Do PSU tier lists actually need to be believed, especially regarding 80+ certifications?
Do PSU tier lists actually need to be believed, especially regarding 80+ certifications?
He has some valid concerns about those PSU tier lists, especially regarding their reliability. His advice about 80+ certifications covering both energy efficiency and power safety is reasonable. Current sources confirm that such certifications do provide important safety standards beyond mere efficiency ratings.
Since he isn’t familiar with what 80 Plus means, I question whether his views should be considered important on other matters. From their own website:
80+ is essentially just an efficiency benchmark.
It doesn't really address safety at all. You could be certified 80+ with minimal safety features, like a grounded chassis only.
Cybenetics tries to improve this by evaluating factors such as ripple and heat, comparing them to the ATX standard and their own rating method.
Many 80+ and 80+ Bronze devices are still subject to group regulation and have poor ripple performance. Don't forget the low-temperature testing and the misleading claims about combined wattage. Quality power supplies usually display their full certification on just the 12V connections, omitting details for 5V and 3.3V.
There are also fake 85 Plus and 90 Plus labels appearing on various power supply designs.
Since he isn't even familiar with what 80 Plus means, I question whether his views should be considered credible on this topic. From their own website:
That's essentially it—80 Plus simply means power efficiency. It doesn’t verify overcurrent or overheating protection, voltage regulation, or ripple suppression. It also doesn’t confirm the use of high-quality capacitors or reliable components that might be found in a warehouse in Qingdao. Additionally, it doesn’t assess whether the design uses outdated topology or group regulation methods.
Tier lists aren’t flawless either, as no one’s judgment is perfect. However, they generally rely on genuine reviews of power supplies that include disassembly (not just superficial YouTube clips and certainly not customer feedback from online marketplaces). There’s enough insight to understand what each component actually does.