SPCR

Hi,

As mentioned in my previous post, I fried my 500W EarthWatts. I would like to know if anybody has had any experiences with the Seasonic oem unit SS-400ET at 400W.

I'm aiming to power the components listed below:

Gigabyta GA-P35-DS3R motherboard
Pentium 4 630 at 3.0GHz
2x 1GB DDR2 sticks
1 DVD-ROM reader
1 DVD-RW burner
3x 7200rpm sata hard drives
eVga Geforce 8800 GT 512 card
D-Link wifi pci card
possibly in the future an additional sound card

I would like to know if 400 watts are sufficient or I should get a 500 watt power supply.

Thanks for all your help.

I've used this PSU for a system like this:

Asus P5K Pro
E4500 @ 3.2GHz
2xDDR2
1xDVD-RW drive
2xHDD WD5000AAKS
HD3850
...it works great, but the fan in PSU is more noisy, it seems that the fan regulator spinns the fan at high rpm, more (500ET) will be better (more quiet)...

more (500ET) will be better (more quiet)...

no reason why that should be the case, if both have same efficiency & fan controller PCB. 400W is enough, max draw is 225W.

Hi,

Nice to find an existing discussion on these models. It certainly wasn't here in early January, when I first learned that a local vendor is going to stock the SS-400ET and the SS-500ET.

http://www.seasonic.com/product/pc_atx.jsp

These models are Seasonic-branded OEM parts from the same generation as the S12-II and derivatives (Corsair VX450W, Antec EarthWatts). They are 80Plus-certified, too. Looking at the 80Plus reports for the retail S12-II SS-500GB and the SS-500ET, one would be hard pressed to spot a difference. The efficiency and voltage results come out pretty much the same.

http://80plus.org/manu/psu_80plus/psu_d ... onics%20Co.

Gudas wrote:...it works great, but the fan in PSU is more noisy, it seems that the fan regulator spinns the fan at high rpm

Sorry to hear about that. Are you sure the noise is coming from the PSU fan and not any other component? You can stop the fan by hand for a moment to check that. When you say that it's more noisy, what do you compare it to?

Can anyone share a better experience noise-wise?

Also, has anyone been able to open up the PSU and see what's inside. I'd like to learn about the fan and the caps. Especially the caps. I've recently come across a thread at badcaps.net where someone reported that his OEM Seasonic SS-650JT uses Taiwanese capacitors, which is a significant step down in component quality from the all-Japanese capacitor design of the retail S12.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread ... 826&page=1

Does anyone know if it's the same deal with the ETs?

line wrote: Sorry to hear about that. Are you sure the noise is coming from the PSU fan and not any other component? You can stop the fan by hand for a moment to check that. When you say that it's more noisy, what do you compare it to?

Yes, it's coming from the PSU. I dont hawe the system here now, i've build it, now my friend use it. He says that it is pretty quiet, but i dont think so. Maybe i'm just a little bit more demanding.
There was no noisy fans in that PC, just one Noctua NF-P12 @ ULNA (900rpm) and one regulated 800rpm Noctua NF/S12.
The sound was like a hum from the high airflow, coming right from the PSU. I've stopped the other fans, it remains.
In other system that i've build, with E2160, 1xHDD, 2xDDR2, Gigabyte P35-DS3 and ATI X300SE, this PSU was deadly silent. Even with a small upgrade (OC to 2.6GHz, 7600GT, 4xDDR2), it is still inaudible.

But the thing is, that for me that system was loud, but my friend was excited about how quiet it is...
These Seasonic PSUs are the quietest that i ever hold in my hands, but i think that when it comes to high power draws, it can be noisy like other regular PSUs...

Oh, and the fan inside is ADDA i think, just like other Seasonic PSUs.

He says that it is pretty quiet, but i dont think so. Maybe i'm just a little bit more demanding.

This sounds familiar.

Anyway, unless you were seriously overvolting E4500 CPU such that it puts out considerably more heat than it does at stock settings, there was really no reason for the PSU to ramp up in that configuration. Perhaps the fan controller in the SS-400ET is, indeed, more sensitive to temperature changes than the one in the retail S12-II.

