I love the efficiency, and it sounds like this would be great for a moderately-powerful system which gets left on a lot. For extreme low power, a PicoPSU would be more efficient (although possibly louder - the AC brick for mine whines like crazy). I'd love to wind up winning a free one - it could definitely find a home in my media center.

But for a normal desktop, I'm not sure I understand the excitement. It's noticeably louder than the Nexus Value 430, which is cheaper and more powerful, if you don't mind the four 12-volt rails. I guess I don't know how many of us still leave our main computers powered on 24/7 - a practice I abandoned several years ago, in favor of a home server designed for extreme efficiency. No matter how much you tweak, a quad core with a beefy graphics card can never idle as efficiently as a low-end dual core with integrated graphics. This Seasonic would do okay in that server, but it still gets beaten by a PicoPSU for anything below 100 watts. So it's not the most efficient option, nor is it the quietest option. It's a solid balance between the two, but I'm not sure how many systems I build where I'm not extremely focused on one or the other.

Generally there's no issues using an additional 2-molex to 6-pin adapter. I'd say the general rule of thumb is that one extra is OK

A lot of ~150W GPUs use two plugs. I think the 7850 uses one but the 660 GTX (Ti?) Uses two and so did the 6870. This PSU should comfortably handle one of those cards and a quad core from Intel.

My 400W PSU (Be Quiet) has 1x 6 + 1x 8.

Why's that an issue?
Got an example of a videocard that does this?

Seasonic wants only to ship to N. Am, so I need to know whether you are in Canada, USA or Mexico. It doesn't matter to me if you are in Timbuktu but have a friend in Yellow Knife who'll happily take a PSU prize.

It's an issue because you can't use cards like the 660 with this PSU without a splitter cable which is not ideal. The 660 is a good example as it has only a 130W TDP yet includes a 2x6-pin connectors. These in addition to the PCI-E slot could supply 225W in total. 1 connector would be sufficient but are they by adding 2 trying to dissuade people from using lower power PSUs and thus reducing their support liability perhaps?

Just booted up my new build using the G360. Unfortunately, it seems mine has an extremely loud coil whine that can be heard across the room.

It's a North America only offer. I'm guessing Seattle meets the requirement.

130W isn't barely exceeding 75W (as claimed), is it? Actually, it's not that far from 150W. What about overclocking? The 225W figure isn't really relevant in this case.

The PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W is on my future build list because it's a cost-effective Seasonic rebrand with a 5-year warranty, but there weren't any reliable dBA measurements. Now that SPCR has reviewed the G360W, I guess I'll be updating my list. I'm very excited about this .

Pretty excited about this power supply. This would be perfect for the rig I'm building my parents for Christmas.

Love Seasonic!
-nate

Looks like a good unit. I am VERY impressed with the Season Platinum 860 I bought earlier this year for my main rig. (I blogged about it here: http://andreperusse.com/be/post/2012/04/06/Seasonic-Platinum-860w-Power-Supply.aspx).

I'd like to see how the G360 would perform on the new Windows Server 2012 Essentials build I just put together over the weekend. I'm using my old Corsair HX620 for it currently (and it draws 60 watts from the wall with an Intel G540, 8GB RAM and 4 HDs) but I expect I would get better efficiency from this new Seasonic.

This is no longer true, thanks to the energy efficiency trend on newer parts. Take my current system: a "beefy quad core" (Ivy Bridge i7) and a "beefy" GTX 670 - doing just fine with this PSU at idle and at load.

Here are some numbers I linked here earlier:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1126863/real ... t_18164451

This is a great PSU. Haven't heard it at full fan speed yet. By the way, to get another PCI-E connector, there are cheap single SATA -> single PCI-E connectors available on Monoprice, or one could go with a single molex -> PCI-E. I got a SATA -> PCI-E, since all of the molex connectors were put to use. There are even molex splitters one could get to connect more devices - as long as everything's within total rated wattage.

Seasonic, the King of power and silence! I am already a satisfied owner of two corsair (made by seasonic) PSUs I could use one more, though ...

Well heck, I just took delivery of one last week (from newegg), but I'll gladly take another.

This replaced and older Antec 380 in a Fusion, older Asus M4A..-EVO, Athlon II 620 (heavily undervolted/underclocked), couple of Samsung HDs, M4 SSD, LG BD-ROM, 4Gb RAM, HD6570 (fanless), Intel GbE NIC. Using a Kil-o-Watt, at the wall, I get 64W idle and 82W HD Video playback (using jRiver Media Center and madVR video renderer) not using DXVA.

My CPU is passively cooled with a Mini-Ninja, so this machine only has 2 fans, one in the Seasonic and another as a case exit, next to the Ninja.

Quiet as a mouse, love it so far.

Eventually, I'd like to move the PS into my NAS (FreeNAS), but heck, be nice to win another one....

When I saw this supply selling on the egg for around $50, I bought one for my Windows Home Server. The server only draws 50w (kill-a-watt reading) and I run Lights Out, so the server is only awake when a client is awake, so the PS will probably never pay for itself. No matter, it's a well made quiet supply and will become my standard supply for any future builds.

The 8800GT was 125W and only had a single 1x6-pin PCI-E in all versions, even the factory overclocked versions. They hardly had a lack of headroom on them. This is because TDP doesn't actually represent what power will actually be used. It's the same with CPUs. I would expect the GTX660 at stock to be closer to 100W than 130W and the second connector is definitely unnecessary for purely technical reasons.

