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KitGuru has previously reviewed many of the flagship Seasonic Prime units in Titanium efficiency, but today we look at the latest 1000W unit in Platinum efficiency. Platinum efficiency is rated slightly lower (<2% at 50% load), and is easier to certify than Titanium. Subsequently the prices that reach the customer are more competitive, targeting a wider, global enthusiast audience. The PRIME Platinum models are still pure modular and feature high grade Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) cooling fans.
Seasonic are a company that tend to build very high grade power supplies, and our reviews over the years show that the company haven't been willing to cut corners – you will never see shoddy build quality, feel sharp metal edges in hand or cheap 85c Chinese capacitors in either primary or secondary stages.
So how much can you save by opting for a PRIME Platinum rather than a PRIME Titanium power supply? A good example would be the Titanium 850W which Overclockers UK are selling for £229.95 inc vat (HERE). The Seasonic PRIME Platinum 1000W we are reviewing today is £219.95 inc vat (HERE). So you get an extra 250 Watts of power delivery while saving £10.
PRIME Platinum Specifications:
– Model name: SSR-1000PD
– 80 PLUS®: Platinum
– Form Factor: Intel ATX 12 V
– Dimensions: 170mm (L) x 150mm (W) x 86mm (H) +/-1 mm
– Fan Size: 135 mm
– Fan Control: Premium Hybrid Fan Control
– Fan Bearing: Fluid Dynamic Bearing
– Life Expectancy: 70,000 hours at 40 °C, 15 % – 65 % RH
– Modularity: Fully Modular
– Cable type: Flat black cables
– Operating Temperature: 0 – 50 °C
– MTBF @ 25 °C, excl. fan: 150,000 hours
– AC Input: Full Range
– Protection: OPP, OVP, UVP, OCP, OTP, SCP
– Safety and EMC: cTUVus, TUV, CB, CCC, BSMI, EAC
– Environmental Compliance: Energy Star, RoHS, WEEE, ErP Lot 6, REACH
Review photography handled in house at KitGuru with a Leica S series medium format camera and S series prime lens. Please do not use any of the images within this review without express permission.
Seasonic PRIME box artwork is very reflective and quite difficult to photograph. The front of the box highlights the model and capacity, along with the 80 Plus Platinum certification and 10 year warranty. This 10 year warranty is actually now 12 years however (HERE), so Seasonic could do with updating their box artwork.
The rear of the box highlights some basic specifications alongside a high resolution image of the power supply itself.
The power supply itself is shipped encased in a soft felt bag, wedged between two slabs of foam for protection.
Seasonic fully load this box with a wealth of extras. You get a modular cable bag, resealable plastic wallet, regional specific power connector, two kinds of cable ties, a case badge, branded sticker, an installation guide, mounting screws and user manual.
The Seasonic power supply is a pure modular design. The cables are a mixture of sleeved (ATX, CPU and PCIe) and flat ribbon style (peripherals), for ease of routing.
Connectors
– 1 x 20+4-Pin ATX12V/EPS12V
– 2 x 4+4-Pin ATX12V/EPS12V
– 8 x 6+2-Pin-PCIe
– 12 x SATA
– 5 x 4-Pin-Molex
– 1 x Floppy
As would be expected from a 1000 watt power supply, there are plenty of cables in the box to fully support a wealth of system configurations. There are a total of eight 6+2 Pin PCIe connectors to support very high end Crossfire and SLi systems. Seasonic also supply dual 4+4 Pin ATX12V/EPS12V connectors to deliver power to two high end processors.
The Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum supply is a great looking power supply, but regular readers will notice that the fan grill section is missing the accented silver section which you can see HERE. The Titanium supply is therefore a little more dynamic looking.
You can see the ‘outline' close up actually of where the silver/chrome section would be fitted if this was a Titanium rated unit.
One side of the unit is home to a big cooling vent, with a power connector and switch at the side.
There is also a switch for Hybrid mode – allowing the fan to be disabled completely when the unit drops to a specific temperature threshold. Seasonic claim the Hybrid Fanless mode works up to:
- Approximately 50 % (±5 %) of system load at 25 °C.
- Approximately 30 % (±5 %) of system load at 40 °C.
