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Seasonic made an impressive entry in the 80 PLUS Titanium category with its Prime series. This line's current flagship, offering 850W capacity, is being reviewed today. Besides high efficiency, it sports quiet operation and top performance.
The Seasonic Prime Titanium 850 is probably the best 850W PSU available on the market today. It features top-notch performance, dead silent operation, nice looks and a hefty 10-year warranty. The only problem is the stiff price, but in this case you get what you pay for.
Reasons to buy
+
Full power at 47°C
+
Efficient
+
Ripple suppression
+
Load regulation
+
Hold-up time
+
Silent
+
Build quality
+
Fully modular
+
6x PCIe & 2x EPS connectors
+
Selectable semi-passive operation
+
FDB fan
+
Warranty
+
Looks
Reasons to avoid
-
Price
-
3.3V rail performance in Advanced Transient Response tests
-
Inrush current with 230V input
-
Distance between peripheral connectors
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Seasonic SSR-850TD Power Supply Review
We already reviewed the Seasonic Prime 650, which impressed us enough to roll out a rare Editor's Choice award. Today we're testing the top member of Seasonic's Titanium Prime family, offering up to 850W of maximum capacity and similar specs as the last model we evaluated. Without a doubt, this company rocked the boat with its high-end Prime series, based on a new platform.
The Prime 850 W Titanium, or SSR-850TD, features compact dimensions and fully modular cabling. In addition to high efficiency and exemplary performance, the PSU also promises quiet operation. There are two fan modes, normal and hybrid, which can be selected through a push-button located on the front panel. As a result of its Titanium-class efficiency, the SSR-850TD doesn't dissipate much waste heat, so there's no reason for an aggressive fan profile or high rotational speed. On top of that, Seasonic finally got over its obsession with 120mm fans and equipped the Prime family with a larger cooler. It is nice to see Seasonic focusing more on quieting down its products; previously, the Snow Silent units were the only ones able to match Super Flower's high-efficiency offerings.
As an aside, we are anticipating the release of new Prime models soon, since this line will consist of more affordable Gold- and Platinum-rated units as well. In addition, we will likely see the Prime platform branded by other companies partnering with Seasonic.
Titanium-class efficiency, a single +12V rail, modular cabling, and a 50°C maximum output rating are all highlights of this design. In addition, the SSR-850TD is covered by a full suite of protection features that includes over-temperature protection.
The cooling fan uses a Fluid Dynamic Bearing, which offers a 70,000-hour lifetime at 40°C. In comparison, high-quality double ball-bearing fans are rated for 50,000 hours and sleeve-bearing ones go up to 30,000 hours. There are some FDB fans with much higher ratings, but their manufacturers don't specify a maximum temperature. Seasonic, on the other hand, is crystal clear on the matter. We appreciate when a manufacturer doesn't hide such important details.
Finally, Seasonic guarantees its workmanship for 10 years. The company is clearly gunning for Corsair and EVGA with its extra-long warranty.
Power Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Rail
3.3V
5V
12V
5VSB
-12V
Max. Power
Amps
20
20
70
3
0.3
Watts
100
840
15
3.6
Total Max. Power (W)
850
The single +12V rail can deliver up to 70A of current, which should be plenty for a high-end gaming system with a couple of flagship graphics cards. On the other hand, the minor rails are limited to 100W combined, though that's still enough for any modern PC. The 5VSB rail is stronger than usual with 15W maximum power output.
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Cables And Connectors
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Modular Cables
Description
Cable Count
Connector Count (Total)
Gauge
ATX connector 20+4 pin (610mm)
1
1
18AWG
4+4 pin EPS12V (650mm)
2
2
18AWG
6+2 pin PCIe (675mm+75mm)
3
6
18AWG
SATA (450mm+120mm+120mm+120mm)
2
8
18AWG
SATA (350mm+120mm)
1
2
18AWG
Four-pin Molex (450mm+120mm+120mm)
1
3
18AWG
Four-pin Molex (350mm+120mm)
1
2
18AWG
FDD Adapter (+100mm)
1
1
22AWG
The provided cables are quite long, so you probably won't have problems with full-tower cases. However, we'd like to see more distance between the SATA and peripheral connectors (at least 15cm). We do appreciate the fact that Seasonic provides a set of short SATA and four-pin Molex cables for use in smaller enclosures. And we also like the FDD adapter, since fixed Berg connectors aren't often used these days and they only serve to make cable management harder. Lastly, the number of provided connectors is ample for this unit's capacity; Seasonic gives us access to six PCIe connectors and a couple of EPS ones at the same time.
Power Distribution
Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.
There's no need for CF/SLI anymore, the typical PC + RX480/1080 class gpu barely goes above 300w (even less with APU setups or RX460/1050ti). We need way more 400-500w Titanium PSU's.
We should have 90% efficiency at 50w load with PSU's in that wattage range.
I'm eagerly anticipating the 600W Passive Seasonic Titanium unit.. I read about it almost a year ago, and still have not seen it tested here ... hope that changes soon.
There's no need for CF/SLI anymore, the typical PC + RX480/1080 class gpu barely goes above 300w (even less with APU setups or RX460/1050ti). We need way more 400-500w Titanium PSU's.
We should have 90% efficiency at 50w load with PSU's in that wattage range.
Just because you do not need one , does not mean others don't.
I run multiple graphics cards for Folding@Home.The more you can run on each CPU the better. People who run Dual 1080s or dual 39x cards need them to push their 4K monitors.
So there is a need for them.
We need way more 400-500w Titanium PSU's.
We should have 90% efficiency at 50w load with PSU's in that wattage range.
The thing is, efficiency arguably matters less the lower the power is, because the absolute power being wasted is small. A 500W titanium PSU at max load is only drawing 15W more than a gold rated one. At 50%, 10W. As load drops past 50%, efficiency goes down, but absolute power wasted will still likely go down as well. I don't know, getting a 400W titanium PSU just seems like you're probably paying a lot more money than is necessary for a over engineered PSU which has little to no difference in performance compared to a less efficient, cheaper PSU.
Just like Aris stated at his review, i find it amazing how Seasonic managed to generate such a low ripple values without using cable-in capacitors like the rest of the companies do !!
