Official XS Power Supply Ranking Phase I

[perkam]

NEW LIST 2011 PHASE I

The PSU recommendations will be organized in the following five tiers:

Tier 1 – Optimal Performance, Optimal Efficiency, Highest Quality PSUs
Tier 2 – Very Good Performance, Optimal Efficiency, High Quality (less than Tier 1)
Tier 3 – Good Performance, Good Efficiency, (Less than Tier 2)
Tier 4 – Good Performance, worse than Tier 3, if PSUs from Tiers 1-3 are not available
Tier 5 – Avoid if PSUs from Tiers 1 through 4 are available

Here’s the list:

Tier 1
Superflower Golden King Series
Kingwin Lazer Platinum Series
Sparkle Gold Class Series (Noise at high stress)
Silverstone Strider Series (1500W only)
XFX Black Edition Series
PCP&C Silencer Series (Noisy)
Lepa G Series
Antec HCP Series (1200W only)
Antec Truepower Quattro (1200W only)
Corsair AX Series
Seasonic X Series
NZXT Hale Series

Tier 2
Antec HCP Series
XFX Core Edition Pro
Corsair TX V2
Antec HCG
Thortech Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt Plus Series
Enermax Modu87+ Series
Xigmatek NRP Series
Antec Truepower Quattro Series
Enermax Pro87+ Series
Thermaltake Toughpower XT Series
Seasonic S12 II Bronze Series
Kingwin Lazer Gold Series
Enermax Revolution 85+ Series
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand
Enermax Eco80+ Series
Seasonic M12D Series
Silverstone Olympia Series
BFG LS Series
Cooler Master Silent Pro
OCZ Z Series
Corsair TX Series
Enermax Liberty Eco Series
Antec Truepower New Series
Cooler Master UCP Series
Tagan Piperock II Series
Enermax Galaxy Evo Series
Glacialtech AX Series

Tier 3
XFX Core Edition
Corsair CX Series
Antec Earthwatts Series
Acbel Polytech R9 Series
High Power Plus Gold Series
Cougar S Series
Silverstone Strider Plus Series
Silverstone Strider Series
Topower KC Series
Thermaltake Toughpower Series
Kingwin Mach 1 Series
Kingwin Lazer Series
Inwin Commander
Corsair HX Series

Tier 4
XFX XPS Series
Coolermaster GX Series
Hiper M Series
Hipro K Series

Tier 5
Arctic Cooling Fusion Series
Ultra X4 Series
Diablotek RPM Series
Sunbeam BKS Series
Silverstone Element Series
Antec Neopower Blue

It is a work in process atm, but at the very least its more updated than the archaic list below

Perkam

[perkam]

*** OLD LIST ***


WHICH ONES TO BUY ??

Tier 1 can handle 4Ghz Conroe or 3Ghz AMD along with Oced Quad Crossfire/SLI With Ease.
Tier Z offers quality and power unequalled in its wattage range and is second only to other Zippy units.
Tier 2 offers almost as much power and stability as Tier 1 at Comparable Wattage levels with lower price/better availability.
Tier T offers the high quality components of Tier 2 with slightly less Rail stability due to Topower internals.
Tier 3 is ONLY Recommended if Price difference is present between Tier 3 and Tier 2 or due to availability issues with Tier 1/2 PSUs.
Tier 4 is recommended for stock or low power systems if Tier 3's are more expensive or are not available.
Tier 5 are NOT RECOMMENDED, but some brands have high/medium quality components in Tiers 2 through 4.

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----

Tier 1 Brands - The Most Powerful And Stable Components On The Market
Enermax Galaxy
PCP&C TurboCool
PCP&C Silencer >610
Zippy/Emacs SSL
Zippy/Emacs GSM
Zippy/Emacs PSL
Silverstone ZF (Etasis 85/75/56)
Seventeam ST >600 (SSI, V2.91)
Silverstone OP/DA >700W

Tier Z - Less Powerful Than Tier 1 Zippy Units...but they're still Zippys
Zippy/Emacs HG2
Zippy/Emacs HP2

