Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for a g

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar

Post Reply
jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for a g

Post by jdunning » Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:24 pm

Obviously, those are all different wattages, but they seem to be the lowest available in each product line. As I understand it, they’re also all hybrid models, which I think will be important for idle noise given the PSU position in the Solo II.

The machine will likely include:

Antec Solo II
Asus Z87 Pro
GTX 780
Core i7-4770K
2x 8GB RAM
1 WD Red 3TB
1 SSD
3 case fans

Initially I won’t be doing SLI, but it would be nice to have the headroom to add that later. I’m guessing dual GTX 780s would require more than 550W, but I’m not sure.

The Kingwin sounds pretty good, but it’s not fully modular, unfortunately, which isn’t great in the Solo II. Most of the bundled cables will be used, but not all, so they’ll need to be shoved into one of the 5.25" bays.

In the 6 or so machines I’ve built, I’ve always used Seasonic or Corsair PSUs, so I’d lean towards the Seasonic models, especially since they’re fully modular. I’m a bit put off by all the reports of coil whine, though some of them may be fixable with the right MB BIOS settings. Worse are the recent Newegg reviews about units that die fairly quickly, and sometimes take down other components with them. Obviously, pissed off customers are more likely to write reviews, but given how fanboy-ish Newegg reviews tend to be (“5 EGGS!!! THIS PRODUCT AND NEWEGG ARE AWESOME!!!11!”) it’s a bit surprising seeing so many recent negative reviews.

Anyway, recommendations on a PSU for this setup would be appreciated.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by Abula » Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:51 pm

jdunning wrote:Obviously, those are all different wattages, but they seem to be the lowest available in each product line. As I understand it, they’re also all hybrid models, which I think will be important for idle noise given the PSU position in the Solo II.

The machine will likely include:

Antec Solo II
Asus Z87 Pro
GTX 780
Core i7-4770K
2x 8GB RAM
1 WD Red 3TB
1 SSD
3 case fans

Initially I won’t be doing SLI, but it would be nice to have the headroom to add that later. I’m guessing dual GTX 780s would require more than 550W, but I’m not sure.
The GTX780 should consume slightly less than the Ti, but in case you are interested, Guru3d GeForce GTX 780 Ti SLI review - Power Consumption.
jdunning wrote:The Kingwin sounds pretty good, but it’s not fully modular, unfortunately, which isn’t great in the Solo II. Most of the bundled cables will be used, but not all, so they’ll need to be shoved into one of the 5.25" bays.

In the 6 or so machines I’ve built, I’ve always used Seasonic or Corsair PSUs, so I’d lean towards the Seasonic models, especially since they’re fully modular. I’m a bit put off by all the reports of coil whine, though some of them may be fixable with the right MB BIOS settings. Worse are the recent Newegg reviews about units that die fairly quickly, and sometimes take down other components with them. Obviously, pissed off customers are more likely to write reviews, but given how fanboy-ish Newegg reviews tend to be (“5 EGGS!!! THIS PRODUCT AND NEWEGG ARE AWESOME!!!11!”) it’s a bit surprising seeing so many recent negative reviews.

Anyway, recommendations on a PSU for this setup would be appreciated.
Corsair has introduced recently their RM series, which they are marketing it as their most quiet PSU ever, even saying they were design to not have any coil whinning noise (then again its marketing, but i havent seen any bad comments yet), its semi passive and fully modular, also has flat cables that might help with the lack of space on the solo II, since you are not seeking platinum certification, then these seems like a solid choice, up to you the wattage,

CORSAIR RM Series RM550 550W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR RM Series RM650 650W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR RM Series RM750 750W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Nov 10, 2013 2:43 am

jdunning wrote:The Kingwin sounds pretty good, but it’s not fully modular, unfortunately, which isn’t great in the Solo II. Most of the bundled cables will be used, but not all, so they’ll need to be shoved into one of the 5.25" bays.


There's plenty of room right behind those bays (without occupying any of them): so all you need should be just some black cable ties to fix (there's just one cable to tie, IIRC).

jdunning wrote:Anyway, recommendations on a PSU for this setup would be appreciated.


If going with SLI is something as a foreseeable option, given such an hungry card a PSU over 700W is IMVHO to be preferred.

Perhaps the most bang for the buck could be the Vanguard-series from Cooler Master (Seasonic KM3 platform), but it's strongly location-dependant, maybe trailed by the Kingwin Lazer Gold (not the Platinum you quoted).

Personally I would look to Super Flower, if available (either the Leadex - fully modular - or the Golden King should work: Kingwin sports currently just this latter as the "Lazer Platinum" series).

About Corsair RM-series, as many of us I'm strongly interested in it, but I'm still waiting for any review from my favourite sources (mostly SPCR, JonnyGuru, Hardware Secrets and Au-Ja! The same goes for the best PSU available today, the revised, Delta-based, Antec HCP-850 Platinum: Jeremy told us it's about the best performing PSU currently available, so I wish some day Mike tell us how it sounds).

