Why psu reviews are wrong

Wattage is the base number to help you distinguish which PSU you need and how it is rated. You'll find models that provide W and some that go all the way up to W. While models will advertise this number proudly on the box, it might not tell you the full story.

Let's say you see a W power supply. If it states Continuous Wattage, that's great. If it's the Peak Wattage, you might want to avoid it. You can usually check which it is on the model's specifications page. Continuous Wattage and Peak Wattage are ratings based on tests by the manufacturer. Continuous Wattage indicates that it can deliver those W continuously without fluctuations.

Peak Wattage indicates W is the maximum power it can deliver, but probably only for a minute before dropping down. In simple buyer terms, look for continuous wattage ratings, ignore peak wattage ratings, and ignore a product that doesn't advertise its continuous wattage rating.

If you can't tell which one it is, don't take your chances. Just move on. Not all PCs are built alike, so the amount of power each one needs is different. A high-end gaming PC will need more watts to run than a simple home office PC. This is because powerful processors and graphics cards require more power to run.

Electrically speaking, you may not be wrong; but practically speaking will there be a real world difference? Is the added granularity or precision beneficial among computer power supplies? Perhaps the quick-and-dirty methods you take issue with are good enough to distinguish amongst the power supplies available given the tolerances of components?

I mean, maybe some of it is analogous to complaining that speedometers in cars aren't good because they don't read to the nearest tenth of a mph; it doesn't matter when all posted speeds are to the nearest fifth integer one might argue that readings to the nearest one integer on speedometers are overly precise. Just something to consider. Tsumi [H]F Junkie. Joined Mar 18, Messages 13, In my experience working with EMG amplification, electrical noise through circuits is a much bigger factor s to s of magnitudes larger than noise through radiation.

It is not practical to have 50 different sets of resistors for each load level. Additionally, it doesn't really matter what the absolute numbers are as long as those numbers are under ATX spec. What does matter is the numbers compared to other power supplies. Joined Aug 29, Messages 18, Electricpower said:. Click to expand Outputs should be bypassed at the connector with a 0.

Actually we have been over this a million times. The oscilloscope used is simply for simplification of visualization of the output and was and is repeatedly tested against the bench Tektronics TDS Quite simply, for ease of production and visualization the Stingray is good enough.

Last edited: Mar 23, Did you read the reply at all? The characteristic doesn't matter, it's the absolute values that matter. They tested it against the TDS, which has a bandwidth of mhz and the Stingray did good enough that for their testing purposes, it was fine. The absolute numbers for staying below ATX spec and the comparative number for comparison against other power supplies are all that matter.

We're not working with sensitive medical measuring equipment here, we're working with computer components that don't care what the waveform looks like as long as peak to peak values are low enough. Tsumi said:. I beg to differ, at Khz bandwidth, that scope will miss the majority of the noise and ripple characteristics of the power supply. It is industry standard to have an oscilloscope set to 20 Mhz bandwidth limit when specifying ripple and noise of a power supply, but that Stingray USB scope is far below that!!

Your setup and other review sites also do not account for common mode noise. If you check the ATX specification, in addition to the capacitors, they also specify the use of a differential probe such as the Tektronix P precisely for the reason of rejecting common mode noises from outside sources!!!

You guys and other review sites are only using a regular scope probe that will pick up all kinds of noise from other sources in the lab. Therefore, the noise data and ripple data are all invalid. This will be interesting to see what other EE's have to say.

I've decided to link this forum to the EEVblog and I sent a message to youtube users: w2aew and mikeselectricstuff. This could be interesting discussion to. Did they use a differential probe when they did their comparison? So you are saying that the ATX specification committee can get away with specifying a Khz bandwidth scope? Maybe we should hire you as a consultant so that you can save the manufactures of power supplies a couple of thousand dollars in testing equipment when they test for noise and ripple of power supplies.

It does not matter if you believe me or not. I follow all the EE's I know, and what I was taught. I don't think you can compete against a large crowd of EE's that would agree with me and not with you, or how all these review sites are doing their noise and ripple testing When devices are standardized, then the testing methodology MUST follow the standards set fourth, else the data is garbage.

Now if standards did not exist for noise and ripple measurements of ATX power supplies, then your post would be valid since data can just be arbitrarily picked to meet some criteria.

Not particularly as it was not the first few times we went through this. Academically yes it could be an issue, in practice the limitations of waveform do not make it worthwhile to use a means were we can not easily produce an output. Would it be nice to have a better way to visualize so we wouldn't have to cross check and have this discussion again?

For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Darkbreeze Retired Mod. Jun 24, 69, 4, , 8, Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies then somebody here likely can offer some insights or look into it.

To be clear, this is NOT a Tier list, does not include EVERY model out there that might be a good unit And there are definitely some other units out there worth using which are not mentioned here, but probably most of them are either niche models, very limited regionally or older platforms and should not be considered as any sort of be all, end all reference.

These are models that I know are good, and you won't go wrong by purchasing one of them. You can use your own judgement, along with taking the time to read actual reviews, in order to determine which are better than others or which are "good enough" for your usage.

