I ordered two Seasonic SS-301HT PSU's from http://www.sh-edv-vertrieb.de/ for €39,- each. Add €4,50 for one 24-pin to 20-pin converter and €20,- for shipping and handling for a total of €102,50. Of course the penny pinchers at my bank charged another €8,- for an international money transfer.
After eight days I picked up the package pictured above at the post office. It is a rather flimsy cardboard box. When I lifted it up I could hear things shifting inside.
About half the airbags in the box were deflated. There was also no shock damping material between the PSU's and the cardboard box. Luckily nothing got damaged in transit. All in all pretty lame packaging, especially if you consider the height of the shipping charge. I've ordered things from other German shops before. They only charged €5,- for shipping and handling and had sturdier packaging.
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The big question is whether this PSU is comparable to the 330W Seasonic S12. Well I can't answer that, but I can point out some things that look different and some things that look the same.
First a shot of the label on the PSU. This is a SS-301HT Active PFC T3. The T3 means this PSU needs 200V to 240V input. The reviewed S12's have F3 in their type number, meaning they can handle input from 110V to 240V. So the PSU in the picture can't be used in North America. The rail ratings and safety labels on the other hand are the same.
Pretty standard honeycomb grille. Note again the input voltage range.
Apart from the different paint job than the S12 there is nothing notable here.
This PSU has a stamped grille instead of a wire grille, but it doesn't look restrictive at all.
Only the purple (+5Vsb) and one black wire are twisted around each other. Standard Molex connectors and relative short wires.
- 30cm/11.8" .. 24-pin ATX
- 31cm/12.2" .. 4-pin P4
- 80cm/31.5" .. 3xMolex + 1xFloppy
- 56cm/22.0" .. 2xMolex + 1xFloppy
- 61cm/24.0" .. 2xSATA
Since this is the most important difference IMHO, it deserves some more attention. Here are the lengths and types of cables from the S12-430 review (near the bottom of the page).
MikeC wrote:
- 18" cable for main 24-pin ATX connector. Adapter to 20-pin adds 3~4 inches.
- 18" auxiliary 12V connector
- 19" auxiliary 4x12V connector (for dual CPU boards)
- 32" cable with three 4-pin IDE drive connectors and one floppy drive power connector
- 27" cable with two 4-pin IDE drive connectors and one floppy drive power connector
- 25" cable with two SATA drive connectors
- 21" cable with 3-pin PSU fan speed monitor connector for motherboard
The Yate Loon D12SM-12 is connected to the fan controller with a two-pin connector. No RPM sensing for this PSU.
Edit: Like the retail S12 PSU's this PSU is now manufactured with an ADDA fan. I have never heard the ADDA fans, but reports on the forum and the SPCR article indicates that the ADDA fan is louder than the Yate Loon fan.
As far as I can see all the big components are located in the same place as in the reviewed S12-430, but are a little smaller. Draw your own conclusions from this.
As this is a OEM PSU the following things are NOT included: power cable, installation guide, cable management kit, screws, 24-to-20-pin ATX adapter, warranty sheet, and a 4-pin IDE to two 5V and a 12V fan headers.
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This is by far the quietest PSU (in stock form) I have ever owned. But as it is sitting in an open bench setup with a lower power system ......
Conclusion:
I am happy with the PSU, but not happy with the supplier.
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
Edit: added cable info from S12-430 review to emphasise this difference.