Well, the SS440-HT is quite nice (and pretty quiet)...if the ET series is anything like the HT series, then I think you will be happy with it. The only issue I found with the HT was a lack of PCIe power connector, so I rolled my own using the EPS12V connection. This shouldn't be a problem with the ET series.

-D

Hi Gudas we meet here like on another forum - you know what i mean .

But lets go to ET Seasonic. I take some photos from inside, there are RLS/RLP and OST Capacitors.

Some info about NOISE from ET Seasonics. They are louder, but still acceptable in normal silent machines. As line write i think there is problem perhaps in the fan controller in the SS-400ET which is more sensitive to temperature changes than the one in the retail S12-II. This is not also a problem, but normal feature.

Here are photos from Seasonic SS-500ET:

It's not uncommon for OEM PSUs to be optimized more for server type applications. As you probably know, many small businesses use standard PCs as servers, and many such machines are built by small system integrators using off the shelf OEM parts. My hunch is that Seasonic may tweak the fan controller for their OEM PSUs to have higher airflow than the retail models, which strongly emphasize low noise.

Hi!

One of my friend just bought the Seasonic SS-400ET, and we are very much disappointed that it came without any packaging, no power chord, no screws, no user manual, nothing was given with the PSU. Just the PSU itself.

I read above that this is an OEM PSU from Seasonic? Can you verify this?

Regarding to compare with S12-II, which is better ?

Thanks!
batka

batka wrote:Hi!

One of my friend just bought the Seasonic SS-400ET, and we are very much disappointed that it came without any packaging, no power chord, no screws, no user manual, nothing was given with the PSU. Just the PSU itself.

I read above that this is an OEM PSU from Seasonic? Can you verify this?

Regarding to compare with S12-II, which is better ?

Thanks!
batka

"Very much disappointed" that you didn't get all the useless fluff? Presumably you paid less w/o all the usual retail packaging and PR? A manual? what for?? Surely you have a spare AC cord and some standard PC screws!?

Just go look at www.seasonic.om for details -- it is indeed a bulk PSU meant for system integrators. This is the only kind of PSU that was available for DIY-ers until Enermax and Antec came along to "monetize" the sector for retail buyers.

Between the S12II and the bulk Seasonic models, there is not much to choose between. Same Bronze 80+ efficiency, same ATX12V v2.3 compliance, same S2FC fan controller. Maybe shorter cables on the bulk models?

MikeC wrote:

batka wrote:Hi!

One of my friend just bought the Seasonic SS-400ET, and we are very much disappointed that it came without any packaging, no power chord, no screws, no user manual, nothing was given with the PSU. Just the PSU itself.

I read above that this is an OEM PSU from Seasonic? Can you verify this?

Regarding to compare with S12-II, which is better ?

Thanks!
batka

"Very much disappointed" that you didn't get all the useless fluff? Presumably you paid less w/o all the usual retail packaging and PR? A manual? what for?? Surely you have a spare AC cord and some standard PC screws!?

Just go look at http://www.seasonic.om for details -- it is indeed a bulk PSU meant for system integrators. This is the only kind of PSU that was available for DIY-ers until Enermax and Antec came along to "monetize" the sector for retail buyers.

Between the S12II and the bulk Seasonic models, there is not much to choose between. Same Bronze 80+ efficiency, same ATX12V v2.3 compliance, same S2FC fan controller. Maybe shorter cables on the bulk models?

Over here we get 3 year warrenty on the ETs and 5 years on the S-12s.

Since my early posts in this thread, I've bought tens of SS-400ETs and I can confirm they're good and stable, and not noticeably louder than S12.

As for the differences vs. the S12: shorter cables (a significant drawback since you can't install them in an upside down case), only 3 years of warranty, no sleeving, cheaper capacitors (not all-Japanese), fewer connectors (the 400ET does not have a 6-pin graphics connector). In some variants the 24-pin ATX cable is not splittable, in case that matters.

OK!
Thanks a lot for answer for you all!

Then it's OK. The OEM packaging was just surprising because we didn't know that it is delivered as "bulk". I'm using 3 of the S12-II, and it came with all the fancy stuff.

Thanks a lot for infos. Then I'm not worrying anymore.
Regards
batka