S12II 430 or VX450?

[mexell]

Apparently, my NeoHE430, powering my sig system (E6420, Gigabyte 965P-DS3, 2GB DDR2, 8600GTS, usual drives) died. So now I need a replacement. I'm thinking of the models mentioned above. Cost difference here is about 10€ in favour of the VX. Which would you choose, and why?

[merlin]

Apparently, my NeoHE430, powering my sig system (E6420, Gigabyte 965P-DS3, 2GB DDR2, 8600GTS, usual drives) died. So now I need a replacement. I'm thinking of the models mentioned above. Cost difference here is about 10€ in favour of the VX. Which would you choose, and why?

Well if the VX is cheaper, I'd pick that. There's few major differences between those psu's, although corsair's seasonic design is specific to them.

[Scoop]

Personally, I'm waiting for the M12II-430 to show up in stores here, which is.. well modular for one, and has the two PCIe 6-pin cables of the S12II-430 AND the 6 SATA connectors of the VX450, but I'm not in a dire need of a new psu right now.

So it really comes down to which you need more, the second PCIe cable to power a 8800 GTX for example, or the additional 2 SATA connectors for hard drives and such.

[dhanson865]

The VX450 is better on a number of counts. The main cap is rated for 105c instead of 85c as in the earthwatts and s12-430. The fan controller has a flatter curve giving you less noise at higher temps. There are other points but I wouldn't take the s12 over the VX unless there was a big price difference.

Code: Select all

Model       Output (W)  65      90      150     200     250     300     380/400/430
        Efficiency                                                    as appropriate
Earth Watts 430         75.6%   78.3%   81.0%   83.5%   83.2%   82.4%   78.5%*
     S12II-380          79.4%   81.5%   82.1%   84.0%   83.4%   83.5%   80.2%*
Corsair VX450W          79.1%   80.1%   82.6%   84.8%   83.3%   83.0%   81.8%
Corsair HX520W          72.5%   77.1%   81.0%   84.5%   85.2%   85.1%   81.3%

         Temp Rise (°C)
EarthWatts 430           5       6       6       7       5       7      12*
S12II-380                4       7       9      11      14      14      14*
VX450W                   3       3       4       7       9      11      16
HX520W                   4       4       7       9      12      13      12

         Noise (dBA@1m)
Earth Watts 430         22      22      22      24      29      37      43*
S12II-380               21      21      21      21      25      31      39*
VX450W                  21      21      21      21      22      26      35
HX520W                  22      22      22      22      22      22      29

[mexell]

Thanks for the advice, and sorry for the late reply. I had to choose the S12II, just because the shop where I wanted to buy the VX closed before me - although I called in ten minutes before and told them that I was going to come.

I'm satisfied anyway (not with the shop), and I don't think that my system in a P180 can stress the PSU to a point where I could notice a difference.