Purchased an AX1200i PSU as part of some forward planning, what tier is this PSU?

[freeagent]

Just keep an eye on it for a bit. Sometimes you can come across some gold, but often times if it looks too good to be true.. it just might be.

 

[dirtyferret]

In my limited defence I did look up the Cultists tier list before purchasing, i knew the PSU was not on it and I guessed it was due to its age,

It's arguably made by the premier OEM out there and here the reviewer's opinion on it who by the way is used to make that tier list which is kind of like me making a best of 2023 movie tier by re-arranging movie reviews on USA Today having never seen the movies just reading the reviews
"To wrap up, if you want the absolute best PSU available on the market today, then the AX1200i was made for you."

 

[dgianstefani]

Use it as a spare or in a PC with low importance.

Absolutely do not use it for a 10 year build when you already have a good budget. I remember you saying something about several thousand £ in the last thread.

This is the kind of thing you use when you're scraping together used parts for a super budget build trying to squeeze the maximum value for money, or if you've owned it since new and have relegated it to an office/multimedia PC.

Even then I wouldn't suggest a second hand PSU or an old PSU, and this is both.

There is zero recourse if that fails and damages your parts. Out of warranty.

If you are considering RTX 30xx and newer you should be using an ATX 3/3.1 PSU in a new build.

I am currently using a very high quality non ATX 3.0 PSU that I have owned since new, is in warranty, and which is less than three years old. So there is some flexibility. But when I upgrade my GPU to something from the RTX 50xx series I will also be replacing the PSU.

Fair question. I will do some research between now and 2025 and decide later. Its likely the next graphics card will need a 12 pin so the PSU will need to factor that in and be ATX 3.0 compliant.

The next GPU will likely be 16 pin, 12 + 4 sense.

The sense pins don't work with adapters from 8 pin.

 

[Waldorf]

@Desktopstu

pre-filtered: 1000w+ and 12V plug..

 

[dgianstefani]

@Desktopstu

pre-filtered: 1000w+ and 12V plug..

...so when this psu came up on marketplace for £100 I did some research on it and read the review that Veseleil has kindly linked here before opting to purchase as a stand in for a year. I bought it to give me some pointers on what I want to purchase in 2025.

So for £40-45 more you could have gotten a brand new unit with a native 16 pin plug.

Not much of a deal.

 

[freeagent]

I do not let my PC go to sleep, but if you do and it wont, its because of your PSU. No chance I would use a 10 year old PSU for a 10 year build either. You will find you will just have to replace it anyways due to crashes. 30 series will lay the smack down in the blink of an eye lol.

 

[Desktopstu]

View attachment 347101

So for £40-45 more you could have gotten a brand new unit with a native 16 pin plug.

Not much of a deal.

Depends if you have £40 to £45. As the PSU was to be used in this pc for a year and unlikley to be powering the 10yp and my current GPU does not use the 16pin plug, and the reviews were very favourable, i thought it worth it. And I may well still sell it on for a similar price next year or use it in one of my many build-to-sell pcs.

 

[Dragam1337]

I do not let my PC go to sleep, but if you do and it wont, its because of your PSU. No chance I would use a 10 year old PSU for a 10 year build either. You will find you will just have to replace it anyways due to crashes. 30 series will lay the smack down in the blink of an eye lol.

Oh yeah, it totally can't run 30 series... instant crashes...

 

[Desktopstu]

I do not let my PC go to sleep, but if you do and it wont, its because of your PSU. No chance I would use a 10 year old PSU for a 10 year build either. You will find you will just have to replace it anyways due to crashes. 30 series will lay the smack down in the blink of an eye lol.

I always switch off the hibernate or sleep options on my pcs.

 

[freeagent]

Oh yeah, it totally can't run 30 series... instant crashes...

If its a box of shit.

 

[Waldorf]

love how folks here make comments about a unit they have neither seen, nor (professionally) tested,
to support their comment.
a top tier unit with 10y warranty doesnt go bad just because its now a couple years old, (the same way many here have units +5y old, and not throwing them out to get replaced
when they have no issues) for all we know this was used in a rig for "2 weeks" and then put aside..

i will always prefer a 10y top tier MB/audi, over any "GTI" (model) driven 6 month by a 20y old.

 

[Dragam1337]

If its a box of shit.

Apparently the sarcasm was lost on you. No, an ax1200i will have no issues running 30 series, nor 40 series. At no point have i had any instability, nor when running my 4090 3+ ghz at 600 watts.

