Introduction

We would like to thank Seasonic for supplying the review sample.



Seasonic recently released a Snow Silent version of their Platinum PSU offering with 1050 W capacity. It not only looks nice, but promises to be significantly quieter at high loads because of the new FDB fan. So far, all Seasonic PSUs we have tested did extremely well in terms of performance; however, they were pretty noisy, especially under tough conditions. The main culprits here are Seasonic's aggressive fan profile for all their high capacity units and the 120 mm fan as opposed to the larger 140 mm fan the competition uses. Seasonic's argument is that a 120 mm fan focuses air in one particular direction more effectively than a larger diameter fan, but we know for a fact that the latter can provide more airflow at lower speeds, which results in less noise output. Such highly efficient PSUs also don't need airflow to be as tightly focused for their secondary side where most hot parts are located, so Seasonic should also try using a 140 mm fan instead. While it might increase cost, it would definitely make their units more attractive to those looking for a quiet PSU.



The snow white, as we like to call it, version of Seasonic's XP3 platform will match a white case beautifully. Even nowadays, white-coloured PSU are very few, so Seasonic did well, and the color also sets this low-noise version apart from the plain one. However, we will be in a position to say whether snow white is silent enough for those of us who are picky about how much noise a unit produces once we have the noise test results. The question at hand is whether it is only a quieter version of the rather noisy Seasonic 1050 W Platinum unit. We can be sure that it'll perform beautifully, though, because it uses the same platform as the Platinum unit with a few minor component changes.

Specifications

The PSU sports Platinum efficiency since it is based on Seasonic's top XP3 platform. It is also fully modular and can deliver its full power continuously at up to 50°C. It is equipped with all available protection features except for OCP (Over Current Protection), a rather useless feature in a single +12V rail PSU of high capacity.

The main difference between this unit and the Seasonic SS-1050XP3—besides its look—is the fan the Snow Silent edition uses. Fluid Dynamic Bearing fans are the best money can buy today since they not only last long, but are also as quiet as new units for a longer time, which is contrary to ball-bearings fans that start to produce more noise as their bearings wear down. Some experts also believe even sleeve-bearing fans of good quality to be preferable to ball-bearing ones because of the performance of the latter after a period of time. Seasonic also equipped their white PSU with a less aggressive fan profile, so we expect it to produce much less noise than the rather noisy SS-1050XP3.

There is a semi-passive mode should you want total silence with light- and mid-level loads; however, the switch is in an inconvenient position right at the rear of the PSU. The warranty is pretty long at seven years, and Seasonic's asking price is decent given the unit's features.

There are no change over the plain SS-1050XP3 here. The single +12V rail can provide enough juice to power four mid-level VGAs or two high-end ones with increased clocks. The minor rails are also quite strong, and the 5VSB rail is a little stronger than the minimum allowed; that is, for contemporary PSUs.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

The Snow Silent Seasonic with 1050 W capacity has eight PCIe and two EPS connectors, and all of them are all available at the same time. There are also many SATA and enough peripheral connectors to meet the needs of every high-end system. All cables are long enough to provide for a trouble-free installation into even full-tower cases, and the distance between connectors is also good. We noticed that the distance between peripheral connectors is longer than the distance between SATA connectors since drives the latter supplies with power are usually installed closer to one another. Finally, all connectors use 18AWG connectors.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to comment on when it comes to its power distribution.

Packaging

This PSU comes inside a white box with an elegant graphics design. The packaging is sturdy, so it will adequately protect its contents. At the front are a small photograph of the unit near the bottom-right corner and the 80 Plus Platinum badge. Seasonic's logo resides in the top-left corner, and the unit's wattage description has been placed into the opposite corner.


This side is quite interesting because it comes with two tables that depict the unit's technical and power specifications. There are also several icons on the bottom for its various certifications.


The Platinum badge can also be found on top, along with three icons for Nvidia's SLI certification and compatibility with the ErP Lot 6 2013 directive and Haswell's sleep states (C6 and C7).


A multilingual features description can be found here.


Seasonic elaborates on the PSU's main features on the back of the box, and two graphs there depict the fan's operation in normal and semi-passive mode. Seasonic says the fan to turn on when the load rises above 50% and the ambient exceeds 25°C, to turn off once the load drops below 40%. Given we run all the tests in semi-passive mode, we will also examine the fan's operation in more detail in our hot-box sessions.

Contents

The PSU comes well protected inside its box, wrapped in a nice, white bag with Seasonic's logo on it.


A smaller box stores all modular cables and the bundle that includes several Velcro straps and zip ties, a set of screws, a case badge, an owner's manual, and a piece of paper with a PCIe power connector recommendation.