Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

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

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100wattwarlock
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Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by 100wattwarlock » Fri Jan 03, 2014 6:25 am

Hi all,

I really wish I read further into this prior to making my purchase but I bought this power supply (model P1-750B-BEFX) roughly a week and a half ago and have assembled my PC. The power supply itself received very positive reviews but one aspect I regretfully failed to investigate was it's noise level. It has a hybrid fan option, so the fan does not run under a certain load percentage, and since I don't yet have a graphics card, the fan isn't running at all. It is completely silent, and I am happy with that.

However, my concern is the level of noise it'll provide when the fan does get around to spinning (which will presumably occur when I install a graphics card - I'm thinking of a 670/760/770/7950/7970).
Does anyone have any experience with this particular model?

Thanks in advance. :)

CA_Steve
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Jan 03, 2014 7:55 am

Welcome to SPCR.

This is a rebadged Seasonic X-750. Under typical thermal environments, the fan will start at ~25-30% load.

You don't mention the rest of your system, let's assume it's based on a 95W IVB CPU. So, CPU + mobo + a couple of drives and fans leads to under 150W stressed load. More typically 100 to 125W gaming load.

Add a 170W gfx card like the GTX 760 and it's 320W stressed load / ~ 275W gaming load. The PSU might not turn on. If it does, it'll be quieter than the gfx card.

Worst case: adding a 250W gfx card. Stress load is 400W, gaming load of ~ 350W. For gaming, fan will probably be in the 16dBA range and will still be quieter than your gfx card. Here's a look at the original X-650 for comparison.

100wattwarlock
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by 100wattwarlock » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:08 am

CA_Steve wrote:Welcome to SPCR.

This is a rebadged Seasonic X-750. Under typical thermal environments, the fan will start at ~25-30% load.

You don't mention the rest of your system, let's assume it's based on a 95W IVB CPU. So, CPU + mobo + a couple of drives and fans leads to under 150W stressed load. More typically 100 to 125W gaming load.

Add a 170W gfx card like the GTX 760 and it's 320W stressed load / ~ 275W gaming load. The PSU might not turn on. If it does, it'll be quieter than the gfx card.

Worst case: adding a 250W gfx card. Stress load is 400W, gaming load of ~ 350W. For gaming, fan will probably be in the 16dBA range and will still be quieter than your gfx card. Here's a look at the original X-650 for comparison.

Thank you very much for the timely and informative + consoling reply. Hah -this is my first rig and I never thought I would have been so picky about noise. If I knew beforehand I would have researched my power supply in terms of audibility much more intensively.

My specs as of now:

CPU: i7-4770k (with stock cooler for now.. will get it replaced with something quieter sometime in the future)
Motherboard: GA-Z87X-UD3H
Hard Drive: 2TB Seagate Barracuda
PSU: XFX Pro 750W Black Edition
GPU: Don't have one yet. Currently running an old XFX GT 240. Looking into getting a GTX 670/760/770 or a Radeon 7950/7970/280x (if they ever come down in price :P )

Looking at reviews on my power supply, one thing I can't seem to wrap my head around is how different reviewers arrived at such starkly different noise levels for the PSU. For example:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2 ... 20-750w/14 At 500w, my power supply is rated at 18db.

http://www.legitreviews.com/xfx-pro-ser ... iew_2239/7 This review is for the 850w model, but given that the 750w follows the same pattern, at 500w load (66 percent load on the graph) it's rated at ~31db.

Also, the fan on this PSU (adda ad1212mb-a70gl) is rated at 38db (I'm assuming this is @ max load), which resembles the noise graph @ max load in the legitreviews article.

Is there something I'm missing?

CA_Steve
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jan 07, 2014 4:28 pm

Simply put - different sites use different test equipment, use different procedures (1m away vs 70 cm away vs 1ft away, etc) and have different ambient noise environments. Testing for noise is easy to do in a crappy way and very hard to do in a good way.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:50 pm

100wattwarlock wrote:If I knew beforehand I would have researched my power supply in terms of audibility much more intensively.


Are you saying that your PSU is actually too much loud?

lodestar
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by lodestar » Wed Jan 08, 2014 2:59 am

100wattwarlock wrote:Also, the fan on this PSU (adda ad1212mb-a70gl) is rated at 38db...
Just because the XFX Pro 750w is based on a Seasonic X-750 does not mean that it is one. One difference is the Adda ad1212mb-a70gl fan which is not the same as the one fitted to the X-series. It is the same as the one fitted to Seasonic's G-series and the older ranges such as the MII and SII models. This fan is rated at around 2200 rpm top speed and if you push it much above 50% of PSU capacity it will be noisy.


