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)??

[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.

[perkam]

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.

Done

[kemo]

I have a simple question
Why do pople prefer the PCP&C TurboCool 1KW over the Enermax Galaxy 1KW?
As far as I know the TurboCool is noisy and run hot even when power switched off and yet people do prefer it.

[[XC] leviathan18]

perk bro seasonic made most of silencer for pc power and cooling now they make them so if seasonic is 1 tier silencer series are tier 1

[deathythe]

Just got my Thermaltake ToughPower 700w, Glad to see it is showed in Tier2 here.

[Greenhead]

why are the coolermasters in tier 4. I had nothing but good luck with it. it's got great reviews all over the web. (high effieciency, decent noise levels, good thermals).
but yet you've rated it a tier 4????

what are the certia for the tiers????

[Ominous Gamer]

Looks like you just threw everything you knew nothing about in the tier 5 category. Your blanket statements are really going to mess people up. It would be more professional to leave out brands you have no information, knowledge, or experience with instead of junking the names.

What do you have againist the Coolermaster igreen line?
What do you have that shows scythe to be tier 5?
Again, what are you basing your decision on that xclio goodpower is any worse then the ultra X2?

[[XC]melymel]

Looks like you just threw everything you knew nothing about in the tier 5 category. Your blanket statements are really going to mess people up. It would be more professional to leave out brands you have no information, knowledge, or experience with instead of junking the names.

What do you have againist the Coolermaster igreen line?
What do you have that shows scythe to be tier 5?
Again, what are you basing your decision on that xclio is any worse then ultra?

Well if you read the first post Perkam has requested our help in the list to make it better so if you have a problem with a placing give a reason and some proof to back it up and he will more than likely move it. JonnyGuru has also given some input into this and he knows his psu's, so i'm going to trust his judgement. So rather than acting like an a$$ how about being constructive as I will not disagree with your point as I don't know about those psu's either and that's probably why they're tier 5, better to be safe than sorry, so please inform us....