Final Thoughts and Conclusions
Seasonic’s new PRIME Gold Series hits the sweet spot for a great balance of high quality components and high performance operation at a very attractive price point. Top that off with a 12-year warranty and who wouldn’t be impressed.
The overall electrical performance is excellent with tight voltage regulation (=1% on the three primary rails thanks to Seasonic’s Micro Tolerance Load Regulation), high efficiency (80 Plus Gold) and very good AC ripple and noise suppression. We really like the ability to choose whether or not to run in fanless mode or not (I personally like to have the fan spinning at all times to keep a little air moving). The PRIME Gold Series also features fully modular cables and a large, quiet cooling fan with a Fluid Dynamic Bearing. Our only real gripe is with having two PCI-E connectors daisy-chained onto one cable, especially since Seasonic is using 18 AWG wire. We would much rather see a dedicated cable for each PCI-E connector and 16 AWG wire.
In addition to excellent performance, the PRIME 1200W Gold power supply offers a full complement of safety and protection features: OPP,OVP,UVP,SCP,OCP and OTP.
The Seasonic PRIME Gold Series power supplies are currently available and selling for prices that are hard to beat (April 2017).
• MSRP for PRIME 650W Gold $114.90 USD
• MSRP for PRIME 750W Gold $129.90 USD
• MSRP for PRIME 850W Gold $149.90 USD
• MSRP for PRIME 1000W Gold $169.90 USD
• MSRP for PRIME 1200W Gold $199.90 USD
Strengths:
• Tight voltage/load regulation (=1% is excellent)
• Very good AC ripple and noise suppression
• High efficiency – easily meets 80 Plus Gold certification requirements
• Selectable fanless fan control mode
• Very quiet, high quality FDB fan
• Fully modular cable design
• High-quality components and excellent build quality
• Multi-GPU technologies supported
• Gold-plated high-current terminals
• Protections: OPP,OVP,UVP,SCP,OCP and OTP
• 12-Year warranty
Minor Weaknesses :
• Two PCI-E connectors are daisy-chained on a single cable instead of having a dedicated cable for each connector
Seasonic PRIME 1200W Gold Power Supply
Our thanks to Seasonic for sending over another great power supply for us to review!
seasonic never fails to
seasonic never fails to impress
thanks for another much appreciated psu review
still the most important component for me
12 yr manufacturer’s
12 yr manufacturer’s warranty. somebody believes in their product
JonnyGuru stated “PCIe cable
JonnyGuru stated “PCIe cable wire gauge is too thin for one cable to handle high power cards” for the Platinum & I think is the same with Gold version.
Yes, you are correct – the
Yes, you are correct – the PRIME Gold Series PSUs use 18 AWG wire like the Platinum Series. That is why I dinged them for daisy-chaining two PCI-E connectors onto one cable as a weakness. For the majority of users who have two high-end (power hungry) video cards, using a dedicated cable/PCI-E connector to all four connectors should be adequate. However IMO that still doesn not excuse Seasonic for putting two connectors on the end of a single 18 AWG cable set on a 1200W PSU.