PSUs have come a long way since the PC Power and Cooling Silencer days...

[traderjay]

My first DIY PSU was an enermax model purchased in 2002 and thats what got me started in PC building. Remember the old days when we have to mod or replace the fans to silence it, praying that it won't burn and take down the entire system? Then came Seasonic with the 92 mm and 120 mm models that are much quieter but still runs warm and toasty?

Fast forward to today and after reading anandtech's review on the Seasonic Prime Titanium, I decided to buy the 1000W model for my Dual XEON build and boy I am blown away by modern PSUs with their efficiency rating. I mean the damn thing doesn't even get warm after hours of gaming or rendering with at least 600W+ running through it. The fan almost never spins...

 

[EXCellR8]

some of it might have to do with stricter power regulations, coupled with higher quality components and generally better engineering when you get down to it. today's computers are also more sensitive and require more protection from heat and surges etc. all of that needs to be considered when you have a component that delivers reliable power to the system.

when I first started out, PSU's were in a pretty ugly market. not only did efficiency take a back seat, but they were aesthetically unpleasing as well. i was 14 or 15 at the time though, so I found the neon sleeves, bright LED's and clear covers were neat back then. dark times indeed lol

 

[ElFenix]

whoever came up with 80+ and got the first few manufacturers to buy in made themselves a mint and also helped improve power supplies a lot. there's also been a lot of green from the government regulation side and a couple other industry certs, but it seems to me that 80+ has been a huge driver over the last ~10 years.

I think my first power supply that I really picked out (for my Athlon XP build) was a 300 watt antec. truepower brand, maybe? paired with the classic antec case - decent looking, charcoal grey, 2 80 mm fans in the back (kinda revolutionary back then), heavy gauge steel (I stood on it with confidence. wouldn't do that with my fractals). arctic blower cooler for my GeForce3 (remember when blower coolers were quieter?).

good times.

 

[Torn Mind]

80 Plus was started in 2004. Certainly, it's a self marketing label, even to the point that good units can look "inferior" to the next level up.

Gabriel Torres was doing his reviews for a long while too to hold certain companies accountable and spread the basics needed to understand that the cheapies are not very good and some are truly utter garbage. As more and more people get aware, companies had to step up their game.

Chugging down power is only part of the equation of being environmentally friendly. As far as ewaste goes, the DIY crowd is far more prone to adding to it with the "retire it in 7 years because it might blow it up" and "All OEMs do is supply stuff that will destroy your system" logic that is rampant on the Internet. Hell, on Slickdeals, you have guys replacing brand new OEM units from Dell because they think Dells packs garbage. In actuality, even utter garbage will RUN a computer and boot into an OS. Value units and the big OEMs like HP and Dell do pack "DEATH INSURANCE"; "Death insurance" being that the unit will die first before taking out the rest of the system. The utter travesty is that :this "Death Insurance" is used to convince people to fork over big money for the "high end" when they are actually getting more longer run time of the unit, wattage capacity, maybe thicker wire gauges, some zip ties, bags, etc. It's as if people cannot comprehend that devices BEFORE THE ELECTRICITY reaches the PSU are also, if not more important. If one was serious about spending big money to protect equipment, there would suggestions to get double online UPSes all over the web so that it's circuits and batteries get toasted if lighting strikes or some other random thing happened.