Tier 2 Brands - Top Quality components With Top Notch Stability - For Those With Price/Availability Issues With Tier 1
Antec Neo HE
Akasa PowerGreen 80+
CoolMax CTG-750W/850W/1KW
Cooltek CT
Corsair HX
Enermax Liberty
Enermax Infiniti
Enhance ENP-GH
Fortron (FSP) GLN
Hiper Type-M >650W
Hiper Type-R >650W
iStarUSA PD2
iStarUSA PD3
OCZ GameXStream
OCZ EvoStream
PCP&C Silencer <610
Seasonic S12
Seasonic M12
Seasonic Energy Plus
SevenTeam ST <600
Silverstone EF
Silverstone OP/DA <700W
Supermicro/AbleCom
Thermaltake Toughpower >600W
Xclio GreatPower
Zalman ZM
Ultra X3
Ultra X-Pro

Tier T - High Quality PSUs Made With Topower Internals - Less Rail Stability Compared To Tier 2 But Still Better than Tier 3
Mushkin Enhanced
Tagan U95
Tagan U25
Tagan U15
Tagan U22
OCZ PowerStream

Tier 3 Brands - High Quality and Stability, Second Only To Tier 2 Brands
Acbel Polycom
AMS Mercury
Akasa PaxPower
Akasa PowerPlus (>500W Models)
Antec Phantom
Antec TruePower III
Antec True Power II
Antec True Control II
Antec Neopower 480W (Old Model)
Antec Smart Power 2.0
Athena Power Space Shuttle Series
Be Quiet Dark Power Pro
Channel Well
Enermax Maximum Plus
Enermax Noistaker II
Enermax Noisetaker
Enermax Whisper II
Enermax CoolerGiant
Enhance ENS-G
Epower Xscale
Fortron (FSP) GLC
Fortron (FSP) THN
Fortron AX
Fortron HLN
Fortron PFN/PN/PA
Seasonic Super Versatile
Silverstone F
Sparkle FSP
Spire Rocketeer V/VI
Sunbeam Nuuo
Thermaltake Purepower
Thermaltake Toughpower <600W

Tier 4 - Not Recommend With Tier 3 In same Price/Wattage Range
Aerocool
Asus Atlas
BFG
Coolermaster Real Power
Coolermaster iGreen
Delta
Enlight
E-Power
Futurepower
Hiper
HIPRO
Lite-On
Masscool
MGE XG
Mushkin HP
NorthQ 4775-500S/BU
OCZ Modstream
Scythe Kamariki
Sintek
Thermaltake TR2
TTGI/Superflower
Ultra Xfinity/X2

Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED
A-TOP Technology
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Cooler Master
Coolmax
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
EagleTech
FOXCONN
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Wintech
XClio
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----

Phase III compensates for overcrowded Tier 1, while clumping together previously Tier 2 and 3 PSUs if only because no definite way to categorize then as good enough for Tier 2 or bad enough for Tier 3.

Perkam
Perkam

[jonnyGURU]

You might want to break those tiers down more.

For example: Tagan (Topower) doesn't belong in the same group as Win-Tact built PCP&C and Etasis built Silverstones. But aren't as "bad" as Antec or Thermaltake.

A TurboCool and Silencer are two totally different animals, as is a Silverstone Element and Zeus. An Element isn't really all that different as a Strider except for the 80+ efficiency. So other than efficiency, they're really quite the same.

It's very complicated to do this right. That's why I took my ratethebrands list down. Don't let me discourage you. I Think it would be great to have a one stop list on the web, but you'll need more tiers.

[perkam]

You might want to break those tiers down more.

For example: Tagan (Topower) doesn't belong in the same group as Win-Tact built PCP&C and Etasis built Silverstones. But aren't as "bad" as Antec or Thermaltake.

A TurboCool and Silencer are two totally different animals, as is a Silverstone Element and Zeus. An Element isn't really all that different as a Strider except for the 80+ efficiency. So other than efficiency, they're really quite the same.

It's very complicated to do this right. That's why I took my ratethebrands list down. Don't let me discourage you. I Think it would be great to have a one stop list on the web, but you'll need more tiers.

You're right and the final list will end up with 5 Tiers...but just to get the whole preliminary list up there, you're going to have to bear with me with 3 Tiers for a few days.

Perkam

[jonnyGURU]

Oh... Ok.. I'll bear with you.

[david901101]

What about Tagan U-25 (Dual Engine-series)??