One side of the Prime Platinum is home to all the modular cabling connectors. The main M/B connectors are indicated along the bottom of the panel – clearly labelled. The Peripheral/SATA/Molex connectors are visible in a bank of two and three along the top right side. On the other side are all the CPU and PCI-e connectors in a row of 1, 3 and 2 from top to bottom (6 in total).
Above we can see the specifications of the power supply. The Model number is SSR-1000PD Active PFC F3
| Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum Power Supply |
|||||
|
DC Output
|
+3.3V
|
+5V
|
+12V |
-12V
|
+5Vsb
|
|
Max Output
|
25A
|
25A
|
83A |
0.3A
|
3A
|
| Total Power | 125W | 996W | 3.6W | 15W | |
| 1000 Watts | |||||
This 1000W power supply can deliver 83A on the +12V rail. Plenty of power on hand for a powerful SLI and Crossfire configuration.
Seasonic are using a Hong Hua 135mm fan, Model number HA13525H12F-Z. This is a Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan selected for low noise characteristics. Regular readers may recall that the Seasonic Snow Silent 750W unit shipped with a smaller 120mm fan from the same company so its a good move that Seasonic are adopting larger fans. Larger fans of similar quality are able to push more air at the same speeds, likely often spinning slower to reduce noise emissions. This fan is rated at around 150,000 hours at 25c.
Below - a High Resolution Gallery of the internal layout of the Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum
The overall build quality is very high, as we would expect from Seasonic. Soldering quality is stellar and there are several little heatsinks in key positions, to help deal with heat. Due to the high efficiency rating of this particular unit there really is no need to over populate the internals with an array of heatsinks.
Seasonic are using high grade 105c rated Japanese capacitors in both primary and secondary stages – always reassuring to see, if expected at this price point. The two primary capacitors are rated 400v 450uF, along with a bigger 400v 560uF model from the same family. This gives a total of 1010uF.
It is interesting to note that the 850 watt Titanium PRIME model (reviewed in August 2016 HERE) has actually a greater uF output than this 1000W Platinum model. The Titanium 850W model used a 650uF and a 450uF capacitor in the primary stage for a total output of 1100uF.
That said, Seasonic do tend to greatly over specify their power supplies. We reviewed a Super Flower 1000W gold unit last week and it was equipped with two 470uF capacitors for a total of 940uF. Very few 1000W power supplies we have reviewed in recent months ship with a total of 1000uF in the primary stage.
Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load.
We test ambient temperatures at 35c in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.
We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA
|
DC Output Load Regulation
|
||||||||||
|
Combined DC Load |
+3.3V
|
+5V
|
+12V
|
+5VSB
|
-12V | |||||
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A | V | |
|
100W
|
0.88
|
3.34
|
0.93
|
5.02
|
7.37
|
12.03
|
0.50
|
5.01
|
0.20
|
-12.03
|
|
200W
|
1.62
|
3.34
|
1.65
|
5.02
|
15.13
|
12.03
|
1.00
|
5.01
|
0.20
|
-12.03
|
|
500W
|
3.20
|
3.34
|
3.25
|
5.02
|
38.58
|
12.02
|
1.50
|
5.00
|
0.20
|
-12.02
|
| 750W |
4.00
|
3.33
|
4.16
|
5.01
|
58.54
|
12.01
|
2.00
|
5.00
|
0.30
|
-12.01
|
|
1000W
|
5.45
|
3.33
|
5.50
|
5.01
|
78.14
|
11.99
|
2.50
|
5.00
|
0.30
|
-12.01
|
The load regulation of this power supply is stellar, with all rails holding close to reference levels (within 1%).
| Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum | Maximum Load |
| 1203W |
We managed to get another 203W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in. The supply was undamaged and it was ready to fire up again when we were a little more sensible with the load.
Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.
| Cross Load Testing | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB | |||||
| A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | |
| 885W | 2.0 | 3.34 | 2.0 | 5.01 | 72.0 | 12.00 | 0.2 | -12.01 | 0.50 | 5.00 |
| 240W | 20.0 | 3.32 | 24.0 | 5.00 | 2.0 | 12.03 | 0.2 | -12.01 | 0.50 | 5.00 |
The Seasonic supply handled the Cross load tests without any concerns. Close to class leading results.
