Seasonic Platinum Series 860W - Platinum without the Fuss
by Martin Kaffei on February 24, 2012 12:00 AM ESTDelivery Contents, Power Rating, and Fan
The contents of the Platinum 860W package are not as extensive as those of the MaxRevo series from Enermax. However, you still get two different types of cable ties, a user guide, a bag with the modular connectors, screws for installing the PC power supply in the case, a small screwdriver, and a Seasonic sticker. The ATX power supply itself is well protected from dust and dirt with a cloth bag.
One interesting feature is that Seasonic uses a high quality fan from Sanyo Denki, with a twist. As we will see when we take a closer look to the case, there's a small switch next to the modular sockets. This switch allows users to choose between active mode (the fan will always spin, even if slowly) or semi-passive operation. If the latter is selected, the fan won't rotate at loads below 40%. The idea is similar to what Seasonic offered with their X-Series, but now users have the ability to choose non-passive operation if they prefer a small amount of airflow. Seasonic also provides a 7-year warranty, though of course that doesn't say anything about the actual quality of service or support.
Similar to the X-Series the +3.3V and +5V outputs are rated at 25A each. Together these can deliver up to 125W (so it's not actually possible to draw the maximum current from both simultaneously). Meanwhile the more important +12V output is very powerful and can reach up to 852W output, though in practice the +3.3V and +5V will use some of the available power. +5VSB is rated at 3A. The first parts of the serial number tell us that this power supply was produced in December 2011.
Seasonic installed a 9S1212F04 fan from Sanyo Denki, which we've seen in many other expensive power supplies. This fan uses very good ball bearings and has seven fan blades. Seasonic covers part of the fan by a plastic foil in order to better direct airflow and reduce turbulence. In contrast to the earlier design of the X-Series, the fan speed cannot be adjusted by the duty cycle (PWM). Antec has a patent in this area and Seasonic acquired a restricted license only; thus, the fan speed regulation uses different voltages to control RPMs. With 0.19A the fan has a moderate maximum current use.
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Exodite - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Many thanks for an excellent review, the technical details is what keeps bringing me back to AnandTech.I'm currently using a Seasonic SS460-FL myself, the 460W X-Series fanless model, and it's been all but perfect. The only issue is what I'd consider the high electrical noise, something the unit shared with the M12 2 800W model it replaced, but it's tolerable in a suitably isolated case.
Before I scare anyone off by that comment I should note that I'm extremely picky about noise, to the point that I'm running the two 140m fans on my CPU cooler (a Noctua NH-C14) at 750RPM because anything above that is too loud to my taste.
Like many other posters here I will continue buying Seasonic PSUs for the foreseeable future due to their impeccable quality and performance. Skimping on what's essentially the heart and circulatory system of your computer always struck me as ill-advised.
Martin Kaffei - Saturday, February 25, 2012 - link
Some fanless PSUs had a noisy PFC choke, the source might be magnetostriction. Often a magnetic field is not constant because current changes or other inductivities trouble the choke. This deforms the materials and makes such noises.Since there is no fan noise you can hear the electrical noise much better. In truth the electrical noises are at the same level as always.
dj christian - Thursday, March 1, 2012 - link
So you'r running only the CPU-fans? Are the rest passive?kensiko - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
Good but did you review the Kingwin (Super flower) ? I saw some reviews and everybody agrees that the components are of high quality.I did buy a Kingwin and I class it as good as Seasonic (I owned a Seasonic before)
kensiko - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
I'm talking about the Lazer Platinum Series for sure.Beenthere - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
IME few reviewers consider Super Flower/Kingwin in the same class as Seasonic.palindrome - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
You must not read PSU reviews then...Breit - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
You say that this 860W model is the best PSU SeaSonic has to offer, but what about the 1000W unit SS-1000XP released in Q4-2011? I thought it is actually the same PSU with higher ratings?! It even has the 80 PLUS Platinum label and also has exceptionally good efficiency over a wide range of loads well above 90% from 20% load to 100% load. I think it should at least get mentioned in the article. The Gold-units from SeaSonic you are referring to were released in 2010 i think.Besides that thanks for this very good article, its always a pleasure reading anadtech.
Martin Kaffei - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
It is fair to say Seasonic made the best current series, but I didn't test the (original) 1KW version yet.Conscript - Friday, February 24, 2012 - link
You talk about how great they are, but no pics?