Enermax Liberty 620W or Seasonic S12 600 Watt

[imported_tintin]

I am starting my new build in the coming months and I've pretty much decided on the case.
Antec P180 so I'm now trying to decide between the Enermax Liberty 620W or Seasonic S12 600W for the PSU

any thoughts / suggestions?

 

[hoihtah]

if you absolutely need the best,
try zippy psu. they just don't fail.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

IMHO, "Give me Liberty or give me death!" (Patrick Henry, 3/23/1775)

I'd go Enermax atm but Seasonic should have the M12 series out soon and it will be semi-modular.
The Liberty does have SATA & 4pin Molex connectors too close together but that's a minor detail.
The Liberty is known to be quiet & cool. Much info http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSUInquisitor


...Galvanized

 

[imported_tintin]

Thanks for the comment Galvanized!!! the new seasonics that you say are semi-modular this could be the ticket for my Antec P180 with its seperate compartments!! i'm in no immediate rush (wont be completing the system till january)

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: tintin
Thanks for the comment Galvanized!!! the new seasonics that you say are semi-modular this could be the ticket for my Antec P180 with its seperate compartments!! i'm in no immediate rush (wont be completing the system till january)

I lost the link w/some poor pics(French site). The main harness will be hardwired but all else
is modular. It will be offered in 500, 600 & 700W flavors=tasty The M12s will use a 120 and a low
flow 60mm facing the inside of the case, toward case front. This little guys job is to break-up stagnate
hot air at case top. (wish forums had this feature )
FYI, I use Zippy/Emacs, Fortron and just bought an Enhance unit and as these, Seasonic is designed,
built and tested in house. :thumbsup:


...Galvanized

 

[imported_tintin]

These M12's could be nice alright especially the 700W!! regarding the Zippy/Emacs i have never heard of them!! i am in europe maybe thats why...

 

[Varun]

What is with the obsession with giant power supplies?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: tintin
These M12's could be nice alright especially the 700W!! regarding the Zippy/Emacs i have never heard of them!! i am in europe maybe thats why...

tintin, (sounds like you should be soldering ) Varun's comment above is not w/o foundation. A VG 400W PSU will carry most any rig that's not SLI or water cooled with it's fans&pumps. An uber-power house PSU will offer nothing for rig performance. Stable, clean voltage is what one should seek. Quiet + efficiency should NOT be the first criteria one looks at, stability and amperage needs are #1. Seasonic is VG so this is not an attack of them. I see Enermax as being equal.

Up front: The disadvantages of Zippy/Emacs for some are, non-modular, 80mm fan that can be loud on some units, no sleeving on any cabling, no 20+4 ATX, just 24ATX and range, depending on model, from 69%~75% efficiency.
So why would anyone want one?? By many in the business, they are considered the best and can live for 10 healthy years. Last I read thier world wide warrenty clain was <1%.
Note: Sleeving makes using a clamp meter a pita for system diagnostics

To view thier product line http://www.zippyusa.com/ Note: All testing for certs are shown in pdf on the right of the selected SMPS. I have not seen one other PSU builder be this open. If you or anyone who reads this can link me to one...TY.

Please read this review, note what Edward Chang (EE for Zippy/Emacs) has to say. I contacted jmke (site Admin) for the full text and would offer it but don't have it yet.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=281

This review will clue you in to how strong the family is http://www.overclockers.com/articles1313/

Read atleast the first page. Our own jonnyguru enters the fray at about mid-thread.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566&page=1&pp=20

This thread is worth noting http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1238 It will offer an over view of SMPS componets and what they do, plus a very long list of PSU builders. You might want to look over the rest of thier PSU section. I find many good tid-bits here.

This took about a half hour to post, so please do give the links some real attention. This is not an attempt to move you to Zippy but to offer info that one just doesn't happen upon.

A few of the better SMPS builders would be, Etasis, Win-Tact, Delta, I-Star, Seventeam, 3Y, Enhance, Zippy/Emacs, Seasonic, Topower, Fortron/Source.

