Seasonic FOCUS PLUS PSUs Encounter GPU Compatibility Issues

[cdawall]

It's a cheapo budget model, right (not cost but components)? What do you expect when loading it up? I just replaced an 850W decent rosewill with 1000 superflower, b/c it could no longer handle vega 64. You can't load em up anywhere close to peak if you want stability/longevity. Also, peak power draw for a split second, not worthless average is what matters.

Buy better units. The minimum I use for a system like that is 620W (funnily enough, the actual cheap seasonics for 45 bucks work great lol).

I would argue any good unit can and will maintain those higher loads from personal experience. Until I shut down mining I was running ancient Antec TPQ models at basically full capacity for years...Same with several other in the "we basically rebadged server units" crowd.

Buy a well designed platform and they will take care of you for years and years to come.

 

[TheOne]

Well this does make me feel a little better about going with an EVGA PSU.

 

[TheGuruStud]

I would argue any good unit can and will maintain those higher loads from personal experience. Until I shut down mining I was running ancient Antec TPQ models at basically full capacity for years...Same with several other in the "we basically rebadged server units" crowd.

Buy a well designed platform and they will take care of you for years and years to come.

That's the key. Old ones are far superior. I buy clearance server seasonics at microcenter lol.

 

[cdawall]

That's the key. Old ones are far superior. I buy clearance server seasonics at microcenter lol.

I haven't had an issue out of some of the newer designs as well. Superflower makes a good platform as well, but I also don't really cheap out on PSU.

 

[hat]

Watching the thread. Seasonic is the last power supply band I'd expect to hear about issues from...

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

this is something to look at.

 

[zo0lykas]

i have Seasonic, and from weekend i have gpu issues dont know its gpu or psu
what you think guys? yesterday tried run some benchmarks not even last a 1minute
and btw in safe mode, i run DDU and after pc tries restart but that icon i spinning around 3-4mins and after got bluescreen, last screenshot

 

[TheGuruStud]

i have Seasonic, and from weekend i have gpu issues dont know its gpu or psu
what you think guys? yesterday tried run some benchmarks not even last a 1minute
and btw in safe mode, i run DDU and after pc tries restart but that icon i spinning around 3-4mins and after got bluescreen, last screenshot
View attachment 111107View attachment 111107


View attachment 111104View attachment 111104View attachment 111105View attachment 111105View attachment 111106View attachment 111106

Looks like defective gpu.

 

[Frick]

They’re rated wrong or are supremely defective.

This is the heart of it, and if anything they're defective. Was it overrated it would have shown in reviews, which the 550 passes with flying colours.

This would never happen on an old unit. I’m running on an old 600W seasonic for all these years without issue. Budget shit doesn’t pay (even if the case is these are all defective).

But they're not budget shit. Had it been $20 Ebay ChinaMaxPowerKey units I'd agree, but it's Seasonic, the internets posterboy of solid PSUs.

You will kill it in short order running at max. It’s not worth the trouble.

No, you won't. The aforementioned ChinaMaxPowerKey would, but not any PSU worth its salt, and the entire point with Seasonic is being worth their salt.

 

[zo0lykas]

maybe, but today after work ill try my old psu, and give some stress for gpu, maybe in case lol its psu let me down, cuz my gpu 1080 is on a water block for factory and temp never goes over 45C, and its a bit over a year, really sad if gpu dying

Looks like defective gpu.

 

[GlacierXD]

Well according to their official account on chinese socialmedia site weibo.com, you don't need to worry if you got a 650W power supply unit. The problem only addresses to 550W (or below) PSUs.
But I have been running my Vega 64 with Focus+ 550W for like a year now and encountered no issue at all so I would assume that it's not much of a deal.

i have Seasonic, and from weekend i have gpu issues dont know its gpu or psu
what you think guys? yesterday tried run some benchmarks not even last a 1minute
and btw in safe mode, i run DDU and after pc tries restart but that icon i spinning around 3-4mins and after got bluescreen, last screenshot


View attachment 111104View attachment 111105View attachment 111106View attachment 111107

looks like a VRAM issue to me.

 

[justanerd]

I likely used 5-7 differnt brands in the past until I once stepped to seasonic. (defective fans sooner but later, leaking capcitors, ....... all these well known brands are simply not worth a penny let it be Coolermaster, BeQuiet, ..... all these gave up with the first 3 years.

Got a 650W Gold running since 5 years in my machine and it does as on day 1. And this machine is more or less in 24/7 mode since years.
I recently purchased a 650W Focus for my son's machine. No problems and I don't expect any.

Nevertheless the cables are worth but they were 5 years ago. Looks as if seasonic also tries to save money. Something which did ruin a couple of companies since if once dissapointed you likely never get back to them for the simple reason that there's dozens of other brands. Means it's once-failed ==> NoGo. Vendors should better be aware of this fact.

 

[Ruru]

This isn't the first time SeaSonic have those type of issues. I vaguely remember something with S12\M12 series and some motherboards.

Remember those. Antec NeoHe PSUs had problems and weren't they based on S12? Some nForce 4 motherboards had issues.

What about GTX 980 Strix? Thinking about a new PSU and Focuses look interesting, and I'm not planning to upgrade my GPU yet.

 

[Vayra86]

You will kill it in short order running at max. It’s not worth the trouble.