A quiet, efficient, low-wattage PSU is the Holy Grail for minimalist quiet PC builders, but I remain unconvinced that this PSU would be better than its older brother, the X-400 FL, especially since some SPCR readers who have actually tried out the PSU have written here that the fan runs continuously and unit buzzes, if faintly.

And yet: no arguing about the low price. And it doesn't make much sense to use a higher-wattage PSU in a build configured with power-efficient Intel core processors and onboard graphics.

I welcome Seasonic at this price point!

It's a practical PSU for everything but high-end gaming. The efficiency and quality, with cost, it's an easy recommendation =P. I wish we were seeing smaller form factors. I'm obsessed with everything getting smaller!

You'd expect? Some data to back up that claim would be nice.

I'm not positive that a picoPSU+brick is really more efficient. The efficiency o the brick itself is critical, and even level V efficiency in bricks doesn't guarantee anything like 90% efficiency at <50W load. See here for the formulas to calculate efficiency requirements for Level V bricks (PDF) -- you need some math!

Perhaps the picoPSU+brick gains the efficiency edge when power draw drops to 40W or so, again depending on the brick. But at that point, the actual power differences -- not % but watts -- become tiny even with fairly big % efficiency differences, so it's increasingly more trivial as the power levels goes down.

Plus, efficiency is just one parameter of many... including convenience, noise, compatibility, price, versatility, other electrical performance factors.

There's no way any picoPSU+brick can match the other electrical performance factors -- ripple & noise, voltage regulation (esp the 12V rail!!!), etc. The G360 will give cleaner, more precise power under a huge range of conditions that a picoPSU+brick simply cannot. Unless you pay through the nose for the brick... because 12V regulation is totally up to the brick.

For a mini PC, yes, the picoPSU+brick is great. But for mATX or small ATX case, I'd take the G360 hands down. What you get for the price is unmatched right now.

As for the Nexus 430 -- it is a super quiet PSU, but middling in every other way when I reviewed it 3 years ago. Today, it's history, afai am concerned. I never did think it was well built or designed, I think Nexus went out on a limb with a super quiet fan in an average PSU, jacked up the price, and kept their fingers crossed they wouldn't have to replace too many of them in the long run. It may have worked for them probably because the only folks buying them were silencers with minimalist rigs. The G360 kills it in every way but noise, and if your typical/max load is <200W in a good modern case, that noise difference is inaudible: 11 dBA vs 13 dBA -- you really think you can hear that in your room with other gear and things going on? Forget the Nexus 430, it's history.

What are your other components?

CPU: Intel i3-3220
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Motherboard: Intel DH67CL
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 8GB (2x4GB)
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB
HDD: Western Digital Green 1TB
GPU: MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III (haven't installed this yet; it's arriving later today)
Case: Antec Solo II

3x Scythe Slip Stream 1200RPM at 5v

Having owned a PicoPSU and stopped using it - I have to agree. The PSU I replaced it with was a Antec EarthWatts 380 - and there was no significant difference in power from the wall according to a Kill-A-Watt at my system's loads of 50-110W from the wall. OK - the PicoPSU drew 1 less watt from the wall at idle. But a regular PSU had plenty of connectors and didn't have a brick with an insanely noisy fan which like to spin up at 100+W.

This Seasonic is even better than the EarthWatts - around ~10%+ more efficient at loads 40-70W decreasing 5% at higher loads of 100W+.

I am tempted to shuffle PSUs around - get this new 360 into my main PC and move the EarthWatts into a less used PC with an old Seasonic SuperTornado...

Holy Grail for me would still be a 200W PSU which maintains 90% efficiency from 30-150W - 80 PLUS Platinum qualified PSU should do the trick.

This looks like a great choice for someone not using a video card.

I've always been very happy with Seasonic power supplies and I'm glad they now have a high-efficiency PSU in this wattage.

Agreed. I built my parent's machine around the fanless X-400 a couple years ago and it's dead silent, no whine or anything. Tough to beat. Only trouble is the high cost -- plus it's often quite a bit more power than needed. There's still plenty of room for another model between it and a pico PSU.

The tiny heatsinks on this G360 are a big turn off for me.

But they are tiny in the X series, too, which are all rated for higher power. They don't need to be any bigger.

The video card is probably your #1 potential conflict. Usually is when it comes to PSU coil whine. You don't mention whether the noise varies -- I would guess it does with load -- trying loading both VGA and CPU -- separately and then together.

It looks like a decent power supply.
I appreciate the 5 year warranty.

However, it measured as being quite noisy, which is bad.

I would prefer a power supply that use a flow-through design like the older antec earthwatts.
I have an antec p-180 case, and there air has to make a 90 degree turn, from flowing through the bottom compartment, into the top mounted fan.

Thank you, and please add me to the pool behind anyone who needs a power supply. I'm only after the efficiency boost.

This is the problem with the typical quick scan through a review. It encourages folks to pluck out little bits of info rather than see the big picture. The latter is this: If you have a modern PC with a mid/modest video card in a modern mATX/ATX case designed for ATX PSUs, the G360 is extremely quiet & will stay that way 90+% of the time.