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- Date:
- Monday , November 08, 2010
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Seasonic X-Series: X-560 Power Supply Review
The first fully modular PSU we have seen from Seasonic aimed the low end in terms of enthusiast's PCs. Seasonic does however move on with a very specialized DC to DC way of conversion that is not seen in other PSUs. Can it stand up to our punishment?
Conclusions
The Seasonic X-560 is the third power supply from Seasonic's revolutionary X-Series that we have reviewed. The previous X-750 and X-400FL were both power supplies that were as good as gold. As such, we really have no reason to think the X-560 would be any different. However, if we were just going to think our way through reviews and not actually work these units out we would have been sorely disappointed on a number of occasions before. So, when we actually put the press to the ore of the X-560 do we get gold? Or do we get iron pyrite?
HardOCP’s testing methodology is intended to very much push power supplies to their advertised wattage rating in temperatures that will represent some of the hottest computer enthusiast cases. So if a unit passes all our testing it is definitely not something to take lightly. In fact we expect more power supplies to fail our testing than make it through unscathed.
Build Quality
Since this unit is almost identical in all major facets to the previous X-750 externally it goes without saying that the unit is remarkably good looking, and well constructed. The modular interface is well laid out and marked while the cables are of high quality and fully modular. However, as with the X-400FL, the cables seem somewhat long for this unit and its likely applications but that is hardly an overall condemnation of the X-560. The interior build quality of this unit is once more superb and shares the same basic topology as we have seen from all of the X-Series units. The actual layout and components, however, serve as somewhat of a hybrid of the X-400FL and X-750. This is perhaps actually the best layout of the three due to its combination of features that emphasis cooling and DC output capacity. We also find that the unit is stocked with top quality electrolytics provided by Nippon Chemi-con in the form of both standard and solid capacitors. This whole package comes backed by Seasonic's same 5 year warranty.
Load Testing
The results for the 120v and 100v load testing of the Seasonic X-560 were excellent as we have somewhat come to expect from the Seasonic X-Series of power supplies. As with previous X-Series units, the voltage regulation was excellent with the 12v rail and the minor rails showing regulation of ~1% in our load tests. We have remarked before that these kinds of results from the X-Series are simply outstanding and they continue to be again today. The efficiency of the X-560 does dip slightly with the X-560 compared to the X-400FL and X-750, however with a range of 86.79% to 89.58% at 120v the unit was within rounding errors of 80Plus Gold certification under our more demanding tests. The 100v efficiency came in at 84.66% to 88.48% which does represent a bit more of a drop on the low end than we were expecting. However, these values are still very good for this unit. Further the unit passed the Torture Test and posted a peak exhaust temperature of just 56C.
Continuing with the pattern of familiarity among the X-Series line, the X-560 passed the Transient Load Testing but it again serves as the one real weak point of this design. The loaded 12v rail saw peak changes of ~390mV which barely edges out the X-400FL. The 5v rail saw a peak change of ~110mV when directly loaded or not. As with the previous X-Series units these results are not great, but at least we are talking about just a 560W product here today. Coming into this review we really weren't expecting anything different than these kinds of results as this is just part of the overall performance found from the current LLC resonant DC-DC designs and the X-560 was another X-Series unit of such design. In the end though, the unit does once more pass but we are hoping this will be something worked on with the next generation of designs.
DC Output Quality
Once again we find that the Seasonic X-Series comes through in a big way when it comes to the DC Output Quality portion of our review as the X-560 had absolutely excellent DC Output Quality. The X-560 had peak 12v rail and 3.3v rail traces of ~15mV while 5v rail peaked at just ~10mV. These results are excellent and make it hard to say whether or not this unit did better than the X-400FL as there was less than 5mV difference on all of our traces at peak. Really, this unit presented us with a tie overall compared to the X-400FL and this again means we are seeing some of the best DC Output Quality going at the moment in this market segment with the X-560, and related X-Series units in their respective market segments.
Noise
Like with the efficiency angle, Seasonic has spent a lot of time advertising the noise (or lack thereof) associated with the X-Series of power supplies. True to its advertised form the X-750 was exceptionally quiet, to the point of almost being silent, while the X-400FL was, well, silent. As such, we expected the X-560 to perform much the same as the X-750 and in our testing it did just that. The one exception is that with this unit the fan did start in Test #1 whereas it had not with the X-750. This, however, did not result in any apparent noise and throughout testing this unit was without remark in our test environment. All things considered, this unit, like X-750, would be an almost ideal HTPC solution as it is going to practically silent for the almost all applications in its output range.
Paul's Thoughts:
With today's results from the X-560 in hand we can firmly say that the third time is the charm, well and the second time and the first time as well. Given that we have seen two other X-Series units before there is little surprising here today with this unit. The X-560 is quite simply an outstanding power supply, and likely one of, if not the, top 500W-600W power supplies on the market. I think the only issue that may come up here for the X-560 is simply one of cost. The X-560 looks to be streeting at about $129 versus say the M12-II 520W's $89. Is the X-560 a substantially better power supply? Most definitely. Is it a $40 better power supply? Well that is going to be up to the users to decide, but the X-560 really is good enough that an extra few dollars might should be shaken loose from a users budget if someone is they already seriously considering another power supply in the 500W-600W range that hits or breaks the $100 barrier. If not, well then it is really going to depend on if users want a good power supply, or an excellent one and how much an excellent power supply is worth to them.
The Bottom Line
The X-560 is the third power supply from the Seasonic X-Series that we have seen to date and it once more is an excellent product. The X-560 posted excellent Load Testing results once more as well as very very good efficiency that did slightly trail the other members of the X-Series, though not by much. Additionally, we once more saw an X-Series unit that had AMAZING DC output quality, was almost totally silent throughout testing, and featured excellent build quality. The one weak point here was again the Transient Load Testing results, but this is not as bad as it would have been had the unit been a letdown in any other category as well. With a street price of ~$129.99 the X-560 is more expensive than a lot of its other competitors, but then again it does outperform all of those competitors in just about every category going by quite a margin. In the end, the X-560 firmly falls into the category of "buy once cry once" as this is an exceptionally good high end unit that is backed by a 5 year warranty from a high quality manufacturer. Quality costs but quality also lasts.
