Seasonic X-Series 560W
by Martin Kaffei on March 22, 2011 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- PSUs
- 80Plus Gold
- 560W
- X-Series
Appearance, Power Rating and Fan
The PSU has a black finish and honeycombed ventilation holes. There is no typical fan grill but the casing has many holes punched in it. At 160mm, the case is moderately long. As usual these days, there is a power switch next to the mains plug. Because there's a fan for cooling, this PSU has fewer ventilation holes than the X-460FL. Modular cables can be mounted on the connector panel at the front, and as usual Seasonic's overall build quality is very good.
Seasonic still believes in powerful single rails. On +12V this PSU can deliver nearly the full power since step-down-converters are included for the smaller rails. +3.3V as well as +5V are rated at 125W and/or 25A maximum load. Both have the same ratings as the ones from the older 750W version. That would mean the same kind of components are used here and the voltage drop should be low. At 3A, 5VSB is relatively powerful as well.
The San Ace 120mm 9S1212F404 has seven fan blades and ball bearings; it is not PWM controlled. There is a shield to direct airflow so turbulences near the ventilation holes are eliminated. Owing to the low rotation and passive mode under 20% load, the fan shouldn't wear as much as other fans do in actively cooled PSUs.
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Arbie - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Yes, thanks for listing the cable lengths, especially the main power / cpu cable. Last time around I bought an expensive and high-quality PSU which turned out to have main cable so short that it barely worked in a mid-size tower. BTW you say the main cable is 60 cm in one place, and 65 cm in another. Unless I misread it.Seasonic is now on my list for the next time.
somedude1234 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I used this PSU in my home server build and couldn't be happier. When the server is sitting idle or just serving up media, the PSU fan doesn't run. When the Xeon 3440 is churning through high def video transcodes, the system is still dead quiet.I expect this server to last 5-10 years so paying for quality components up front wasn't a problem.
poohbear - Thursday, March 24, 2011 - link
Just wanted to post thank you for buying from a retailer instead of using a cherry picked review sample from the company. I hope you guys do this for all the hardware you review, not just the PSUs. Great to read impartial reviews like this!oh, and the article was well done too.;)
Martin Kaffei - Thursday, March 24, 2011 - link
No problem. But we often get samples from a manufacturer, less frequent from a retailer or distributor.These are chosen randomly so the manufacturer doesn't know, if we check out the version on the market. Nevertheless I don't have the money to pay for every sample so we still have different sources.
ClagMaster - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link
Excellent article that provides a great deal of insight into the design and construction of the X-Series 560W.A good read after a hard day at work.
For $120 this is a fair price for quality components, an excellent design, and a diverse assortment of connectors of ATX Towers and HTPC's.
This is a 850W unit which is scaled down to 550W service. I suppose having the fan start above 20% of load is necessary but the fan is indeed very quiet. This power supply has plenty of margin for operation above 550W.
The only improvement I can think of using a PWM Fan with Hydro bearings.
Seasonic is a company which stands behind its warranty too. I had a 500W MII power supply go bad 6 months ago. A diode had come lose from its mainboard and lodged in the fan grill. I applied for an RMA, boxed the failed power supply, mailed it to their RMA center in California, and recieved a new replacement in less than two weeks.
No hassle -- No problems -- Full satisfaction with the service.
oneoho - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
This article may have converted me to a Seasonic fanboy :)More than I've ever wanted to know about a PSU but definitely got my nerd juices flowing.