SPCR

I was kind of expecting this after 80plus gold became kind of routine for many psu makers and they put out a 220v version of platinum. Interesting efficiency numbers selected for 80plus platinum at 90-92-89% efficiency for the 20-50-100 range respectively. So it's not quite 90plus. Maybe they'll come up with a 90plus next at 91-93-90 or something. :p Honestly at this point, it seems like even gold is more than enough efficiency for any of us, but more marketing points I guess.

And the only certified one so far is a 450w fsp, surprising to say the least.
http://80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/ ... ev%202.pdf

I'm guessing we'll see a lot more of these next major psu refresh cycle in 2011 or so.

The question is will it become widely available. A lot of the early Gold-Models seemed to be more proof-of-concept than ready-for-retail.

i heard supermicro is planning a few cases with platinum psu's; but i haven't heard anything about planned release dates yet...

though they still list their 1400w gold level case/psu combos as coming soon, and they've been on the market for months... dont know how much credence to actually give any information from their site i guess.

as for consumer level products... maybe holiday season for the first rushed units, though i wouldnt expect widespread availability until maybe summer 2011.

fumino wrote:i heard supermicro is planning a few cases with platinum psu's; but i haven't heard anything about planned release dates yet...

though they still list their 1400w gold level case/psu combos as coming soon, and they've been on the market for months... dont know how much credence to actually give any information from their site i guess.

as for consumer level products... maybe holiday season for the first rushed units, though i wouldnt expect widespread availability until maybe summer 2011.

I would think anything rushed for this year is probably going to be "crap" like sirtec platinums... it's kind of like how the high quality golds only started coming out for real a few months ago.

Part of the problem, aside from technology, is the cost / benefit. The components needed to achieve platinum, in terms of not just price but availability and delivery may make it not worth the small incremental increase in efficiency. As well, if the volume does not rise up in the market, then the cost of production will be too high as well.

If it were Seasonic's name on the 80+ Platinum PSU it would not be a "small incremental increase" over 80+Gold, we'd all be singing the praises of the spanking new Seasonic with the "difficult to attain 80 Plus Platinum" rating.

The 80+ database is flooded with Gold ratings. The platinum rated PSUs can be counted on one finger.
Any increase in efficiency should be celebrated. At least after a good thrashing by our beloved SPCR.

deadbolt wrote:If it were Seasonic's name on the 80+ Platinum PSU it would not be a "small incremental increase" over 80+Gold

Is the taste a bit sarcastic?

Regards,
Luca

Delta has a platinum rated supply now as well (1U but hey better than nothing). Gold is now only second best.
http://80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/ ... Report.pdf

Seasonic Rep wrote:Part of the problem, aside from technology, is the cost / benefit. The components needed to achieve platinum, in terms of not just price but availability and delivery may make it not worth the small incremental increase in efficiency. As well, if the volume does not rise up in the market, then the cost of production will be too high as well.

Even gold is completly pointless for people not running their machine 24/7.

There's around 5 to 10 years till you get to break even point of M620 vs X-650 for example with normal usage.

Even if you run your computer 24/7, simply using energy-efficient parts or undervolting you will achieve better performance-per-watt than trying to squeeze another 2% out of the PSU's efficiency.

The real kicker factors in production cost. Generally, production cost is reflected in retail cost. If a platinum power supply is $200 and a gold power supply is $100, that usually indicates the R&D as well as production costs are higher and possibly (likely?) higher for the more expensive unit. Now the only way to drive the overall market is to push the extreme ends, but it's funny to think that you might have a higher carbon footprint by buying a platinum power supply, with it's greater production cost and consumption than to get a silver or gold power supply for a computer only run 1500 hours a year at an average of 90 watts for example.

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy the most efficient hardware, but there certainly is the possibility your total impact is higher for PC's that run far below 75% of rated capacity (such as a PC that draws only 90 watts from a 650 watt rated PS) for only a few hours a day. Then of course, there's the option of pushing an old 80+ power supply into an extra 1 or 2 years of service versus buying new. Kind of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" angle of consumption, where pushing an older, less efficient unit into extra years of service still has a lower impact than replacing it every 2-3 years with the latest hardware.

This is where total system efficiency gets fun, when you push the time frame out to 7-10 years instead of new builds and just calculating a fresh 3 year time frame every 3 years.

Bobert wrote:Delta has a platinum rated supply now as well (1U but hey better than nothing). Gold is now only second best.
http://80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/ ... Report.pdf

If you click on the 230V tab of the list, you'll see that there are a total of 17 platinum rated power supplies. The 230V ones I've checked all accept 115V input voltage too.

Whether they still are rated platinum at that voltage is unclear. Note that the required efficiencies for Platinum rating are higher at 230V than at 115V.

As for the reason for the difference in amount of rated PSUs at 115V vs 230V: I would speculate that this is the market size for high efficiency PSUs.

dZeus wrote:As for the reason for the difference in amount of rated PSUs at 115V vs 230V: I would speculate that this is the market size for high efficiency PSUs.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's because the AC/DC conversion is more efficient at higher AC input voltages.

atmartens wrote:

FrankL wrote:As for the reason for the difference in amount of rated PSUs at 115V vs 230V: I would speculate that this is the market size for high efficiency PSUs.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's because the AC/DC conversion is more efficient at higher AC input voltages.

It is. But as I mentioned, the required efficiency percentages for Platinum rating are higher at 230V. I cannot confirm that this difference will cover the loss of efficiency at 115V for the tested PSUs. However, I assume that it at least is the reason for the difference in required percentages for platinum rating between 115V and 230V.

Of course the big impediment to getting higher efficiencies is not engineering, but naming. As seen so often before, they started out naming these versions without a clear extension path.

What comes after Platinum?

Rhodium? (Circa $2,000/oz)

Plutonium? (Said to be about $4,000/oz, but hard to find pricing information).
http://www.nbl.doe.gov/htm/lists/pluton ... e_list.htm

Nature preserve?
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11 ... eturns.php

Almost surely "diamond".

Regards,
Luca

I bet they will turn to "90 plus" and start all over again:
90+ ; 90+ bronze ; 90+ silver ; 90+ gold...

And then 95+...

And then 97+

All that can create the chance for as many models as possible so we consumers feel impeled to update as many times as possible...

OddSilence, you're making me wonder what the maximum theoretical limit for efficiency in a switching power supply could be. I think the main advantage of these efficiency increases is more about having technology be released and than slowly trickle down into the cheaper models. More cheap and efficient psus is a good thing for everyone Heck I think even a bronze/silver psu is more than enough for any of us assuming the fan controller and cooling design is good.

The next step should be for the mobo manufacturers to get onboard with 80Plus. Since more and more of the power is getting converted on the motherboard they should have a certification for them.

After 80+ Diamond comes 80+ Adamantium and then 80+ Unobtainium

Unobtanium is when it's like 101% efficiency and it actually gives power back right? :p