16.593

Asked: 2012-01-06T21:02:23.883

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Active: 2016-09-28T00:42:50.427