 

[freeagent]

Apparently the sarcasm was lost on you. No, an ax1200i will have no issues running 30 series, nor 40 series. At no point have i had any instability, nor when running my 4090 3+ ghz at 600 watts.

It was, sorry. If you have ever worn out a PSU before, you would know

I had a brand new out of box Seasonic Prime crash with my 30 series and 5900X. But a much Cheaper EVGA had no troubles, so luck of the draw I suppose..

But if the PSU is worn out he will have issues.

FWIW that same Prime is running just fine with said GPU, and a single CCD Zen 3 part.

 

[Dragam1337]

It was, sorry. If you have ever worn out a PSU before, you would know

I had a brand new out of box Seasonic Prime crash with my 30 series and 5900X. But a much Cheaper EVGA had no troubles, so luck of the draw I suppose..

But if the PSU is worn out he will have issues.

FWIW that same Prime is running just fine with said GPU, and a single CCD Zen 3 part.

I have had brand new psu's literally pop before (cheap units), so i know. You can always get dodgy hardware. But when it's been rock solid for 12 years, then i see it as a very slim chance of happening. Like even running a 4090 at 600w, im still a loooong way away from really pushing it. I was pushing it 10 years ago with quad sli though... but these days it's living an easy life - fan never turns on And none of the tell tell signs of being worn out.

 

[Desktopstu]

Longest running regular use PSU I had was probably a Hipper 430W which powered my liquid cooled 680i Black Pearl rig. That PSU swapped from pc to pc for well over 10 years and punched well above its weight. Eventually sold as part of one of my FM2+ builds back when FM2+ quad cores still sold.

Ive had two PSUs die on me in my 30 years or so of computer building, one spectacularly! think it was WinPower and was just awful. That one took the board with it but everything else survived, but that was back in Socket A overclocking days and it was a spare pc nothing serious.

More recently though I had a Corsair CX650 that just... stopped in my main rig. I wasnt running the ARC then, think it was the Gainward 1060 6gb. No idea why it stopped, it didnt damage anything else, it literally just stopped, that was the instance that led to the GameMax being used at short notice. I have used a few GameMax rampage and Aerocool Integrator PSUs on my Build to sell pcs and none have come back to me. When I build a pc to order its always with the caveat that anything goes wrong bring it back. I have built well over 100 computers sold to people far and wide, including some of my online clan mates. There have been the odd fault or upgrade requirement after the build but PSU failure has not been one of them. Thats not to endorse or reccomend GameMax or Aerocool PSUs im just speaking as I find.

 

[Dragam1337]

Longest running regular use PSU I had was probably a Hipper 430W which powered my liquid cooled 680i Black Pearl rig. That PSU swapped from pc to pc for well over 10 years and punched well above its weight. Eventually sold as part of one of my FM2+ builds back when FM2+ quad cores still sold.

Ive had two PSUs die on me in my 30 years or so of computer building, one spectacularly! think it was WinPower and was just awful. That one took the board with it but everything else survived, but that was back in Socket A overclocking days and it was a spare pc nothing serious.

More recently though I had a Corsair CX650 that just... stopped in my main rig. I wasnt running the ARC then, think it was the Gainward 1060 6gb. No idea why it stopped, it didnt damage anything else, it literally just stopped, that was the instance that led to the GameMax being used at short notice. I have used a few GameMax rampage and Aerocool Integrator PSUs on my Build to sell pcs and none have come back to me. When I build a pc to order its always with the caveat that anything goes wrong bring it back. I have built well over 100 computers sold to people far and wide, including some of my online clan mates. There have been the odd fault or upgrade requirement after the build but PSU failure has not been one of them. Thats not to endorse or reccomend GameMax or Aerocool PSUs im just speaking as I find.

Funny, the psu that i had that really popped loudly was a cx aswell, cx750 - they really aren't very high quality those cx psu's... had used it as a cheap psu for a spare pc... but found out the hard way that i had gone a bit too cheap... lol.

 

[Waldorf]

is a cx <=500w for a budget build? sure, but above that wattage, nope.
they should make psu features more like ssds or (car) safety features, with only the top stuff doing higher output,
similar to slower drives coming in 250-1TB, faster ones as 500/1TB-4/8, or like NV only offered on an S-class/A8/7 series.

 

[Desktopstu]

I actually found a pic of the Hipper powering the liquid cooled pc from around 2008? Back then water cooling was fairly niche and AIOs were pretty much non existant. This PSU went through sooo many computers before it was finally sold off, it was the first half decent PSU I ever bought. You know its a keeper when the coa is attached to the PSU ready to be moved to the next build.