Don't let the glossies or sites loaded with flash graphics blind you to your NEEDS. Ad ppl want to move us from need to want


...Galvanized

 

[imported_tintin]

Thanks Galvanized really appreciate the time your taking here!!
I plan on going sli / crossfire on my new rig and I'm always hearing how PSU are the most overlooked part of a pc. I just didn't want to get something that would become underpowered if I start throwing two directX10 cards, Conroe, vista, sound card, 2 optical drives etc etc...into the rig!! maybe i am going for a bit of overkill here but i wanted a PSU that would last me several upgrades..

i'm checking out your links now thanks again

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Varun
What is with the obsession with giant power supplies?

Because nothing is worse than having a PSU that is lacking. It is an outright nightmare. Overworked PSUs account for some of the worst computing experiences in my life...

 

[Varun]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: Varun
What is with the obsession with giant power supplies?

Because nothing is worse than having a PSU that is lacking. It is an outright nightmare. Overworked PSUs account for some of the worst computing experiences in my life...

A quality 500w PSU will run anything out there with room to spare. Most systems out there would run easy on 400w or less.

REAL SYSTEM POWER NEEDS: While our testing loads the PSU to full output (even >600W!) in order to verify the manufacturer's claims, real desktop PCs simply do not require anywhere near this level of power. The most pertinent range of DC output power is between about 65W and 250W, because it is the power range where most systems will be working most of the time. To illustrate this point, we conducted system tests to measure the maximum power draw that an actual system can draw under worst-case conditions. Our most powerful Intel 670 (P4-3.8) processor rig with nVidia 6800GT video card drew ~214W DC from the power supply under full load ? well within the capabilities of any modern power supply. Please follow the link provided above to see the details. It is true that very elaborate systems with SLI could draw as much as another 100W, perhaps more, but the total still remains well under 400W in extrapolations of our real world measurements.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article596-page4.html

The latest Anandtech review shows a system with a X1900XTX drawing 343w at full power.

Companies are coming out with 700w and 850w power supplies, and people actually recommend them! I'm just so tired of reading these boards and people telling other people that "Oh I would get at least 600w for that rig" when it really needs like 400w.

I don't see computer's requiring less power than the do now, but I don't see the big increases continuting as they have been. Energy prices are high, and manufacturers are begining to realise that they can't keep increasing heat outputs like they have been in the past or everyone will need vapo-chilled cases to keep their parts from melting.

AMD's are pretty good for power consumption, and will likely go down on the 65nm process. Intel's Conroe should be VERY power efficient. GPU's are going to start following these new ideas as well.

I understand that you need "enough" power, but come on this is getting out of hand. If you can show me a system that needs a 700w power supply I would be amazed.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Varun

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: Varun
What is with the obsession with giant power supplies?

Because nothing is worse than having a PSU that is lacking. It is an outright nightmare. Overworked PSUs account for some of the worst computing experiences in my life...

A quality 500w PSU will run anything out there with room to spare. Most systems out there would run easy on 400w or less.

My machine's pics
My machine's specs.
I beg to differ. A blanket statement like that just isn't true. Trust me, a quality 500w will not run everything out there. I have good reason to run a 600w & 500w. I do agree that it will run most machines, however. That said, I do not support the ideology of getting the bare minimum either. The "What $40 PSU can I get for my $2500 rig" threads just make me sad...

EDIT for formatting...

 

[imported_tintin]

I get both points here!! As I said before 700W would be overkill, I doubt any normal pc would need a 700W PSU but the reason I was looking at the 600W enermax and seasonic is to get a good PSU that should definitely NOT run into trouble no matter what I put in my system! I mean directx 10 isn't even out yet and chances are its not going to too different from directx 9 (in PSU terms) but say you go SLI/crossfire with 2 new directx 10 cards and then a physics card and a high performance sound card add that to cpu et all and power consumption is adding up! I would just like to have that leeway.

p.s. which would you both recommend out of the seasonic S12 600W or the enermax liberty 620W?