We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.
|
ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
|
|
|
Output
|
Ripple (mV p-p)
|
|
+3.3V
|
50
|
|
+5V
|
50
|
|
+12V1
|
120
|
|
+12V2
|
120
|
|
-12V
|
120
|
|
+5VSB
|
50
|
Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.
| AC Ripple (mV p-p) | ||||
| DC Load | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | 5VSB |
| 100W | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 250W | 5 | 5 | 15 | 5 |
| 500W | 5 | 5 | 20 | 5 |
| 750W | 10 | 5 | 20 | 10 |
| 1000W | 10 | 5 | 25 | 10 |
Ripple suppression from this unit is extremely impressive, hitting 25mV from the +12v output at full load. Both +3.3V and +5V held well within industry rated tolerance parameters with 10mV and 5mV respectively under full load conditions.
|
Efficiency (%)
|
|
|
100W
|
89.4
|
|
250W
|
91.8
|
|
500W
|
94.1
|
|
750W
|
92.8
|
|
1000W
|
91.5
|
The efficiency results are excellent, peaking at 94.2% at close to 50%. This drops to 91.5% efficiency at full load. Great results all round from this unit.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
|
Noise (dBA)
|
|
|
100W
|
<28.0
|
|
250W
|
<28.0
|
|
500W
|
29.5
|
|
750W
|
33.6
|
| 1000W | 36.2 |
Under most load conditions the fan will make little, if any noise. Under higher load situations the fan will be heard, but it never spins fast enough to become intrusive, or a problem. If you run with the Hybrid mode enabled, the fan didn't spin up at all under a 400 watt load – during our tests anyway.
|
Temperature (c)
|
||
|
Intake
|
Exhaust
|
|
|
100W
|
35
|
39
|
|
250W
|
35
|
44
|
|
500W
|
38
|
48
|
|
750W
|
43
|
56
|
|
1000W
|
46
|
61
|
With the high efficiency of this unit, the temperatures are well maintained throughout the full range of the thermal curve.
|
Maximum load
|
Efficiency
|
|
1203W
|
90.8
|
Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 90.8%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless.
The Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum power supply is clearly another success story for the company. The quality of the power delivery is exceptionally high and this unit exhibited no weaknesses at all in during our testing.
While efficiency is obviously down over the Titanium PRIME units that we reviewed last year, there is little to fault elsewhere. Seasonic haven't skimped on the quality of the build, opting for high grade 105c rated Japanese components throughout. The fact they raised their warranty terms from 10 years to 12 years recently shows the faith they are putting into their products.
It may be a small point, but I did miss the silver ‘N' shaped accent panel that is present on the Titanium grade units. Seasonic are using the same chassis, so you can see the placeholders were it is meant to go in the image above. Obviously if you have never seen a Titanium PRIME unit from the company you wouldn't know this, but to my eye this Platinum unit looked almost unfinished.
Internally Seasonic have stepped up to the plate, yet again. Ripple suppression is excellent, fan noise is very low, and power delivery is class leading. We were able to hold a 1175 watt extended load for many hours, without shut down, or instability. Over specifying a power supply is a Seasonic trademark, although it was interesting to see that the 850W PRIME Titanium unit has more powerful primary stage capacitors than this 1000 watt Platinum model.
The pure modular design will be welcomed by a large audience, and there are plenty of high grade cables to support a wide array of sophisticated system builds, including high draw SLI and Crossfire gaming rigs.
The Seasonic PRIME 1000W Platinum power supply is available from Overclockers UK for £219.95 HERE. These are expensive power supplies to sate the demanding high end enthusiast audience however they are noticeably cheaper than the Titanium PRIME counterparts.
Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.
Pros:
- Superb Load regulation.
- High build quality.
- 105C Japanese capacitors used throughout.
- delivered 1200 watts.
- High quality cabling.
Cons:
- Expensive, although you get what you pay for.
- We miss the silver/chrome accented panels showcased on the Titanium models.
KitGuru says: This 1000W Seasonic PRIME Platinum power supply is technically fantastic and worth the investment. Rest assured, with the new extended, class leading 12 year warranty, Seasonic are standing by their users.
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