Seasonic Platinum 1000W Power Supply Review - FlyingSuicide.Net

**[XC] Oj101** · 04-15-2013, 12:51 AM

I'm fixing this post in accordance with the rules, there will be links to images which you can click. If you want to see the full article with the images in place, please click the link at the bottom of this post. I'm not on an unlimited hosting plan, hence just linking images here instead of posting the,

Seasonic is quite a big name in the PSU market, being one of the OEMs for companies including including Corsair, Antec, be quiet!, PC Power & Cooling and XFX. They also have their own PSUs, one of which is the Seasonic Platinum 1000W being looked at today. The PSU is 100% modular and, as the name would suggest, is an 80 PLUS Platinum rated unit with an output capacity of 1000 watts.

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Right from the get-go, this PSU makes a statement ? everything about it is excessive. The box is large, finished with metallic text and an 80 PLUS Platinum badge proudly displayed in the upper right corner. An image of the PSU shows its two-tone matte grey finish, mesh grills, over-sized power switch and large diameter fan.

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The back of the box has a run-down of the features of the Platinum 1000W, and some of the metallic text from the front has been carried over. In short it explains the 80 PLUS Platinum rating, the modular design, the voltage regulation, the quiet Sanyo Denki San Ace used, the interesting power management controlling the fan speed which allows the PSU to operate in a silent fanless mode, and a litter of reasons why buying this PSU is the best decision you?ve made.

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The side of the Platinum 1000W?s box shows the physical dimensions, rail capabilities, its protection features, and connectors. Almost all of the total 1000W that this PSU can deliver is available on the single 83A 12V rail, while the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated at 25A each with a combined load total of 125W. The -12V rail can supply 0.5A for 6W of power, while the +5Vsb can supply 3A for 15W.

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Upon opening the box, you are presented with a rather thick manual crammed full of the marketing seen on the box and more, foam packaging which is hiding the actual PSU, and a silver-and-black bag containing all of the modular cables. The picture doesn?t really do the size of the bag any justice, it?s huge. So big, in fact, that we?ve seen several low-end PSUs whose total size is significantly smaller than the bag.

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The bag splits apart from the bottom, where it is Velcro?d together. Each half contains modular cables, and the power cable is held between the two halves when it is velro?d back together. This is rather different, as most companies just throw the cable loosely into the box.

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Seasonic has thought to include every cable you could possibly need ? EVER. They are all neatly sleeved, although the weave is quite loose and allows the wires to be seen. The cables are as follows:

1x 20+4 Pin ATX connector ? 600 mm
1x 4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V connector ? 650 mm
1x 8 Pin EPS12V connector ? 650 mm
6x 6+2 Pin PCI-Express connectors ? 600 mm
2x 4 Pin Molex ? 3 connectors per cable ? 550 mm + 150 mm + 150 mm
2x 4 Pin Molex ? 2 connectors per cable ? 350 mm + 150 mm
3x SATA ? 3 connectors per cable ? 530 mm + 150 mm + 150 mm
1x SATA ? 2 connectors per cable ? 350 mm + 150 mm
1x Molex to 2x stiffy connector ? 150 mm

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Hidden away inside the packaging was also a small bag of accessories, which included five black zip-ties, six silver-and-blue Velcro ties sporting the Seasonic logo and web address, a ?Powered by Seasonic? case badge and? A screw driver. This is the first time we?ve seen a PSU come with a screw driver, and its small size means it could come in handy in various other situations ? be it inside your computer or otherwise. The removable bit can be flipped around, having a Philips head on one end and flat on the other.

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As with several other high-end power supplies, the Platinum 1000W comes in a black velvet bag with the Seasonic logo in white, designed to keep the PSU scratch-free inside the box. It is a nice touch, even if it?s not necessary. The power supply commands quite a high price-tag, so it?s good to see that Seasonic spared no expense in delivering the unit.

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The Platinum 1000W is beautifully finished in a two-tone matte grey finish, which seems to be fingerprint resistant. The punched honeycomb grill looks very classy, being a separate piece of metal in a lighter shade of grey than the rest of the top cover. The sides match the lighter grey of the fan grill, and the sticker on the side matches the darker grey used for the top cover.

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The other side of the unit details the specifications of the PSU, and again the sticker matches the colouring used for the PSU casing. This makes for a very expensive look and feel ? a complete contrast to the bling of several other brands.

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From this angle you can see most of the modular connectors, one of which is partially obscured by a blue sticker which is to be removed before use. The sticker surrounds a switch, which can be seen clearly in the next picture.

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A close up of the sticker reveals that it is for fan control, with the options being Hybrid or Normal. Normal mode keeps the fan spinning at its minimum speed until the unit reaches 50% load, after which is starts to increase in speed. Hybrid mode is exactly the same as Normal mode, but when the PSU is under 0-30% load it stops the fan altogether for completely silent operation. The reality is that this PSU won?t be heard at all until you start pushing towards its maximum capacity, as even quiet CPU and graphics card fans make more noise.

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The back of the Platinum 1000W features more honeycomb mesh for ventilation purposes, as well as an over-sized power switch. A line of print next to the switch reminds you that the PSU has a full-range input from 100 to 240V.

