Seasonic delivers another very good product, which, however, faces strong internal competition since the price difference to the very similar G series unit is only five bucks in the US. I think that a price difference of ten or more bucks would make the S12G-450 a good choice over its modular counterpart, but with only five bucks separating the two, most of you will probably pick the modular over the non-modular unit. However, the S12G-450 also performed very well by achieving a tight voltage regulation, excellent ripple suppression, and pretty high overall efficiency, though I would like to see a higher reading at 20% load since some of the competition did much better there. That said, 20% of this unit's maximum-rated-capacity load only translates into 90 W, and my experience tells me that a PSU achieves much higher efficiency at such low loads with 115 VAC input, not the 230 VAC I used for all of my measurements. And while most of you may think that a PSU should be more efficient throughout its entire load range with 230 VAC, the S12G-450 definitely does not struggle to meet and exceed the 80 Gold Plus requirements. Another significant advantage of the S12G-450 is the five year warranty Seasonic provides. A hefty warranty for a budget series, the only matter I want to see improved, aside from a lower retail price, is its overall performance in the Advanced Transient Response tests I ran, although I know for a fact that its low capacity is a significant handicap in those tests.

If 450 W are enough, the S12G-450 is an excellent PSU for a budget system and for a user who doesn't care about modular cables. I also find its price a little stiff since it is very close to that of the semi-modular Seasonic G-450 based on the same platform. The price difference should at least be ten bucks; that is, if Seasonic intends to boost this unit's price/performance ratio.