Seasonic claims Gold standard with new X-series PSUs

PSU manufacturers appear to be in a race to release supplies with the 80 PLUS Gold certification, defined as having at least 87 per cent efficiency at 20 per cent and full load of the rated value, in addition to 90 per cent at 50 per cent load.

Seasonic, being both an OEM and retail manufacturer, has three current PSUs with the coveted Gold certification, and the latest does so in spite of the the slight handicap imposed by using modular connectors.

To be released at COMPUTEX this year, the Seasonic X-Series will be launched with 550W, 650W, and 750W capacities, and thus providing around 90 per cent efficiency in the range of watts pulled by most reasonably high-end rigs.

Rated to 50C at the stated wattage, the X-Series will also be available in fully-modular form in H2 2009. A single Sanyo Denki 120mm fan cools the unit, and full-retail models will feature a brand-new fan-controller, we were told.

Expect the X-Series to challenge the likes of Enermax's Revolution when out later on this year. Pricing, though, will be confirmed during COMPUTEX.

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With the current push for efficiency, saving electricity, greener computing et al. where are the mainstream low wattage 80%+ PSUs ?
550W, 650W and 750W equate to 110W, 130W and 150W at the 20% load range; that's more than many desktops under full load.

The new Mac mini is meant to idle at less than 13 watts, that could be the power loss due to inefficiencies for many PSUs on such low power draw systems.
Take the 80% efficient Corsair VX450W (a very good PSU);
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article751-page4.html
According to the above figures, with a 21.5 W output (less than the Mac mini needs at idle and the lowest figure published) it's reportedly drawing 35 W from the wall with a calculated efficiency of 61.3%. If you bring the power draw down to the Mac mini's 13W idle, then I'm guessing the efficiency is going to be lower still, all of a sudden that 87% is looking quite far away.
N.B.The power draw at the wall is a bit higher than it would be here as running equipment at 120V AC isn't as efficient as running it at 240V AC.
There are options for low power computers, so it can be done if the manufacturers wanted to, but they're not standard formats, which creates its own issues, and aren't being publicized enough.
The race for efficiency is all well and good but not at such high power draws. When you have PSUs that can run 5 quad core machines by themselves: 5 Full Systems on 1 x Real Power M1000W then something needs to be looked at.

Yo,

These have retail availability now (supposedly) - any chance of a review?

Cheers,

Su

I'll ditto amdavies, we need lower wattage ones too!

Seasonic claims Gold standard with new X-series PSUs

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