Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products, because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects must be taken into consideration. Certain criteria consist of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We are not going to try to create useless test results by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, it is not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 12W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is higher than normal. Independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment showed the 1600W version of this, based off an identical design with minor component differences, delivered industry-leading efficiency and matchless voltage regulation and ripple across all rails. The PRIME TX-1300 1300W should be no different. This power supply unit has an 80 Plus Titanium rating and the 1600W version is Cybenetics ETA Titanium certified.
Voltages with minimal load are accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. The Power Good or PG delay is tested at 180ms. This power supply is ATX 2.52 compliant and officially supports Alternative Sleep Mode with 100 to 150ms PG specifications, so it looks like the PSU tester I used was not fast enough to pick up the true PG signal. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it, as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W has active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W is a silent to very quiet power supply, depending on the amount of power being drawn. Under idle level loads, or less than approximately 40%, the PRIME TX-1300 is inaudible because the fan can be shut off completely with Hybrid Fan mode activated. Under moderate loads above 40%, the PRIME TX-1300 is still very reasonably low noise across the range. You may start to hear it above 70% load, but even then, it is very good. Personally, I found the Hong Hua HA13525H12SF-Z to be good at low speed, but gets noisy at its 2300 RPM maximum designed speed. However, Seasonic's fan speed profile limits it to just over 1000 RPM. While this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W to be at 0.0/10 when the fan is off, because, well, the fan is off. Above that, I would peg it at 1.5/10 acoustically under moderate loads, because the fan does not spin that fast. This 1600W version is rated at Cybenetics LAMBDA A for noise, and this one should be no exception. If you are a silent PC enthusiast, the Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W simply will not disappoint.
Seasonic provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W, as what we expect from the company, continues to be one of the best power supplies in the market today with nearly untouchable performance according to third-party certifications. From a quality and performance standpoint, it certainly has what it takes to be a flagship power supply. I also like its low noise fan profile across the range in addition to the fact the fan is off until 40% in Hybrid Mode. Combined with a very long 12-year warranty, the PRIME TX-1300 is an awesome Titanium-level PSU. Of course, keep in mind the PRIME TX is not ATX 3.0 compliant and is not fully PCIe 5.0 compatible even though it has two 12VHPWR cables. If you need those, Seasonic's Vertex series will be available this month, but none of them are Titanium level. The PRIME TX-1300 is also very long at 21cm, so make sure your chassis has enough room. For about $440 at press time, the Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 1300W is one of the best performing and highest quality PSUs in the market today, as long as you do not mind the fact it does not have the latest technology.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
