Seasonic S12 600: Efficient And Quiet

07:00 - Monday 11 July 2005 by Frank Völkel
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: stress, test

Table of content:
24 – Seasonic S12 600: Efficient An...
  1. 1 – Profits Or Quality?
  2. 2 – Still An Eldorado? 600 Percent Profit Margin Possible
  3. 3 – Our Motivation - Why Are We Running PSUs Constantly Under Full Load?
  4. 4 – Test Methodology
  5. 5 – Stressing With Highly Accurate Electronic Loads
  6. 6 – Noise Level And Measurement Of Temperatures
  7. 7 – Data Collection And Live Upload
  8. 8 – AcBel ATX-550CA -AB8FM: Failure - But 10-Year Warranty
  9. 9 – Antec Phantom 500: Quiet With High Efficiency
  10. 10 – Antec True Power 2.0: Mediocre Efficiency
  11. 11 – Aopen Prima Power 700: Super Results - No SLI
  12. 12 – BeQuiet BQT B5-520W-S1.3: Loose Transistor Triggers Failure
  13. 13 – Cooler Master Real Power RS-550-ACLY: Shutdown At Full Load
  14. 14 – Enermax Coolergiant EG485AX-VHB(W): Flawed Former Champ
  15. 15 – Enermax Noisetaker EG701AX-VE(W): Perfect Connections And Quiet
  16. 16 – Epower Silent Engine Xscale 470: Loud At Full Load
  17. 17 – Fortron FSP300-60GNF: Soundless With High Efficiency
  18. 18 – HEC AcePower ACE580UB: Failure At High Load
  19. 19 – Hiper Type R580: Not Within Specifications
  20. 20 – Jeantech Arctic JN120F-600AP12V2: Average Results
  21. 21 – OCZ PowerStream 600W - Features
  22. 22 – PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510: Very Loud At Full Load
  23. 23 – PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 850 SSI: Excellent Price And Performance
  24. 24 – Seasonic S12 600: Efficient And Quiet
  25. 25 – Silverstone ST65ZF: Loud And Inefficient But Low-Cost
  26. 26 – Spire SP-500W: High Noise Levels At Full Load
  27. 27 – Features Tables
  28. 28 – Efficiency
  29. 29 – Load - Total Power Sustained
  30. 30 – Ripple On 3.3V Rail

Seasonic S12 600: Efficient And Quiet

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THG recommends Seasonic for its 600 watt S12, a highly efficient and quiet power supply.

The graphic above shows the power supply connections and their length in centimeters. The cable lengths are pretty short for a test champion - perhaps Seasonic will go back and change this to make customers happy.
Features

One thing unusual in this power supply unit is the SLI certification from NVIDIA, something very few manufacturers have received. When unpacking the power supply unit, the tangle of cables is conspicuous, and the cables are not pluggable. On the positive side are the Molex connectors with Easy Swap Connectors, flaps that enable ease of swapping.

Packaging of the Seasonic in the 500 watt version - we have the 600 watt version in our test

View of the Seasonic S12 with 600 watts.

Component package of the Seasonic with power cable, wire loom and user manual

Cable harness of the Seasonic S12
Test Results: Test Run Without Problems

The Seasonic S12 of the 600 watt class has completed our challenging test track without problems. Load as well as measurements of the Ripple test are within spec.

Input: 719 watts (213 volts, 3.38 ampere, cosphi 0.97)

Output: 600 watts (24.2 ampere/3.3 volts, 20.0 ampere/5 volts and twice 16.7 ampere on 12 volts)

Efficiency at maximum load: 83.4 percent (119 watts dissipation)

Noise reading at maximum load: 59 dB(A) in 12 centimeter gaps

For the first 12-volts cable it's 11.87 volts, for the second 12-volts voltage (CPU) it's 11.87 volts, the -12-volts cable creates -11.63 volts, for the 5-volts cable we measure 4.96 volts and for the 3.3-volts cable it's 3.21 volts. The 5-volts standby cable comes in at 4.87 volts.

Ripple measurement with the storage oscillo-scope: Excellent values are demonstrated here, the 12-volt-CPU fluctuates by 40 mV - it's 25 mV for the 3.3-volt cable.

Seasonic S12 (600 watts)
Test Phase 1
Test Description Lower Limit Upper Limit Result
Increase load from 20% to 100% of nominal load limit 120 watts 600 watts Passed
Test Phase 2
Test Description Load Result
Steady load at 100% nominal load 600 watts Passed
Test Phase 3
Voltage Stability
Power Rail Measurement Min/Max according to ATX Spec. Result
+ 3.3 V + 3.21 V +/- 5% (+3.14 to +3.46 V) Passed
+ 5 V + 4.96 V +/- 5% (+4.76 to +5.25 V) Passed
+ 12 V + 11.76 V +/- 5% (+11.4 to +12.6 V) Passed
+ 12 V CPU + 11.87 V +/- 5% (+11.4 to +12.6 V) Passed
+ 5 V Standby + 4.87 V +/- 5% (+4.76 to +5.25 V) Passed
- 12 V - 11.76 V +/- 10% (-10.8 to -13.2 V) Passed
Ripple
Power Rail Measurement Min/Max according to ATX Spec. Result
+3.3 V 25 mV 50 mV (Peak-Peak) Passed
+12 V CPU 40 mV 120 mV (Peak-Peak) Passed
Further Data
Value Measurement
Noise Level (max.) 59 dB(A)
Voltage 212 V
Current 3.38 A
Cos Phi (Distorsion of Phase) 0.97
Efficiency 83.4%

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