Another difference is that XFX seem to have adopted a far more aggressive fan profile than Seasonic. But given that XFX's market would primarily be hard-core gamers who would be more worried about cooling than noise, that's understandable. Most gamers would fit the XFX bottom mounted, fan up and given sufficient case airflow this would help limit the temperatures of the PSU and maybe PSU fan noise.

100wattwarlock
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by 100wattwarlock » Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:58 am

CA_Steve wrote:Simply put - different sites use different test equipment, use different procedures (1m away vs 70 cm away vs 1ft away, etc) and have different ambient noise environments. Testing for noise is easy to do in a crappy way and very hard to do in a good way.
True. Which sites would be considered reliable by SPCR in terms of PSU reviews and audibility?
quest_for_silence wrote:
100wattwarlock wrote:If I knew beforehand I would have researched my power supply in terms of audibility much more intensively.


Are you saying that your PSU is actually too much loud?
Heh, no. It's fine at current load (the fractal r4 fans are actually louder than I anticipated.. also looking into getting those replaced sometime). My concern stems primarily from the noise I may experience if I add fans (beyond the 2 stock fans), an ssd, and a graphics card (and maybe some LED lights).

Although it has begun to whine..... very annoying. Going to get it swapped with a new one of the same model and hope it doesn't develop the same issue..

Edit: The PSU has not begun to whine. I was mistaken. The HDD is vibrating in the sled it is held in and causing the filter at the bottom of the case to shake (so it sounded like the noise was coming from the PSU). I've since fixed the problem by adjusting the filter although I can still hear the drive vibrating and creating a buzzing noise inside the case.

Edit #2: Thought I'd add this in for anyone who may happen to stumble across this topic when googling fractal r4 and noise/buzzing/HDD issues - the side panel will also vibrate with the HDD to create nose if the panel screws aren't in tight enough.
lodestar wrote:
100wattwarlock wrote:Also, the fan on this PSU (adda ad1212mb-a70gl) is rated at 38db...
Just because the XFX Pro 750w is based on a Seasonic X-750 does not mean that it is one. One difference is the Adda ad1212mb-a70gl fan which is not the same as the one fitted to the X-series. It is the same as the one fitted to Seasonic's G-series and the older ranges such as the MII and SII models. This fan is rated at around 2200 rpm top speed and if you push it much above 50% of PSU capacity it will be noisy.


Another difference is that XFX seem to have adopted a far more aggressive fan profile than Seasonic. But given that XFX's market would primarily be hard-core gamers who would be more worried about cooling than noise, that's understandable. Most gamers would fit the XFX bottom mounted, fan up and given sufficient case airflow this would help limit the temperatures of the PSU and maybe PSU fan noise.
What's odd is that in the bit-tech review I linked, the XFX Pro 750W Black Edition, Seasonic X-Series 750W, and PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W were all rated at the same noise levels for 100W, 300W, and 500W loads.
Last edited by 100wattwarlock on Thu Jan 09, 2014 1:50 am, edited 2 times in total.

lodestar
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by lodestar » Wed Jan 08, 2014 11:55 am

100wattwarlock wrote:What's odd is that in the bit-tech review I linked, the XFX Pro 750W Black Edition, Seasonic X-Series 750W, and PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W were all rated at the same noise levels for 100W, 300W, and 500W loads.
XFX's fan control diagram for this PSU (reproduced below) does not suggest that this would be the case.

Image

CA_Steve
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:49 pm

Um - I think it means 18dBA is the noise floor for Bit-Tech's setup. It doesn't follow that the three supplies are the same in noise level...it's just below what they can measure at 10cm :)

100wattwarlock
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by 100wattwarlock » Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:46 am

lodestar wrote:
100wattwarlock wrote:What's odd is that in the bit-tech review I linked, the XFX Pro 750W Black Edition, Seasonic X-Series 750W, and PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W were all rated at the same noise levels for 100W, 300W, and 500W loads.
XFX's fan control diagram for this PSU (reproduced below) does not suggest that this would be the case.