 

[Knight47]

Use it as a spare or in a PC with low importance.

Absolutely do not use it for a 10 year build when you already have a good budget. I remember you saying something about several thousand £ in the last thread.

This is the kind of thing you use when you're scraping together used parts for a super budget build trying to squeeze the maximum value for money, or if you've owned it since new and have relegated it to an office/multimedia PC.

Even then I wouldn't suggest a second hand PSU or an old PSU, and this is both.

There is zero recourse if that fails and damages your parts. Out of warranty.

If you are considering RTX 30xx and newer you should be using an ATX 3/3.1 PSU in a new build.

I am currently using a very high quality non ATX 3.0 PSU that I have owned since new, is in warranty, and which is less than three years old. So there is some flexibility. But when I upgrade my GPU to something from the RTX 50xx series I will also be replacing the PSU.


The next GPU will likely be 16 pin, 12 + 4 sense.

The sense pins don't work with adapters from 8 pin.

Those sense pins that everyone hype up are useless, they are just shorted to ground. We need gpu's that monitors the power draw on each pin and cut off the power if it tries to ovrrdraw, not melt like now.

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[Assimilator]

Before this all gets a little out of hand let me explain why I bought this psu and why I asked the question in the original post...

I have a pc that has a moderate power consumption. Next year I plan to build something considerably more powerful (the much vaunted and ridiculed 10 year plan). The current PSU was an old second hand PSU that everyone knows and loves (to hate) the GameMax Rampage which while not letting me down to date is a well known cheapo PSU. As I plan to hold on to this pc for a year I thought id get a decent PSU to replace the GameMax. Despite what Assimilator may think I did do some research and had settled on the RM1000e (@£160) as this seemed to be a well thought of unit. However to fund my computer components I use money made from selling on marketplace which is cash in hand so when this psu came up on marketplace for £100 I did some research on it and read the review that Veseleil has kindly linked here before opting to purchase as a stand in for a year. I bought it to give me some pointers on what I want to purchase in 2025.

What did I like about it? Stop fan technology for starters. iCUE software so I can monitor the PSU performance. Fully modular with seperate GPU cables so I dont need to daisy chain graphics that need dual power plugs such as the ARC. The review did rate the PSU quite highly.

Soooo I came on here to ask where this PSU sits in the tier list as I couldnt find it in there but did see the AX1600i - which I know is not the same. For one thing it has ATX 3 while the 1200 has ATX 2.4, an older standard. I asked because I thought knowledgeable peeps on this forum would likely know the answer.

The answer is simple: there's a reason why the unit was only 100 quid, and that reason is that it is not ATX 3.0 compliant. The latter doesn't just mean that it can support an ATX12VHPR cable (either 12- or 16-pin), it also means that such a unit has proper support for the high transient power spikes that modern GPUs cause. The AX1200i doesn't and that means one of two things will happen if you try to use such a GPU with it: either it'll shut down because its OCP is triggered, or it won't be able to supply the GPU sufficiently - causing the latter to experience its own crashes. Neither is a recipe for fun.

tier lists are done by fan boys trying to pass off other peoples work as theirs and often biased and flawed. Go read a review on the PSU on TPU, Toms, anandtech kitguru, etc.,

Huh? Tier lists are literally just an aggregation of PSU reviews from trusted sources, weighted by the manufacturer. It's a public service, nothing more.

a top tier unit with 10y warranty doesnt go bad just because its now a couple years old, (the same way many here have units +5y old, and not throwing them out to get replaced
when they have no issues) for all we know this was used in a rig for "2 weeks" and then put aside..

And for all we know it was thrashed to death; sealed cables mean nothing, pretty much every PSU I've ever owned has had sealed cables because I haven't had to use them. Plus capacitors have a bad habit of losing capacitance the older they get, regardless of their hour rating.

Those sense pins that everyone hype up are useless, they are just shorted to ground.

If you bothered to educate yourself as to the fundamental basics of how the ATX12VHPR connector is designed, you wouldn't make such ignorant statements.

 

[Knight47]

The answer is simple: there's a reason why the unit was only 100 quid, and that reason is that it is not ATX 3.0 compliant. The latter doesn't just mean that it can support an ATX12VHPR cable (either 12- or 16-pin), it also means that such a unit has proper support for the high transient power spikes that modern GPUs cause. The AX1200i doesn't and that means one of two things will happen if you try to use such a GPU with it: either it'll shut down because its OCP is triggered, or it won't be able to supply the GPU sufficiently - causing the latter to experience its own crashes. Neither is a recipe for fun.


