PC randomly shuts down, then restarts intermittently until it stops working.
PC randomly shuts down, then restarts intermittently until it stops working.
Seasonic units consistently show minimal ripple according to the reviews I've reviewed.
Regarding that, the Deepcool unit performs exceptionally well in this area, maintaining less than 20mV on each rail.
In contrast, group regulated units have a notable weakness: they struggle with +12V regulation during crossloads. With newer CPUs entering low power states, this becomes increasingly significant.
The +12V load regulation on the CX(0.6%) is considerably better than the CXm(1.2%), which is a crucial consideration. A stable +12V rail is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects when selecting a PSU, since all major components rely on it for power.
The voltage regulation is just one aspect when evaluating power supplies. Ripple plays an even greater role, as it affects performance significantly. A stable PSU ensures system reliability, which is crucial for consistent operation. Many enthusiasts enhance their graphics cards and CPUs through overclocking, but if the PSU struggles with high ripple, its ability to deliver stable power becomes irrelevant. Additionally, the startup time is important, since a high-quality PSU meets the ATX specifications, which are actually quite relaxed. Superior quality PSUs exceed these requirements, whereas many Corsair models fall short of the standard. Concerning the DeepCool unit mentioned in the review, it seems the build quality isn't robust enough, and the product became unstable after two years of use.
Totally agreeing with your point here, everything matters ripple, load regulation, hold up time, transients and the list goes on.
While, yes, budget oriented units have their weaknesses, because you gotta cheap out somewhere if you want to lower the cost, there are some good options out there, but you gotta be vigilant.
While the CX series is not performing great in some areas, I'm still positive on its reliability. Don't want to generalise my situation, but the CX650 I have is closing on 7 years really soon, so what's that? almost 2 years over its warranty. Currently running an RX 6800 that's UV/OCed and a 5800x3d (with some PBO2 tuning). Unit is dead silent in any situation and rock solid in terms of stability.
Now, jonnyguru actually backed the CX line up as well (I know he works for Corsair, but he has the actual numbers and I don't know him as a shill for them), while there were many pure hate comments(probably from the previous iterations), failure rate was extremely low. Even though it seemed that they had a bit more failures, they were also selling a whole bunch more units than everyone, so there's that.
Another point I wanted to touch on is reliability is not always directly linked with performance. For example the PC Power and Cooling Turbocool (reviewed by jg as I remember) was an absolute tank of a unit. On the downside though performance was not that great, under 80% efficiency, and not the best ripple and load regulation numbers. But you can't argue with the quality of components it was made of. To withstand so much additional heat because of how inefficient the unit was admirable. Now it's ancient, but I digress.
I'll say that my HXi(main rig) is not the best performing unit in its range, sure, but I dare you to find one that actually failed.
To critique Seasonic a bit here too, remember the pre 2018 Focus versions? OPP set to the moon on one of the minor rails, can't remember if it was the 5 or 3.3v + they were commonly tripping OCP on higher end cards(which were sipping power back then) due to poor transient response. Those WERE NOT budget units.
So they can slip too as every other manufacturer.
That's why we trust reviews, not brands, I think we completely agree on that.
Fully with you that if going pedal to the metal with your build, you'll never go for a budget unit, even if you do OC or not. Even in a mid to high-end ones I'll still aim for the best, but I have no problem going with something more budget if I know the internals and I'm limited in terms of how much I can spend. In the end no matter the build, you need to be way more selective when choosing the PSU in particular.
Another thing that we desperately need is more competent PSU reviewers as Aris is , sadly, the only one standing from the old guard.
We went on the biggest ever tangent here, but I love talking PSUs.