Image
Thanks for the image. Assuming that RPM is the main/only perpetrator of PSU, then it should still only be marginally louder than 16db at 75% load according to that graph.
CA_Steve wrote:Um - I think it means 18dBA is the noise floor for Bit-Tech's setup. It doesn't follow that the three supplies are the same in noise level...it's just below what they can measure at 10cm :)
Good point. That would explain a lot. After all, what are the chances 3 different PSUs would output the same audibility across different loads? :P

developer1
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by developer1 » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:10 am

lodestar wrote:
100wattwarlock wrote:Also, the fan on this PSU (adda ad1212mb-a70gl) is rated at 38db...
Just because the XFX Pro 750w is based on a Seasonic X-750 does not mean that it is one. One difference is the Adda ad1212mb-a70gl fan which is not the same as the one fitted to the X-series. It is the same as the one fitted to Seasonic's G-series and the older ranges such as the MII and SII models. This fan is rated at around 2200 rpm top speed and if you push it much above 50% of PSU capacity it will be noisy.


Another difference is that XFX seem to have adopted a far more aggressive fan profile than Seasonic. But given that XFX's market would primarily be hard-core gamers who would be more worried about cooling than noise, that's understandable. Most gamers would fit the XFX bottom mounted, fan up and given sufficient case airflow this would help limit the temperatures of the PSU and maybe PSU fan noise.
I was about to buy an XFX Black Edition 750w before I came across this post. The fact of this PSU having an ADDA fan and not the same San Ace fan fitted on the X-750 was something I was worried about. But since I hadn't read anyone complain about it, I thought it was a minor difference.

So.. may I ask how much watts you mean with "much above 50% of PSU capacity"? I was about to get this PSU over the Corsair RM750, both at the same price

quest_for_silence
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:22 am

developer1 wrote:So.. may I ask how much watts you mean with "much above 50% of PSU capacity"? I was about to get this PSU over the Corsair RM750, both at the same price

Don't be worried. :wink:

lodestar
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by lodestar » Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:00 am

This PSU uses a different fan control profile as well as a different fan. What XFX have opted to do is to keep the fan at more or less the same speed, not exceeding 900 rpm in Normal mode. Using Hybrid mode it probably makes the transition from the fan not running at lower load levels to being turned on at higher load levels a bit sharper sound wise. But once the fan does run the noise level should remain constant whatever the load.

There is a review by eTeknix which illustrates this graphically:

Image

edh
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by edh » Thu Nov 13, 2014 1:49 am

Beware that these load versus rpm graphs are misleading in a major way: the fan is NOT varied according to load but according to temperature. Obviously as the load increases the temp also increases but the speed the fan will spin at any given load will also vary depending upon the layout of the case, airflow/heatflow around the PSU and environmental temperature. These graphs could be measured on a test bench with a test load and no heat source around the PSU which would make the graphs entirely unrepresentative of real life.

I'm not saying these graphs are not useful, they are, but you do have to expect them not to reflect your own setup.

developer1
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by developer1 » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:42 pm

Great then, thank you for your help.

I've one last question. I've seen many different XFX PSUs with very similar names and also with exactly the same part number, which is kinda misleading.. For example, the XTR750 and Pro Black Edition 750 are labeled under the same model code, a little weird being them such different units. There is also an old 2010~ Black Edition version, which has a green fan.

In the shop website, the adversited Black Edition PSU has this model code: P1-750B-BEFX, like the 850w model.
There is only one model/version that comes in this box, right?

quest_for_silence
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:13 am

I can't help: apparently there's no easy way to distinguish those two models (the original KM3 and the current G-series), given the identical manufacturer code.

The relevant EAN/GTIN/UPC codes should be, however, different: so, presumably, the 2012 KM3-based unit should have a EAN (GTIN or UPC) code different from the current one (the EAN code for the current XTR is 778656058804), but that's just my somewhat educated guess.

I can't say anything about the box: hopefully at least that box should be unique, but who knows... (not me).

BTW, the manufacturer code shouldn't be exactly the same: I can't directly link the image, but if I read correctly, the 2012 PSU (the KM3-based one) should have (also?) the model number "XPS-750W-BEF".

Last but not least, you could also ask directly to XFX customer support how to distinguish those two PSUs.

developer1
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Re: Opinions on XFX Pro 750w Black Edition PSU

Post by developer1 » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:49 am

Well, I've just saw a picture of both PSUs, and the XTR750 has also the same manufacturer code: XPS-750W-BEF. Marketing at its finest ?

But at least it has XTR750 written all over the place, on the psu iteself and also on the box. So I guess that's it. If it's says XPS-750-BEF AND Pro Series, it has to be the black edition which is based on the X-750

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