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- Date:
- Tuesday , July 17, 2007
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Seasonic S12II-500 Power Supply Review
Our readers have asked for us to cover mainstream PSUs from well known builders and we figure that Seasonic is the perfect candidate. Today we review their new 500 watt S12II desktop power supply and find out just how great of a PSU Seasonic really builds.
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Seasonic S12II-500 is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing and use more efficient.
Right off the bat it is interesting to note that the S12II-500 comes in a really small box compared to some the monster boxes we have seen of late. This isn’t a dig at Seasonic but a refreshing change of pace from the truly monster power supplies in the 1000w+ club. The box itself has a fair amount of information and bunch of marketing points that are of interest to the user and we will go through a few of those here. The power table below is seen on the rear of the box along with in the manual and is accompanied by some interesting marketing bullets. I am going to draw out two of those points as they will show up later in the review. The first is the point that says:
Multiple +12V Outputs - Enhanced +12V current capability broadens utilization possibilities.
While an interesting interpretation of the point of going to dual 12v rails in the ATX12v specification instead of the 240VA limit that was imposed by Intel, and subsequently ignored by most manufacturers, the last Seasonic built power supply we evaluated had one 12v rail instead of advertised three in the Corsair HX620. Indeed following in the footsteps of that unit the S12II also has a single 12v rail. The second point of interest is the one that says:
Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Capacitors - Advanced ultra-low resistance, high temperature capacitors on critical 12V rail.
I am sure some of our readers have heard the same things we understood about these power supplies before their introduction in that they would ship with solid capacitors. As it turns out from the packaging at least this is true as there are supposed to be solid capacitors on the 12v rail. This being true users shouldn’t buy this unit and expect to find it filled with solid capacitors as it does not and Seasonic even states it is only on the 12v rail not throughout the unit.
Also on the box we find prominently displayed the 80Plus symbol indicating the unit meets or exceeds the 80Plus standard for efficiency. Efficiency is a hallmark of Seasonic products and we will be looking at this during our testing and giving our impression on Seasonic’s other hallmark feature, noise. While the box references the unit as being quiet several times it avoids making any unsupportable claims about dBa rating which is good to see in light of some recent units that have not done so. On the box there is also the denotation that the unit includes a 3 year warranty, which is good but certainly not the longest we have seen to date.
Finally, while the unit advertises multiple PCI-Express connectors the packaging carries no multi-graphics card readiness designations. A quick check of the SLIZone website only turns up the original S12 500w as being certified for the nebulous "for all other SLI configurations" (configurations below 7800GTX) even though the unit sports an 8 pin PCI-Express connector. When checking the ATI Crossfire page we find that the original S12 500w was x1650 Crossfire certified. Certainly being a 500w product high levels of multi-GPU certification are not expected so none of this is really a disappointment.
Overall the picture painted by the Seasonic connector and power label is that of a very well balanced, and very capable, midlevel power supply. The unit has 81.6% of its DC output capacity available on the 12v rail (there is only one as there is no OCP set on the individual “rails”) which is good for a 500w unit such as this. Our previous experiences with 500w power supplies have generally netted 12v ratings of less than the 34A available on the Seasonic S12II-500 12v rail. These things coupled with the 9 Molex and 6 SATA connectors the unit should make this unit an ideal candidate for a HTPC or a home file server in addition to a good middle of the road gaming power supply as the inclusion of 2 PCI-Express connectors (1 is an 8 pin PCI-Express Connector) hints at. However, with only 34A on the 12v rail the unit most likely would not be a good match for a high-end SLI or Crossfire system.
Once we open the packaging for the Seasonic S12II-500 we find the power supply, manual, silica, power cord, and warranty/RMA card. The manual is very good and includes the power table, connector counts, pinouts, basic warranty information, installation instructions, and even the temperature derating values for the unit. As is indicted in the manual the unit is rated at 40c and the unit derates at a rate of 100% to 80% rated power from 40c-50c linearly which works out to about 10w/c between 40c and 50c. Also included in the packaging is a warranty/RMA card. The card includes all the contact information, RMA instructions, warranty conditions, and even a time frame for RMA service (7 days turn around upon receipt of unit).
Overall the packaging of the Seasonic S12II-500 was excellent. The unit came with all the information a user could really want or need and does a great job of explaining warranty/RMA features. In fact the unit goes so far as to be the first unit we have seen to include the temperature derating information which is information that usually requires pulling teeth to get from manufacturers. The information provided and completeness of this packaging gives the impression that a user has purchased a product that is “high-end,” well supported by the manufacturer, and has some pride put into it.