Our testing methodology will be somewhat different to other sites, as not only do we not have access to the thousands of dollars of testing equipment but we also feel that this may be a more practical measure to the average reader. Instead of using load testers, we built up a high-end PC to about the spec expected to be powered by a PSU such as the Platinum 1000W and took voltage readings at various levels of load. The specifications were as follows:

2x Xeon E5645 overclocked to 3.460 GHz
EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard
48 GB RAM
2x GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 580 SuperOverclock graphics cards
1x Intel 320 Series SSD
4x 7,200 RPM hard drives
2x 5,400 RPM hard drives

The results are as follows:

Idle in Windows
3.3V rail ? 3.33V
5V rail ? 5.03V
12V rail ? 12.01V
1 CPU at full load, graphics cards idle
3.3V rail ? 3.32V
5V rail ? 5.03V
12V rail ? 12.01V
2 CPUs at full load, graphics cards idle
3.3V rail ? 3.33V
5V rail ? 5.03V
12V rail ? 12.02V
1 CPU at full load, 1 graphics card at full load
3.3V rail ? 3.33V
5V rail ? 5.03V
12V rail ? 12.01V
1 CPU at full load, 2 graphics cards at full load
3.3V rail ? 3.33V
5V rail ? 5.03V
12V rail ? 12.04V
2 CPUs at full load, 2 graphics cards at full load
3.3V rail ? 3.32V
5V rail ? 5.02V
12V rail ? 11.99V

To make sure I was neither dreaming nor had the multimeter packed up, I shut down the PSU, disconnected it and connected another PSU we had lying around. Sure enough, the voltage fluctuated with load ? the multimeter was indeed working fine. I reconnected the Seasonic Platinum 1000W and retook the measurements, and once again I got the most solid results we?ve seen ? a regulation of well under 1% on all the rails.

In an attempt to get the voltages to fluctuate, I started connecting all the hardware I could find ? this included another graphics card in the form of a Radeon HD 4670, thirteen extra hard drives, and just shy of a dozen fans. Needless to say, we ran out of hardware before I managed to challenge this PSU ? quite a feat by any measure! The PSU scored as follows:

Performance: 10
Features: 10
Value: 8
Score: 9.5

The Seasonic Platinum 1000W comes highly recommended to anyone in the market for silence, rock-solid voltage regulation, or a combination of the two. It is a must-have for any high-end gaming machine running up to two top-end graphics cards. For South African pricing and availability, please contact Syntech to find your nearest retailer. Jonathan Horne

Read the original review here.

It's my first PSU review, go easy on me

**Necetra** · 04-16-2013, 05:41 AM

This is my first review of a review and I'm trying to provide a fact-driven critique which may seem a little harsh so I apologize in advance.
I'd point to Why 99% of power supply reviews are wrong by hardwaresecrets.com.

PSUs are by far the hardest computer subsystem to review properly.
You should probably look to jonnyguru as the good PSU review to model as it's appropriate for the computer's requirements for power quality from its PSU. ATX spec allows for very large margins.
High resolution shots of the partially disassembled interior are nice. It'd let the readers compare against other reviews.
I'm a fan of multiple independent reviews of the same product model, as it demonstrates the consistency of the manufacturer.

As an EE, I'm not a fan of the USB oscilloscopes, or the meh multimeters, but for a basic review, they should be fine: I can understand the desire to not fork out money for measuring equipment that you're not going to use much.
To do a basic review, all you need is a low-end oscilloscope, mid-range multimeter, power meter, programmable load tester and reasonably accurate thermometer like jonnyguru's setup.

A good read is: Tektronix Power Supply Measurement Analysis

Even though the article is from Tektronix, I would not recommend someone to buy a current generation Tektronix scope as their current generation features are seriously lacking... but I think the article could give you some insight into SMPS complexities.
If I were to go into reviewing, I'd probably go for a >200MHz scope, a programmable load tester, a variable autotransformer (just to examine the differences between 120V and 240V), a programmable power meter, a logging thermometer (like a Fluke 54 II) and a decent bench multimeter with a relay multiplexer (>5.5 digits) and a total error of at most 0.01% (includes both %of reading + number of counts)

The higher bandwidth the scope, the better. Especially if you grab one of the new shiny 2Gs scopes. This will allow you to spot even the slightest glitch or jitter. (this is good/neat info, but not too important to a computer unless it's major)
A bench multimeter will eliminate error to less than ATX spec. My Fluke 8842a would have a worst case measurement error of +/- 0.001V while measuring 12.6V.
I'm not sure if there are actually programmable load testers and programmable power meters available (stuff that you can use VISA with, not the credit card..), but it would make your life easier as you could fully automate your testing process and have it output a bunch of snapshots and data for you to plot into graphs and assemble into tables for your review. I'd probably ballpark the cost of this equipment as ~10k CAD, or about 7-8k if acquired within the US.
I doubt the majority (>99%) of your viewers would care for such a detailed review, but it's the kind of review I'd love to see.

**[XC] Oj101** · 04-16-2013, 06:13 AM

Hey Necetra, I appreciate the input but $8,000 (more like $12,000 once in South Africa - customs adds up to 25 % import duties on electronic equipment as well as 14 % VAT) is a hell of a lot to spend on equipment when 1. nobody is backing me financially, 2. I don't get paid for this, and 3. it'll only interest a small user-base (who would go to JG anyway). I thought, given the circumstances, the best way to make things interesting would be to show how much hardware it can run

Thanks for the input anyway