Huh? Tier lists are literally just an aggregation of PSU reviews from trusted sources, weighted by the manufacturer. It's a public service, nothing more.


And for all we know it was thrashed to death; sealed cables mean nothing, pretty much every PSU I've ever owned has had sealed cables because I haven't had to use them. Plus capacitors have a bad habit of losing capacitance the older they get, regardless of their hour rating.


If you bothered to educate yourself as to the fundamental basics of how the ATX12VHPR connector is designed, you wouldn't make such ignorant statements.

Pray tell how the sense pins prevent drawing 15A on a single cable designed for 10A. But you probably won't, cuz you can't. Cheers.

 

[Dragam1337]

The answer is simple: there's a reason why the unit was only 100 quid, and that reason is that it is not ATX 3.0 compliant. The latter doesn't just mean that it can support an ATX12VHPR cable (either 12- or 16-pin), it also means that such a unit has proper support for the high transient power spikes that modern GPUs cause. The AX1200i doesn't and that means one of two things will happen if you try to use such a GPU with it: either it'll shut down because its OCP is triggered, or it won't be able to supply the GPU sufficiently - causing the latter to experience its own crashes. Neither is a recipe for fun.


Huh? Tier lists are literally just an aggregation of PSU reviews from trusted sources, weighted by the manufacturer. It's a public service, nothing more.


And for all we know it was thrashed to death; sealed cables mean nothing, pretty much every PSU I've ever owned has had sealed cables because I haven't had to use them. Plus capacitors have a bad habit of losing capacitance the older they get, regardless of their hour rating.


If you bothered to educate yourself as to the fundamental basics of how the ATX12VHPR connector is designed, you wouldn't make such ignorant statements.

This is just plain incorrect...

 

[dirtyferret]

Huh? Tier lists are literally just an aggregation of PSU reviews from trusted sources, weighted by the manufacturer. It's a public service, nothing more.

The last good one I saw was started on jonnyguru.com on a google spreadsheet maybe a decade ago and even that one went into seven tiers+ with the people working on it saying they needed more tiers to clearly state the differences between units. Look tier lists are better than amazon reviews of "I got a 700w PSU for $45 and it works great on my PC" (that only needs 300w tops) but if you can post on web site looking for advice, you can also look up professional reviews. In fact both HB and Toms have "best of" lists by Aris which are far more helpful than a tier list" as well as his professional reviews (plus sites like TPU, PCgamer, etc.,)

My issue with tier lists is long but here are several (they do not always apply to every single one)
Rarely do they fully explain the performance the consumer is getting for the extra price which they may or may not need (or possibly need more)
Reviews used int the "tiers" have scores and ranking but are not reflected the same in the tier because...
Lots of OEM & Brand bias even if the platform has a known issue or a very good unit that may come from a "lesser" OEM
some units get carry over grades even if they have no review just because they use the same platform (even if the parts are cheaper) and vice versa
some OEMs can do no wrong and get high ranking even if the platform has never been reviewed, some oems can do no right
just because brand A has a better 650w PSU than brand B does not necessarily mean brand A's 750w & 850w in the same line are better as well. See best of reviews for examples
some OEMs hang their hats on different aspects (such as hold up time) than others which don't care too much about it.
frankly, an RMA list & QC results would be more helpful
So educating oneself to their needs is more important than checking on a tier position after all no one buys a Intel 13600k and AMD RX 7600 XT and says "hey what tier is my CPU & GPU at?"...or least they shouldn't

 

[Desktopstu]

Assimilator, you stated the following:

"The answer is simple: there's a reason why the unit was only 100 quid, and that reason is that it is not ATX 3.0 compliant. The latter doesn't just mean that it can support an ATX12VHPR cable (either 12- or 16-pin), it also means that such a unit has proper support for the high transient power spikes that modern GPUs cause. The AX1200i doesn't and that means one of two things will happen if you try to use such a GPU with it: either it'll shut down because its OCP is triggered, or it won't be able to supply the GPU sufficiently - causing the latter to experience its own crashes. Neither is a recipe for fun."

So you are saying that if I connect a modern high end GPU to the AX1200i it will cause the PC to shut down or wont be able to supply enough juice? Have I got that right?

 

[Onasi]

So you are saying that if I connect a modern high end GPU to the AX1200i it will cause the PC to shut down or wont be able to supply enough juice? Have I got that right?

Yes, your PC will explode, take your house and you with it and your relatives will weep over your exploded body before being gunned down by black ops from the CIA for allowing such a threat to national security as connecting a AX1200i to a modern GPU to even occur.