I’m going to assume people are running OCed CPUs and then the asus 970 has V bumped. What’s that gonna pull? Almost 400 on the 12V rail everything included? Most low wattage PSUs would be very unhappy. I’m not surprised overcurrent is tripping on the 550s. Ripple is maxing out b/c it’s overloaded. They’re rated wrong or are supremely defective.

Maybe it’s time they go back to normal ratings where 12V rail isn’t listed at 540 watts. That’s pretty scummy. Because, I have to bet that is indeed not the case.

This would never happen on an old unit. I’m running on an old 600W seasonic for all these years without issue. Budget shit doesn’t pay (even if the case is these are all defective).

This is another one of those reasons I always run with major wattage overkill in my PSUs. That one time I didn't do so, the PSU crapped out within a couple of years. Its so worth the extra ten bucks. This is the one component in your PC that should be running at a very relaxed pace. I might pull 400W out of this 750W bad boy at the most. PSU problems are horrible to troubleshoot as well.

maybe, but today after work ill try my old psu, and give some stress for gpu, maybe in case lol its psu let me down, cuz my gpu 1080 is on a water block for factory and temp never goes over 45C, and its a bit over a year, really sad if gpu dying

Well, those space invaders you've got there in screenshot one point at GPU 100%. Here's some news, temperature doesn't matter jack shit in terms of longevity. If it runs in spec, it runs in spec, whether that is 50 C or 80 C is not relevant.

 

[Ruru]

This is another one of those reasons I always run with major wattage overkill in my PSUs. That one time I didn't do so, the PSU crapped out within a couple of years. Its so worth the extra ten bucks. This is the one component in your PC that should be running at a very relaxed pace. I might pull 400W out of this 750W bad boy at the most. PSU problems are horrible to troubleshoot as well.

I ran a R9 290 with XFX TS 430W.

 

[Vayra86]

I ran a R9 290 with XFX TS 430W.

Nice, I bet that sounded like driving 140kph with open windows, no?

 

[Ruru]

Nice, I bet that sounded like driving 140kph with open windows, no?

Dunno since the GPU with reference cooler was noisy has hell already..

 

[PanicLake]

"The issue is caused by higher than normal peak current being emitted by these graphics cards when under heavy load. "
Since when GPU emit their own power?

 

[eidairaman1]

"The issue is caused by higher than normal peak current being emitted by these graphics cards when under heavy load. "
Since when GPU emit their own power?

They draw too much current...

 

[efikkan]

I find the description of the problem(s) in the article puzzling. It's fine that the system will shut down because of overcurrent protection on a single plug, but even the Focus Plus 550 can deliver 540 W over a single 12V rail. The Focus Plus series have excellent performance and low ripple, either the problem description is incorrect or these units are defective.

It's a cheapo budget model, right (not cost but components)? What do you expect when loading it up?

Is Seasonic Focus Plus a budget model? I guess that depends on your definition. I would call it a mid-range model, and is probably the best in its price range. I wouldn't recommend anything cheaper than this though, low-end PSUs are the recipe for disaster. Seasonic Focus Plus has been my go-to choice for value builds, but of course not for high end.

i have Seasonic, and from weekend i have gpu issues dont know its gpu or psu<snip>

Looks like hardware defects on the graphics card. I would RMA that at once.

 

[spectatorx]

I'm planning to buy (december or january) focus plus 650W platinum (this one to be specific: SSR-650PX) to power 2700x and r9 380 at the moment, next year 2700x and rx580/vega64 or navi gpu and after this article i'm wondering if this psu would handle properly.

To be honest i am confused why only few specific gpus are affected and not many more.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm planning to buy (december or january) focus plus 650W platinum (this one to be specific: SSR-650PX) to power 2700x and r9 380 at the moment, next year 2700x and rx580/vega64 or navi gpu and after this article i'm wondering if this psu would handle properly.

To be honest i am confused why only few specific gpus are affected and not many more.

Go with a Prime Gold

 

[Mr.Scott]

Remember those. Antec NeoHe PSUs had problems and weren't they based on S12? Some nForce 4 motherboards had issues.

Yes.
Specifically the DFI Lanparty boards did not like that particular Seasonic based platform.

 

[Deathy]

That's an unfortunate thing to happen to the people affected. And it's a bitch to diagnose at home.
I've run a CoolerMaster 650W PSU (80+ bronze) @ nearly 100% load for a year (also during 35°C ambient temperature in summer) for a mining rig with 2 OC'ed 7970 GHz cards. Handled it well and is now running a X58 rig with an R9 290X and a 4.2 GHz 6 core. Good PSUs don't crap out when used in spec.
I've had a 550W Super Flower Platinum unit (one of the first lower power ones IIRC) die after about 5 months. Was covered under the retailer warranty in the EU (Gewährleistung). Got it replaced within 2 weeks and the second unit runs fine. It ran the same setup (OC'ed Core i7 860 and 7970 to R9 290X cards) for 2 years more and then a 12 core server setup.
Grossly over speccing the PSU is no solution to this. It just wastes money (on a first purchase and efficiency of the PSU at idle) and takes up resources.

 

[Ruru]

Yes.
Specifically the DFI Lanparty boards did not like that particular Seasonic based platform.

I remember some Asus boards also having problems.