SPCR

The long awaited Primes hit the shelves

• Seasonic PRIME 750W Titanium im Test @ hardwareLUXX (german)
  
• Seasonic Prime 750W Titanium Power Supply Review | KitGuru
• Seasonic Flagship PRIME 750W Power Supply Review @ [H]

Are you going to review it, Mike and Lawrence?

Wow. That thing is amazing. I might get it. I will be running things 24/7 and this would be great for keeping my thingies alive long.

Spcr needs to hit it for a sound chamber test

I would really like to see SPCR review the 650W version and the 600W passive....

None the less the PSU seems very impressive, tentations.....

650W on Tom's Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sea ... ,4690.html

Up to around 250 W load, the PSU operates passively, hence its noise output is zero. Once the fan is engaged, it spins quickly for a short period to exhaust heated air, after which is drops to its lowest speed. The SSR-650TD's overall noise output is really low, making this PSU a great choice if you plan to build a quiet PC.

...Verdict
The new Seasonic Titanium platform is awesome! The 650 W Prime model offers amazing performance in all areas and super high efficiency. Hands down this is the best 650 W unit money can buy today and on top of that it is dead silent, even under worst case scenarios.

So I got the 650W prime.

It has two modes of operation, a hybrid mode where the fan is off (supposedly up to 50% load) and a "standard" mode where the fan always spins.

Instructions say that in hybrid mode the PSU must be oriented so the vent holes open UP, which means towards the GPU in a Define R5. This is for convection, and makes sense. However, I'm not convinced that's a great arrangement; waste heat would end up inside the case, heating the GPU, which is likely to be my loudest component to begin with. And when the fan does spin up, it would be competing for air with the GPU, which again sounds suboptimal.

So I decided I'd run it with the fan, in std mode, with vent holes at the bottom. Surely an expensive "prime" PSU in 2017 has a good quality quiet fan that spins so slow you don't hear it, unless there's a lot of heat to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, there's a really annoying knock/click/buzz/whatever you call it. Apart from that, the fan does indeed spin quiet enough for me. I just can't stand the knocking sound. It is quite similar to the clicking of the stock fans in the R5, a little lower in pitch perhaps but somewhat louder to my ear. (And yes even the R5 stock fans' clicking is annoying enough that I'm replacing them with Noctua.)

What do you recommend? Flip the PSU, run it in hybrid mode and let it battle the air & heat with the GPU? Or keep it in the current orientation, ignore the instructions and run it in hybrid mode? This would no doubt trap some heat inside the PSU covers. One thing I wonder about is the instruction manual that gives me the impression that fan is adjusted based on load rather than temperature. I hope it's just a stupid manual rather than a stupid piece of hardware. I don't see any excuse not to use a thermal sensor for fan control. Then again, if the orientation is as important as the instructions make it out to be, maybe the PSU really does lack sensors? Incredible...

throwaway wrote:So I got the 650W prime.

It has two modes of operation, a hybrid mode where the fan is off (supposedly up to 50% load) and a "standard" mode where the fan always spins.

Instructions say that in hybrid mode the PSU must be oriented so the vent holes open UP, which means towards the GPU in a Define R5. This is for convection, and makes sense. However, I'm not convinced that's a great arrangement; waste heat would end up inside the case, heating the GPU, which is likely to be my loudest component to begin with. And when the fan does spin up, it would be competing for air with the GPU, which again sounds suboptimal.

So I decided I'd run it with the fan, in std mode, with vent holes at the bottom. Surely an expensive "prime" PSU in 2017 has a good quality quiet fan that spins so slow you don't hear it, unless there's a lot of heat to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, there's a really annoying knock/click/buzz/whatever you call it. Apart from that, the fan does indeed spin quiet enough for me. I just can't stand the knocking sound. It is quite similar to the clicking of the stock fans in the R5, a little lower in pitch perhaps but somewhat louder to my ear. (And yes even the R5 stock fans' clicking is annoying enough that I'm replacing them with Noctua.)

What do you recommend? Flip the PSU, run it in hybrid mode and let it battle the air & heat with the GPU? Or keep it in the current orientation, ignore the instructions and run it in hybrid mode? This would no doubt trap some heat inside the PSU covers. One thing I wonder about is the instruction manual that gives me the impression that fan is adjusted based on load rather than temperature. I hope it's just a stupid manual rather than a stupid piece of hardware. I don't see any excuse not to use a thermal sensor for fan control. Then again, if the orientation is as important as the instructions make it out to be, maybe the PSU really does lack sensors? Incredible...

Hello,

Thank you for your message and sorry for the late reply.
About your noise, may I ask you to check if there's nothing hitting the fan's blades? It may be also a bearing issue.
About your PSU, with a Titanium efficiency, you can let let your PSU with the fan facing upward. The heat released will be really low from the power supply, therefore you can use it like this in Hybrid mode.
You can also use it with fan facing downward. In that case, PSU will start the fan if load / ambient temperature or critical component temperature are reaching a limit where the fan will be needed. As you can see, there's no lack of sensors, they are all there and each of them can start the fan if needed. If you don't reach any of these limits, then your PSU will remain in fanless mode.

