[Cowcotland] Silverstone 450W Fully Modular SFX 80+ Gold rated PSU pictured - Page 5

Not really seeing as any half decent OEM makes silver/gold/platinum rated PSU's these days. So really, we are arguing the same thing just from two different perspectives

I totally agree that the efficiency rating should never be used thinking you will save money from a more efficient PSU. However, the decent PSU's are the ones that are efficient. Just look at all the decent manufacturers/OEM's, most of their PSU's are a minimum Bronze rated but over the past 12-18 months I would say silver has become the standard. With gold rated being a little bit more upmarket and obviously the platinum rated PSU's taking the cake as the top of the line PSU's.

But 80+ certification is relevant because it generally allows you to determine the good/reliable from the bad. You don't see the decent OEM's releasing 80 PLUS or 80+ bronze anymore. All the new units coming out from the likes of Seasonic, Enhance, FSP, Channel Well and Flextronics are silver minimum with gold rated quickly becoming the new standard.

Neg. And eh, Seasonic make the lower wattage Antec HCG and Neo Eco series, which are bronze rated. 80+ Plus rating is only used to measure efficiency. Nothing else.

Here you go. This is exactly why the 80+ branding scheme has been so effective. People are confusing it with quality and/or reliability

This is epic...As soon as this touches Newegg as a standalone...I'm trading my X650 for this thing.

Makes an epic ITX computer PSU.

SO CUTE <3 DO want

I would have to agree with the other's that this is something you can't use as a measure if a compnay is a good manufacturer or not. There are a ton of PSU'S out here in Asia that have the 80+ certification sticker but aren't even near close to making it as an average PSU. There were even some that used cement to mimic parts in their PSU (need to find that OCN thread) that had the 80+ certification sticker on it!

Hahahaha I'd love to see that thread!

Very true

But then again there are always going to be exceptions. Generally speaking, a unit that is gold rated is better than a bronze rated. Its a simple fact. The gold rated can only achieve gold certification because it is more efficient; in order to be more efficient it needs to have a better design and use higher quality components. Therefore, it is fair to assume that a gold rated unit is better than a silver/bronze/80+/non-certified.

There will always be cheap knock-offs, you can't do anything about that. Just look at TV's these days (or even monitors). You can get 50" full HD 600Hz plasma's from some yum-cha brand for like $500 or you can go and get a Panasonic/Samsung of the same size and specs and they will be more than twice the price. Most people will obviously see there is a quality difference, hence the price difference. To some people, they are happy to pay $500 and get the yum-cha brand because they don't care about the quality. However most people who are investing in a TV would go for the name brand for warranty and reliability purposes.

Its a similar scenario here. Yes! There most definitely are knock-offs that just slap an 80+ sticker on the housing and box. I too have heard about the cement being used in the internals. But at the end of the day MOST people, tech literate or not, would see a SHAW 1500w PSU (for example) for $50 then look at the next brand on the shelf or website like a Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, Enermax or Antec and see that an equivalent output unit is up to 8x the price (ST1500/MaxRevo 1500W are around $400). Most people in that scenario would start asking some questions as to why this one unit from SHAW is so cheap whilst the other brands are considerably higher. Generally, most people would realise that the SHAW unit is a POS and there is a reason for the price difference. I think sometimes we treat tech illiterate people like complete spastics when ultimately, pretty much everybody is capable of realising that a price difference that large must mean there is something not quite right about the cheap unit.

Hence why as a generalised statement, 80+ certification can be used to determine quality units. Especially once you start getting gold and platinum rated units. As I said, there are always exceptions but a general rule of thumb would indicate to me that Platinum cert > Gold > Silver > Bronze > 80 PLUS > non-certified. You then merely just take a look at the price of the unit compared to the competition and you will pretty quickly work out whether its a cheap knock-off that slapped the sticker on the box or if its actually a legitimate unit that you should consider.

Mate, I understand you just want to win your argument on the internets, but when you use the words "simple fact" and then go on to argue opinion based on only some incorrect assumptions then I have to react

What we're trying to explain is that efficiency and quality are not directly correlated, and it does not automatically follow that efficiency comes from "higher quality components" nor that a "better design" leads to better efficiency or quality or performance. There are so many variables, that the PSU design can only satisfy so many at a time. For example, in order to get a higher efficiency, the design engineer may have to choose components which are detrimental to the amount of ripple, or skews the voltage more under load, or slightly compromises the short-circuit protection.

Because the PSU companies know that consumers are looking for an easy way to identify which PSU is "better", this bronze/silver/gold certification became so valuable to the positive marketing aspects of a new product. So this 80PLUS certification starts to overrule other decisions. Furthermore, we can't make the judgement based on the results of the company who does the 80PLUS efficiency testing, because they don't look at anything else but efficiency. They just measure AC-in compared to DC-out over various levels of current. They don't even test under extreme conditions, just at room temperature, with a steady power source, and not even with any PC components connected.

Best to make a comparison of the automotive industry. Think of an "eco" car that does 100km to the gallon and at the same time must exhaust less than 100g/km of CO2. Will it also achieve these numbers when driven hard in real road conditions, as opposed to just on the rollers? Sure you can broadly say that the quality of the parts for such a car must be of a certain standard, and the design will have been more rigorous than otherwise. But think now if that car didn't have the "eco" restrictions, they could probably make a similar design which would have a higher top speed, better response, better handling and could have a reduced cost of maintenance.

So it's also true with power supplies. By buying into the idea that efficiency is the most important variable in PSU design, we are leaving other important aspects at the wayside.

As I understand,

80 plus ratings are simply based on efficiency. It doesn't weigh in any other aspects so judging a PSU's quality and design on simply the rating is quite neglectful.
Edited by Nutty Pumpkin - 6/19/12 at 3:37am