[perkam]

What about Tagan U-25 (Dual Engine-series)??

Whoops. Thats a good one.

Off to Tier 1 it goes

Thx.

Perkam

[david901101]

ok

Hmm Im back again with my stupid questions :p
Which one would U choose, the FSP Epsilon 700W or the Tagan Dual Engine 600W? Noone is in stock @ the store Im going to shop from so there is no rush with the answers =)

//David

[perkam]

ok

Hmm Im back again with my stupid questions :p
Which one would U choose, the FSP Epsilon 700W or the Tagan Dual Engine 600W? Noone is in stock @ the store Im going to shop from so there is no rush with the answers =)

//David

The Epsilon 700w is on Newegg. It has the same internals as the OCZ Gamexstream 700w. IF you're going for lower price, the Tagan Dual Engine 600w is also a top notch PSU.

Either I would buy in an instant...the only thing that seperates them is price afaik.

Now if we turn our attention to Epsilon/Gamexstream 600w vs Dual Engine 600w, thats a tougher choice because both are really good PSUs and both are the most updated of the PSUs available today.

Perkam

[david901101]

ok, but here in Sweden the Tagan Dual Engine 600W is 50$ more expencive than the FSP Epsilon 700W so its leaning a bit towards the FSP .....

[perkam]

ok, but here in Sweden the Tagan Dual Engine 600W is 50$ more expencive than the FSP Epsilon 700W so its leaning a bit towards the FSP .....

wow...then the Dual Engine in that scenario is a total rip off...a great psu, but retarded price.

Perkam+

[Serra]

Ygpm

[david901101]

wow...then the Dual Engine in that scenario is a total rip off...a great psu, but retarded price.

Perkam+

Hmmmm here in Sweden the FSP Epsilon 700W costs about 130$ and the Tagan Dual Engine costs about 180$, Is it much cheaper in USA? I guess it is

Hmm so U say I should go for the FSP then....

[Praxis1452]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the 65ZF and the other ZF not the 56ZF are made my enhance? So the only etasis models are the 56ZF, 75ZF, and 85ZF. So really Etasis is tier one and then enhance right below it. So diffrentiating it by zeus or element isn't exactly accurate. Maybe just say the oem... Or list exact models? It might take a while but it'll get easier and it'll be a great list...

Jonny and ok what antec units are made by CWT? Everything except the neoHE right? so the caps would be pretty bad...

[Oklahoma Wolf]

what antec units are made by CWT? Everything except the neoHE right?

One of the oddball SFF PSU's is Seasonic too... not sure which one. But the vast majority are indeed Channel Well including the Smartpowers, Truepowers, and Phantoms.

[metro.cl]

you missed zippy & acbel

[jonnyGURU]

you missed zippy & acbel

He's got Acbel, but for some reason it's Tier 3.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Liteon/Ablecom/Supermicro and Delta are missing from tier 1 as well. Though Delta's not easy to find here, they do have a presence overseas.

[jonnyGURU]

Liteon/Ablecom/Supermicro and Delta are missing from tier 1 as well. Though Delta's not easy to find here, they do have a presence overseas.

Well, perkam has my list... so I'll just give him time to digest it.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

That works

[FLMJIGGY]

Cool, thanks Perkham and Jonny

I know a bit about Psu' but NOWHERE newar what u guys know.

[Anemone]

Well I made my decision on the Gamex 700, but I'm still tagging along here to learn more

[perkam]

Phase II is in effect...guide has gone through first of 3 overhauls

ANd FLM Jiggy, I kno nowhere near what Jonny and OklWolf know

Perkam

[[XC]melymel]

Have you missed Q-tec for a reason? as they should be at the bottom!! I always see people buying these for high powered rigs because they're cheap in price and highly availiable but they must be accountable for a fair majority of pc death's including my old 939 i got when 939 just came out so people need to be warned about these.

[jonnyGURU]

Have you missed Q-tec for a reason? as they should be at the bottom!! I always see people buying these for high powered rigs because they're cheap in price and highly availiable but they must be accountable for a fair majority of pc death's including my old 939 i got when 939 just came out so people need to be warned about these.

There's so many "off-brands" and brands that come with cases that you never see anywhere else, it's mind blowing.