 

[Varun]

Ah of course someone with a home server...

2xXeons@100w each = 200w
4xRam = 20w
RAID controller = 20w
9 HDD = 90w
2xDVD=20w
MB=30w
14xfans=42w
graphics=60w
total=482w

Yes, in your case running a server might take more power than a regular PC. A 500w supply would certainly be running near peak in your system, especially with all of the hard drives. Most of the values are on the high side though, such as the Xeons likely don't put out 100w each even at full load.

Since you likely never run the system at full load, you probably could actually get away with a 500w psu.

I never said what $40 PSU should I get for my ultimate gaming system, and I agree those threads do make me sad as well. I also don't think you need to spend $450 on an 850w PCP&C unit either.

A quality 500w PSU will run any home system. Obviously I should have made that more clear, since servers are not considered home computers to me, but servers.

 

[Varun]

Originally posted by: tintin
I get both points here!! As I said before 700W would be overkill, I doubt any normal pc would need a 700W PSU but the reason I was looking at the 600W enermax and seasonic is to get a good PSU that should definitely NOT run into trouble no matter what I put in my system! I mean directx 10 isn't even out yet and chances are its not going to too different from directx 9 (in PSU terms) but say you go SLI/crossfire with 2 new directx 10 cards and then a physics card and a high performance sound card add that to cpu et all and power consumption is adding up! I would just like to have that leeway.

p.s. which would you both recommend out of the seasonic S12 600W or the enermax liberty 620W?

I'd recommend the Seasonic over anything since it is quiet, the new ones are sleeved, and the power supplies are quality.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: tintin
I get both points here!! As I said before 700W would be overkill, I doubt any normal pc would need a 700W PSU but the reason I was looking at the 600W enermax and seasonic is to get a good PSU that should definitely NOT run into trouble no matter what I put in my system! I mean directx 10 isn't even out yet and chances are its not going to too different from directx 9 (in PSU terms) but say you go SLI/crossfire with 2 new directx 10 cards and then a physics card and a high performance sound card add that to cpu et all and power consumption is adding up! I would just like to have that leeway.

p.s. which would you both recommend out of the seasonic S12 600W or the enermax liberty 620W?

I am running dual Seasonic's right now, and I have been amazed at their stability under load and how quiet they are. I've heard good things about the Liberty as well though. Me, I'd wait for the M-12s. I'd actually love to replace my S-12s with those, so that I can limit the extra cables in my system...

 

[imported_tintin]

Thanks Fullmetal Chocobo & Varun comments much appreciated!!
since i'm in no immediate rush i'll probably wait until the M-12's come out to see how they fair against the enermax liberty and make my decision then!!

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Varun
Since you likely never run the system at full load, you probably could actually get away with a 500w psu.

The processors are always at 100%, unless I'm gaming with the wife, via various distributed computing programs (currently our project of the month is QMC@home) But while the processors are @ 100%, the video card is sitting idle, and vice versa.

Originally posted by: Varun
I never said what $40 PSU should I get for my ultimate gaming system, and I agree those threads do make me sad as well. I also don't think you need to spend $450 on an 850w PCP&C unit either.

Sorry, that wasn't necessarily directed to you, but merely a slightly off topic but related comment. And I absolutely agree about the 1kw PC P&C PSUs being excessive. If you start getting up to that range of requirement, it's time to consider true redundant (IE non-ATX) PSUs or modding.

 

[pkme2]

The Enermax 620W costs more at Newegg than the Seasonic 600W by a few dollars. Read in an earlier thread that the Enermax 620 has a little quirk. It has a little noise when it is turned on. Nothing serious, a little zap which is said to be normal, nothing to worry about. I'll pick the Seasonic S-12 600W for sure.

 

[imported_tintin]

yeah i heard about the little zap noise alright - wouldnt really be too worried about it though!! due to the quietness of the S12 i'll probably go for that or else wait for the new M-12's as stated above.