If you need more information, you can contact us directly on our website here: https://seasonic.com/contact/

Thank you.
Best Regards,

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your noise, may I ask you to check if there's nothing hitting the fan's blades? It may be also a bearing issue.

There is no obstruction, from what I can tell. It could be a bearing issue, but it sounds more like the low frequency buzz that plagues many low end fans. It is not loud, but due to its characteristic it stands out even with three other fans and a spinning HDD running. But I'd be interested to know if replacement fans are available as spares. Perhaps I could swap it to see if the fan I got now just happens to be a bad one.

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your PSU, with a Titanium efficiency, you can let let your PSU with the fan facing upward. The heat released will be really low from the power supply, therefore you can use it like this in Hybrid mode.
You can also use it with fan facing downward. In that case, PSU will start the fan if load / ambient temperature or critical component temperature are reaching a limit where the fan will be needed. As you can see, there's no lack of sensors, they are all there and each of them can start the fan if needed. If you don't reach any of these limits, then your PSU will remain in fanless mode.

Thank you for confirming that the PSU has good sensors and can be used in both orientations while in hybrid mode. This is good.

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.
Well, unfortunately, we can't propose spare parts, especially fans, as it will void your warranty to exchange it. You need to remove the warranty sticker. It would be really sad that you void your 12 years warranty for this. You can contact us and we will check this together and see if we need to RMA your unit.

Thank you.
Best Regards,

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your PSU, with a Titanium efficiency, you can let let your PSU with the fan facing upward. The heat released will be really low from the power supply, therefore you can use it like this in Hybrid mode.
You can also use it with fan facing downward. In that case, PSU will start the fan if load / ambient temperature or critical component temperature are reaching a limit where the fan will be needed. As you can see, there's no lack of sensors, they are all there and each of them can start the fan if needed. If you don't reach any of these limits, then your PSU will remain in fanless mode.

Sorry if I resume an old thread but this argument is really interesting for me. I'm going to build a workstation with low noise as a priority spec. My parts list contains Seasonic Prime 650 titanium and Fractal Design R5 which has the psu bottom mounted, with vent facing down which is, in my opinion, the best option for both silence and reliability. By this way the psu air flow is completely separated from the rest of the case with benefits for psu and the rest of the pc components. I was really surprised and disappointed when I read on the seasonic site that if i want to use the hybrid mode i should mount the psu with the fan facing upwards. I googled a lot trying to understand the reason of this prescription, without reaching a conclusion. I can't understand if the seasonic prescription is aimed to maximize heat spreading while operating in fanless mode so to be able to keep fan off as long as possible or if there are concerns about reliability of the psu.

This post is the first that let me hope that using hybrid mode with the psu vent facing down will not shorten the psu life and that sensors are enough smart to kick the fan as soon as needed.

Could you (both the seasonic rap and all of you forums members) confirm my interpretation is correct ? Some experience to share about this issue ?

Thank you all in advance.

jjletho67 wrote:Could you (both the seasonic rap and all of you forums members) confirm my interpretation is correct ? Some experience to share about this issue ?

Since some years ago I always use Seasonic passive and semi-passive PSUs with their main grille facing down without any apparent issue.

jjletho67 wrote:

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your PSU, with a Titanium efficiency, you can let let your PSU with the fan facing upward. The heat released will be really low from the power supply, therefore you can use it like this in Hybrid mode.
You can also use it with fan facing downward. In that case, PSU will start the fan if load / ambient temperature or critical component temperature are reaching a limit where the fan will be needed. As you can see, there's no lack of sensors, they are all there and each of them can start the fan if needed. If you don't reach any of these limits, then your PSU will remain in fanless mode.

Sorry if I resume an old thread but this argument is really interesting for me. I'm going to build a workstation with low noise as a priority spec. My parts list contains Seasonic Prime 650 titanium and Fractal Design R5 which has the psu bottom mounted, with vent facing down which is, in my opinion, the best option for both silence and reliability. By this way the psu air flow is completely separated from the rest of the case with benefits for psu and the rest of the pc components. I was really surprised and disappointed when I read on the seasonic site that if i want to use the hybrid mode i should mount the psu with the fan facing upwards. I googled a lot trying to understand the reason of this prescription, without reaching a conclusion. I can't understand if the seasonic prescription is aimed to maximize heat spreading while operating in fanless mode so to be able to keep fan off as long as possible or if there are concerns about reliability of the psu.

This post is the first that let me hope that using hybrid mode with the psu vent facing down will not shorten the psu life and that sensors are enough smart to kick the fan as soon as needed.

Could you (both the seasonic rap and all of you forums members) confirm my interpretation is correct ? Some experience to share about this issue ?