Abula wrote:The GTX780 should consume slightly less than the Ti, but in case you are interested, Guru3d GeForce GTX 780 Ti SLI review - Power Consumption.


So it would seem: Guru3d GeForce GTX 780 SLI and Multi monitor review - Power Consumption.

jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by jdunning » Sun Nov 10, 2013 4:50 pm

Abula wrote:Corsair has introduced recently their RM series, which they are marketing it as their most quiet PSU ever, even saying they were design to not have any coil whinning noise (then again its marketing, but i havent seen any bad comments yet), its semi passive and fully modular, also has flat cables that might help with the lack of space on the solo II, since you are not seeking platinum certification, then these seems like a solid choice, up to you the wattage,

The Kingwin and SS-760XP2 are platinum rated, but I included the X650 on the hope that maybe gold rated PSUs might have less coil whine. But there are reports of it on the X650 as well.

I'm not sure how much real world difference platinum vs. gold makes.

jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by jdunning » Sun Nov 10, 2013 5:02 pm

quest_for_silence wrote: If going with SLI is something as a foreseeable option, given such an hungry card a PSU over 700W is IMVHO to be preferred.

Based on the Guru 3d review, a 780 SLI setup would need around 500W for the GPUs. So would a 750W PSU be enough to handle that plus a Core i7?
About Corsair RM-series, as many of us I'm strongly interested in it, but I'm still waiting for any review from my favourite sources (mostly SPCR, JonnyGuru, Hardware Secrets and Au-Ja! The same goes for the best PSU available today, the revised, Delta-based, Antec HCP-850 Platinum: Jeremy told us it's about the best performing PSU currently available, so I wish some day Mike tell us how it sounds).
FWIW, TPU found the Corsair RM 750 very quiet, but didn't love some of the components they found inside: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cors ... 50/11.html

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Nov 10, 2013 5:51 pm

Based on the Guru 3d review, a 780 SLI setup would need around 500W for the GPUs. So would a 750W PSU be enough to handle that plus a Core i7?
Guru 3D saw 544W peak at the wall with a PSU that's ~90% efficient at that load and with a Core i7 3960 Extreme @ 4.6 GHz. So, yeah, call it 500W for the PSU load. A 750W PSU is enough. The caveat is: take a look at the fan rpm/noise profiles. A 750W PSU's fan will be ramping up at this load...but really, most well rated PSUs will still be way quieter than SLI 780's.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by Abula » Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:23 pm

jdunning wrote:
Abula wrote:Corsair has introduced recently their RM series, which they are marketing it as their most quiet PSU ever, even saying they were design to not have any coil whinning noise (then again its marketing, but i havent seen any bad comments yet), its semi passive and fully modular, also has flat cables that might help with the lack of space on the solo II, since you are not seeking platinum certification, then these seems like a solid choice, up to you the wattage,

The Kingwin and SS-760XP2 are platinum rated, but I included the X650 on the hope that maybe gold rated PSUs might have less coil whine. But there are reports of it on the X650 as well.

I'm not sure how much real world difference platinum vs. gold makes.
Well Platinum PSU are more efficient meaning they will have less loss on heat thus they will need less cooling, its more common to see semi passive psu on platinum than on gold, that said seasonic x series is also semi passive. I have no issues with both my seasonics (X660 and X400), but there has been some that have reported coil whining, so there is a risk. That said, i think all PSU have chance of having it, Kingiwn LZP have also reports, just much less than i what i have read on the new platinum seasonics, but Seasnoic probably has much sales than kingwin, not that many user reviews on newegg/amazon, so idk its a risk either way. I would probably get it from a place you can return it easily, like amazon, their policies are really good, they even ship you a replacement before your return the other, and if the replacement has the same they probably will give you back your money.

jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by jdunning » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:36 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Guru 3D saw 544W peak at the wall with a PSU that's ~90% efficient at that load and with a Core i7 3960 Extreme @ 4.6 GHz. So, yeah, call it 500W for the PSU load. A 750W PSU is enough. The caveat is: take a look at the fan rpm/noise profiles. A 750W PSU's fan will be ramping up at this load...but really, most well rated PSUs will still be way quieter than SLI 780's.
Yeah, I'm not so concerned with the noise under load, as I use headphones when gaming. I'd just like to make sure there's enough headroom to eventually go SLI, and that the idle noise is near silent.

jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by jdunning » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:58 pm

Abula wrote:I would probably get it from a place you can return it easily, like amazon, their policies are really good, they even ship you a replacement before your return the other, and if the replacement has the same they probably will give you back your money.
Yeah, I prefer Amazon to Newegg, but it's hard to tell which model they have on Amazon. This page shows the SS-760XP model number, not SS-760XP2, and the picture is blurry but seems to be a different model: http://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-ATX12V-E ... PDKIKX0DER