If instead you are looking for model recommendations, then below are my somewhat short list of recommended ATX power supply models Let's start with a couple of the biggest PSU misconceptions out there.

First, that if a power supply has a lot of watts, then that is all that really matters. That's wrong. Dangerously wrong in fact. It's also very much untrue to try and say that if a unit carries a certain brand name then it has to be good.

Again, wrong. There are plenty of w units out there that I wouldn't trust to power a string of LED lights and might in fact be a much worse choice than a unit with a significantly lower listed capacity. If the platform isn't good to begin with, how many watts or amps it says it can support is irrelevant. If the platform isn't good to begin with, whether or not it has an 80plus certification is irrelevant. They use Seasonic designed platforms but are built by RSY.

They are not good units based on reviews so far and should be avoided. If that changes based on new information then I will happily remove this paragraph but until then, stay away from them if you are expecting something that is "typical" of Seasonic. These S12III models, are not. Super Flower units are usually pretty good. Be Quiet!

In MY opinion, Cooler Master and Thermaltake should be completely avoided They do have a few good units, like some of the Thermaltake Toughpower series models, but most of the models sold by both these companies are either REALLY poor or barely mediocre, and the ones they have that ARE good are usually way overpriced.

The Thermaltake TR2 and Litepower series, even the newer revisions, should probably just be avoided altogether, along with the Smart series units, which are simply not good choices for use with gaming systems. If you want to use a Smart series unit with your internet browsing machine or some kind of low powered office box, it's probably ok.

Although I'd recommend avoiding them, the Smart series units might be the best available units in some regions. That should not be mistaken for the idea that they are quality units though. This is just ONE example of why I say that.

Very new and modern CM unit. One of the worst scores ever seen on JonnyGuru for a well known brand name product.

It should be a complete embarrasment for the company, but unfortunately this is not the first time we've seen a really bad power supply come from either of these two companies. One or two of these brands listed below MIGHT have a single model or two that are cut from a completely different mold than what that brand is known for Or manufacture anything from mediocre to decent quality units under other brand names but not their own.

I have yet to see any that were of recommendable quality or in many cases even safe for use. Newer models may be fine or even good. Last edited: Aug 28, Reactions: AlexTheFern , Toddjy , kenzy9 and 9 others. WildCard Titan Moderator.

Jul 18, 21, 1, 92, 4, Edit September 23, For any who care, I have decided to move away from the list of reviews on this thread and instead focus only on models that are both currently being sold in most markets AND are units we know that nobody is going to go wrong with, whether they are on somebody's Tier 1 or Tier 3, or have no more tears. Anyhow, those of you who know who you are, if there are specific units that you think should be listed there, which fall under the "you can't go wrong with one of these" that I don't have listed there, please feel free to recommend that I add it to the list or make a note of it there for reference.

Anybody who wishes to, feel free to link to that first page if you want. Or even link to it with a note saying look what this idiot did. I couldn't really care less either way. Hopefully it helps somebody and also I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who'd prefer to see just links to that instead of spoilers on every PSU thread I post in. This may sound silly, but in some cases, mounting screws that are too long can actually cause shorts to the PCB. If the manufacturing line is set at higher than normal speeds, and the applied heat is high, there can be either fatal or minor damage to ICs and MOSFETS, both of which will in the long run or under stressful conditions eventually cause the PSU's failure.

Besides high voltage spikes, which can be caused by weather conditions i. Those high currents are also called "inrush currents," and in power supplies, the main reason for them is the charge of the bulk cap s. High voltage and current surges can be the cause of multiple component failures, including fuses, bridge rectifiers, diodes, and FETs.

Even if the PSU is equipped with an MOV surge protection and an NTC thermistor inrush current protection , it can still malfunction, especially if the voltage or current surge is too high.

This is why protection of the unit itself inside the box is crucial. Thick layers of packing foam are the best way to protect PSUs and other products, as well from rough shipping.

A great piece of information that we got after contacting our sources is this: Shipping PSUs via air cargo increases the Dead On Arrival DOA rate significantly, because the products are usually shipped in "master boxes" in the belly of passenger aircraft. This transportation method is actually cheaper than shipping on pallets with cargo aircraft. All the loading, unloading, vibration, and possible falls of the master boxes can kill a notable number of PSUs, especially if they're not adequately protected in their boxes.

We are not referring to software bugs here, but actual insects. In the past, we've encountered some PSUs from Chinese brands that feature a piece of foam between the soldering side of the PCB and the chassis, and we wondered about its purpose. It turns out the foam is supposed to keep insects away, because in some environments, ants and roaches can cause fatal short circuits by entering the PSU's internals.

But that foam is expensive, and it leaves the component side of the PCB unprotected. You cannot do much about the first six, but you can keep bugs away from your system, and a power conditioner or UPS will protect the PSU from surge voltages, brownouts, and voltage sags, which also apply huge stress to the PSU's circuits.

If you live in an area with an unstable mains grid, then the use of a quality UPS is essential. Image 1 of 3. Image 2 of 3. Image 3 of 3. Aris Mpitziopoulos.

Topics Components. See all comments Great article. I used to design power supplies for industry, and your comments are right on.