The Seasonic PRIME Titanium PSU (650W, 750W, 850W) Review: Mythical Performance
by E. Fylladitakis on April 7, 2017 9:00 AM ESTConclusion
In this review we had a look at Seasonic’s latest top series, the PRIME Titanium 650W, 750W and 850W PSUs. They are not the most powerful models on the market designed for quad-GPU beats, but they are the technologically best units that Seasonic is currently offering to consumers.
It is slightly ironic to label these units as Seasonic’s “technological pinnacle”, because they are not using any of the latest “leading” topologies or technologies. As a matter of fact, their core topology is relatively common and simple; just a typical input bridge converter and APFC circuit, a resonant LLC full bridge on the primary with synchronous rectification on the secondary. It is a configuration that we have seen many times in the past, yet no other designer before Seasonic has ever reached such performance figures with it.
Seasonic made it easy for us to summarize the entirety of these units’ performance in just one word: mythical. The very high efficiency that easily broke the 80Plus Titanium certification requirements with 230V AC input was a small surprise at first, but surprise turned to shock when we began testing the units inside our hotbox. Not only the high ambient temperatures hardly shook the efficiency of the units, the power quality and voltage regulation figures were just incredible.
The AnandTech Recommended Award
For the Seasonic PRIME Titanium Series
Before testing these three units, we would not believe that such performance would be possible with a consumer-grade PC PSU.
In terms of quality, Seasonic did not hold back at all. We found only top-tier quality components in the PRIME Titanium PSUs, even down to the least significant elements of the design. The fact that the three units that we have tested display almost indistinguishable performance under the same load conditions suggests that there are no discrepancies due to component characteristics. Seasonic covers the PRIME Titanium units with a 12-year warranty, which is more than reassuring. The only small issue here is that the designer had to sacrifice some acoustics performance to ensure that the internal temperatures of the units will remain very low, even under very adverse operating conditions.
So perhaps the only real enemy of the new Seasonic PRIME Titanium series is their own retail price tag. Seasonic aims to be the best vendor with their OEM designs, and it all comes at a cost. With the 650W, 750W and 850W units retailing for $160, $175 and $200 respectively, many regular users will be satisfied with the performance of an “average” 80Plus Gold certified unit that will cost half as much, or even less. With all that being said, the retail price of these three units is not forbiddingly high - super high end PSUs reaching 1200W and above can come in at similar W/$.
But for these price tags, you get one of the most stunning PSU designs available today, combined with high efficiencies and a long warranty to back it up.
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DanNeely - Saturday, April 8, 2017 - link
If Seasonic wanted to make a status connector to the mobo, they could just terminate it in a plug for a USB2 header like the one company currently making them is.EasyListening - Monday, April 10, 2017 - link
Does it do RGB?SkipPerk - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
It does not do RGB because it is VR-ready!blahsaysblah - Sunday, April 9, 2017 - link
No, PS internals have gotten a lot better. The cabling/connectors have not kept up.As i went through the effort of having my latest PC have all custom power cables(not for looks), i researched quite a bit and than having done it(not just read/talk), the connectors and cabling can stand to get modernized quite a bit.
These connectors were designed for a time when the vision and landscape for PCs was very different. Everyone was going to have their own. Like how each house had multiple TVs. TV numbers have died off as the landscape has changed. So have PCs. The internals and toolings should match the new PC user. Grandma/pa/person who doesnt need it: they use smartphone/tablet/laptop. It's very much a power user.
status??? how about temperature, so you could have system fans do the heavy lifting? or give the OS a chance to do something about a bad situation?
Alexvrb - Tuesday, April 11, 2017 - link
OK, I get adding "status" output (even though it's a pretty dry and useless data stream to stare at if you have a PSU that's so rock solid it can run for a decade straight without twitching). But how exactly do you propose they "modernize" the cabling and connectors? Not even considering that changing connectors to a new standard for no good reason (other than to piss all over existing standards that work fine) seems silly, there's other issues too. Someone else mentioned it already but it bears repeating: if you reduce the number of wires, but you still need to carry the same amount of current, you MUST move to heavier gauge wires. That means thick, less flexible cabling that people would hate. Does that sound modern? What's the benefit? Are you a better engineer just waiting to show off your superior designs?Asryan - Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - link
I have the 850w but I'm experiencing gpu coil whine..I had read that this kind of coil whine is not dangerous for the devices , whether it is the power supply or the graphics card, could you confirm it to me.
What is weird is that the noise occurs at + 30FPS +, i've limited FPS to find out it does not occurs only at high fps as i was used to with coil whining GPU... I try to play with the sliders of MSI afterburner and I can hear that the sound changes .
After that I only hear it if the fans are at their lowest and the panel is open so if it is certain that it cannot harm my configuration, it is not very serious but I would like to be sure.
However I would like to understand because the problem arises with:
2 different graphics cards (EVGA FTW3 2080ti and Asus Strix 2080ti Oc that someone gave me for test purposes). The two cards do not make this noise in another config
2 power supplies of the same model (Seasonic Ultra Prime titanium 850w)
2 motherboards of the same model. Asus Maximus Hero XI
Cstate on and off
Mod cable cables or original cable
it's driving me crazy mostly because I don't understand WHY but I'm pretty sure it's psu related..
bill.rookard - Friday, April 7, 2017 - link
I have to say, I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of the power coming out of those units. The ripple figures are insane (in a good way!). Considering that I'm looking for a new PSU - this may be 'the one' even at a $160-180 price tag.helvete - Friday, June 16, 2017 - link
Exactly. shame they don't offer some 400 - 450W variant.Shadowmaster625 - Friday, April 7, 2017 - link
It is nice to know that if you pay an extra $70 for a power supply, namely a whopping $4-10 a year in electricity savings! Boy, high efficiency sure does pay for itself dont it?Phiro69 - Friday, April 7, 2017 - link
Written like a true Republican.