Then again, this thread would seem to indicate that there weren't any 760W PSUs in the original XP series, so it should by definition be an XP2: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65857

So it could just be a slightly wrong model number on Amazon. Wouldn't be the first time.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by Abula » Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:29 pm

jdunning wrote:
Abula wrote:I would probably get it from a place you can return it easily, like amazon, their policies are really good, they even ship you a replacement before your return the other, and if the replacement has the same they probably will give you back your money.
Yeah, I prefer Amazon to Newegg, but it's hard to tell which model they have on Amazon. This page shows the SS-760XP model number, not SS-760XP2, and the picture is blurry but seems to be a different model: http://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-ATX12V-E ... PDKIKX0DER

Then again, this thread would seem to indicate that there weren't any 760W PSUs in the original XP series, so it should by definition be an XP2: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65857

So it could just be a slightly wrong model number on Amazon. Wouldn't be the first time.
Amazon is really bad into updating models, this has happen in a lot of items i have bought in the past, and by the following im not garanteing you that it is the XP2, but if you read the review on the Seasonic PLATINUM-860 ATX 860 Power Supply, Be careful -- model changed but not model number,
This looks like a good power converter. It has solid output current at the main rails, good current on the secondary rails, and tight voltage regulation across wide loads for all rails. It includes a number of connectors, all of which look reasonably well constructed, and things fit together nicely.

Unhappily, the Platinum-860 ATX that I received is not the model advertised here. Yes, it is still a Seasonic Platinum-860 ATX, but there is a tiny (might look like a printing error if you need glasses) additional character in the model number. Instead of an SS-860XP, it is an SS-860XP(2) -- the (2) is actually superscript, and about a third the size of the other characters.
Im not sure if the previous model is still in production or sold (maybe there is inventory still), my guess (again cant guarantee you anything, so if you buy it its at your own risk), is that its the XP2 even if its displayed as the XP.

If getting the XP2 is important to you, and you want to be more i would try the following,
1) Try to post comments on the last reviews on the 760 to see if a someone that just bought it can confirm if its the XP2 model.
2) Write to amazon, see if they can get the SKU or the model number.
3) Write to seasonic to check if the XP is till in production, my guess is XP2 replace it but you never know.

Personally im also looking for PSU to move into SLI for 4k, but probably wont be until next year, i dont think a SLI of gtx780 can move well 4k, but hopping the GTX880 can, but will see. Maybe by then Seasonic has a new iteration of their platinum series with the coil fixed for good now, its a minor thing but they are getting bad rep on it.

As an alternative, Corsair RM seems like a cheaper option, even if its not getting the same scores as the seasonic platinum, its more a value oriented series targeted to replace the TX series and gain very quiet operation and fully modular. You could buy shorterm for just the GTX780, and upgrade to a better PSU when you upgrade to sli, for this i would invest the least, Corsair RM Series 550 Watt ATX/EPS 80PLUS Gold-Certified Power Supply - CP-9020053-NA RM550 or you could invest $20 more and go for the 750 and stay like that, Corsair RM Series 750 Watt ATX/EPS 80PLUS Gold-Certified Power Supply - CP-9020055-NA RM750.

Amazon has a lot of Kingwin Platinum LZP Series, just most of the them are from 3rd parties, so returning might be a mess. But thinking on a single GTX780, amazon do carry the KingWin Lazer Platinum Series 550 Watt Power Supply with Universal Modular Cables LZP-550, same that got the SPCR editors choice, Kingwin Lazer Platinum 550W Power Supply.

Good luck with your choice,

jdunning
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 12:00 am

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by jdunning » Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:07 am

Abula wrote:Amazon is really bad into updating models, this has happen in a lot of items i have bought in the past, and by the following im not garanteing you that it is the XP2, but if you read the review on the Seasonic PLATINUM-860 ATX 860 Power Supply, Be careful -- model changed but not model number,
[/quote]
Given that there shouldn't have ever been an XP 760W version, and that the review you linked to matches the cable types listed by Newegg, I'm more confident that the 760W PSU is an XP2 model. Probably time to roll the dice. :)

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:50 am

jdunning wrote:Yeah, I'm not so concerned with the noise under load


Well, then you could go cheaper with something like a Seasonic G-750.

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: Kingwin LZP-550, Seasonic X650 or Seasonic SS-760XP2 for

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:11 am

jdunning wrote:FWIW, TPU found the Corsair RM 750 very quiet, but didn't love some of the components they found inside: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cors ... 50/11.html


Well, there seem to be some quality issues on both Chicony and CWT lineups, however at least the CWT units looks like fairly solid (and so I guess the Chicony also is).

Given what Jeremy "Oklahoma Wolf" write down today on the CWT-based 650W version, IMO that RM series is an hit but not miss: so to be strongly considered (virtually silent up to at least 280W).

Post Reply