Thank you all in advance.

Hello,

Thank you for your message and interest in our PRIME Titanium.
If i want to make it short: you can use Hybrid mode fan facing up or down. It won't shorten the PSU life as the sensor are made to start the fan when temperature/load require it. So fan up or down, it won't change anything.
However, we prefer to advise fan facing up to use convection. Heat will naturally go up and therefore, it helps the cool down your PSU. After, if your case requires PSU to be mounted fan down, then you can do it and Hybrid system will manage everything for you.

If you have any other question, please feel free to ask.
Thank you.

Best Regards,

Seasonic Rep wrote: Thank you for your message and interest in our PRIME Titanium.
If i want to make it short: you can use Hybrid mode fan facing up or down. It won't shorten the PSU life as the sensor are made to start the fan when temperature/load require it. So fan up or down, it won't change anything.
However, we prefer to advise fan facing up to use convection. Heat will naturally go up and therefore, it helps the cool down your PSU. After, if your case requires PSU to be mounted fan down, then you can do it and Hybrid system will manage everything for you.

Thank you very much for your quick and crystal clear answer.
Just a suggestion, I think a notice like this should appear on Seasonic website or in the psu manual because nowadays almost all high performance case have bottom mounted psu.
Thank you again!

jjletho67 wrote: Thank you very much for your quick and crystal clear answer.
Just a suggestion, I think a notice like this should appear on Seasonic website or in the psu manual because nowadays almost all high performance case have bottom mounted psu.
Thank you again!

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback.
I will forward your suggestion to our marketing team for the manual. About the website, we have currently this page which can help. I will suggest our marketing team to check it too.

Thank you very much for your feedback which is very important for us in order to improve our information to our customers.

Best Regards,

throwaway wrote:

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your noise, may I ask you to check if there's nothing hitting the fan's blades? It may be also a bearing issue.

There is no obstruction, from what I can tell. It could be a bearing issue, but it sounds more like the low frequency buzz that plagues many low end fans. It is not loud, but due to its characteristic it stands out even with three other fans and a spinning HDD running. But I'd be interested to know if replacement fans are available as spares. Perhaps I could swap it to see if the fan I got now just happens to be a bad one.

Does it sound something like this? ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/nvd2pcvzvfh2f ... n.ogg?dl=0 ) I have had one replaced, but the next unit had virtually the identical noise. I am beginning to wonder whether this is its actual soundprofile or just bad luck twice in a row.

(mod: fixed quotes)

thorwb wrote:

throwaway wrote:

Seasonic Rep wrote: About your noise, may I ask you to check if there's nothing hitting the fan's blades? It may be also a bearing issue.

There is no obstruction, from what I can tell. It could be a bearing issue, but it sounds more like the low frequency buzz that plagues many low end fans. It is not loud, but due to its characteristic it stands out even with three other fans and a spinning HDD running. But I'd be interested to know if replacement fans are available as spares. Perhaps I could swap it to see if the fan I got now just happens to be a bad one.

Does it sound something like this? ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/nvd2pcvzvfh2f ... n.ogg?dl=0 ) I have had one replaced, but the next unit had virtually the identical noise. I am beginning to wonder whether this is its actual soundprofile or just bad luck twice in a row.

(mod: fixed quotes)

This is the EXACT noise i'm getting with my prime 750w, do you have any update on yours?, have you returned it again?.

khemist wrote:
This is the EXACT noise i'm getting with my prime 750w, do you have any update on yours?, have you returned it again?.

Hello Khemist,

Thank you for your message.
If you have any fan issue with your PSU, please either contact your reseller or directly us and we will be glad to assist you on this. A defective fan may happen and just in case, the warranty is there to cover it.

Thank you very much and sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused.
Best Regards,

I have posted a RMA request with the retailer, awaiting response.

I'm hoping i don't get another with the same issue although i have a feeling i might like the person above.

Here is how mine sounds https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8Mcp ... 05RYmc3Z28

I'm getting exact same noise on idle with my PRIME 650 Titanium. It's driving me nuts! What worries me is that there seems to be no guarantee the replacement unit wouldn't have the same issue.
I hope it's not an inherent issue with that new 135mm FDB fan they're now using. What do we do then? It's a shame really.

madwolfa wrote:I'm getting exact same noise on idle with my PRIME 650 Titanium. It's driving me nuts! What worries me is that there seems to be no guarantee the replacement unit wouldn't have the same issue.
I hope it's not an inherent issue with that new 135mm FDB fan they're now using. What do we do then? It's a shame really.

Hello Madwolfa,

Thank you for your message.
We are sorry for this noise issue and this is not the usual noise you can expect from the PSU. It may happen that some fans will be defective or not working as well as expected and we will be glad to exchange your PSU if it's needed. If not wrong, you are already in contact with our support. Please, kindly follow their advise and if exchange is needed, we will be glad to do it.

Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused.
Best Regards,