PFC and PSU

[ykgoh]

My logic correct or not?

Active PFC -> Higher Efficiency -> Less Heat/Lower Temperature
Passive PFC -> Lower Efficiency -> More Heat/Higher Temperature

A decent PSU should be at least 80 Plus Bronze certified with Active PFC?

PSUs with Passive PFC/None PFC should be avoided?

 

[summersky1986]

My logic correct or not?

Active PFC -> Higher Efficiency -> Less Heat/Lower Temperature
Passive PFC -> Lower Efficiency -> More Heat/Higher Temperature

A decent PSU should be at least 80 Plus Bronze certified with Active PFC?

PSUs with Passive PFC/None PFC should be avoided?

 

[BryanWu]

This part correct.
Higher Efficiency -> Less Heat/Lower Temperature (lower elec bills)
Lower Efficiency -> More Heat/Higher Temperature

PFC doesn't matter to SG home users as we're not billed according to that.

But efficiency and Active PFC do come hand in hand in modern high efficiency PSU designs.

If the PSU can't do 80% efficiency and Active PFC, its probably quite an old design.

Minimum you should get locally would be a 230V input PSU with minimum 80% efficiency and Active PFC. eg. Tt Smart SE, FSP hexa (as recommended by some forumers here)

These perform similarly to 80PLUS Bronze in terms of efficiency but are slightly cheaper as they don't need to do 110V input (for US, Japan etc).

80PLUS Gold is pretty close to 80PLUS Bronze pricing now, so thats probably a better pick for a few $$ more. (eg. Seasonic S12G, Seasonic G series, FSP Aurum S, Superflower HX)

80PLUS bronze would therefore be getting obsolete here imo. most of the designs/models are 5 years or older. They're still around in order to cater for 110V countries like USA though.

 

[Maeda_Toshiie]

My logic correct or not?

Active PFC -> Higher Efficiency -> Less Heat/Lower Temperature
Passive PFC -> Lower Efficiency -> More Heat/Higher Temperature

A decent PSU should be at least 80 Plus Bronze certified with Active PFC?

PSUs with Passive PFC/None PFC should be avoided?

Wrong. First of all, read up on what PFC is.

PFC does NOT directly affect PSU efficiency. The use of passive vs active was initially driven by manufacturing cost. Furthermore, PFC is only a problem for:
1) Power companies supplying power to users with industrial grade machines
2) You run industrial grade machines using consumer grade power lines.
3) Your power company charges you for the power passing through the lines, rather than the power consumed (which usually occurs for industrial users, not home consumers, see above related points).

80+ certification and APFC has to do with 120V to 240V input acceptance, which is a requirement for 80+ certification. Side note, there is also another insanity of 80+ certification which is done at 23C, not realistic working temperatures. Go figure.

Correlation of APFC with high efficiency PSUs does not imply a causation.

The only time I care about the PFC in my PSU is when it comes in the form of a cement brick: Hantol PSU: Fake PFC Made of Cement | Hardware Secrets

Anyway, the cost of copper also means that making decent PPFCs a stupid manufacturing decision.

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Further information: http://www.dansdata.com/gz028.htm

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Technically, APFCs use a circuit and thus dissipate some extra power to accomplish PFC (thus making them slightly less efficient), but that power is generally small.