Seasonic M12II 750W EVO Edition 750-Watt 80 PLUS Bronze PSU Review

Seasonic's latest budget PSU shows that you don't always have to pay more to get more. Let's dive in and take a close look at the M12II 750W.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Seasonic USA
6 minutes & read time

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Lately we've been trying to focus on mid-wattage units as they seem to fit the needs for a majority of users who have up to a pair of discreet video cards. It's nice to look at the top end hardware day after day after day, but it is always nice to go back to something more for the masses. It helps keep things in perspective with what people can actually afford and need versus what they dream about and will never have a use for.

We decided to do double duty with this latest unit from Seasonic. Most of the power supplies that we have looked at from Seasonic are well towards the full enthusiast spectrum in that they are very high quality power supplies that exhibit superb performance but they always come at a cost.

The M12II EVO Edition power supply is meant for those who want the Seasonic quality, but don't want the price. It gives a little on performance, but gains a ton on the price.

We've seen this many times before and it sometimes has bad results as too much is shaved in order to save more money. Let's check out what the M12II-750 EVO Edition from Seasonic has to offer and if they've found a solid balance with price and performance or if they've gone too far.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Seasonic keeps things simple with a single 12V rail. It is rated for 62A or 744W. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 25A each with a combined maximum output of 150W. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Maximum combined output for the Seasonic M12II-750 is 750W.

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Just as you would expect from Seasonic, the power supply is chock full of features. Protections are often the first to be slashed when cutting costs, but all protections are present including over-temperature protection. The power supply is fully modular and all cables are either fully sleeved or of the flat ribbon type. The Seasonic M12II-750 EVO Edition is rated for 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency. Finally, while Seasonic doesn't rate the unit for 100% continuous output at 50C, they do rate it for it at 40C.

Seasonic lists the M12II-750 EVO Edition with an MSRP of $99.99. This makes it a very comparatively priced power supply and priced right in the middle of the road. Shopping around won't save you too much, but Provantage does have the unit in stock for $98.87 at the time of writing. Seasonic backs the M12II-750 EVO Edition with a five-year warranty.

Packaging

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Seasonic gives us a great look at the M12II-750 EVO Edition on the front of the box. We're also teased with Japanese capacitors and full modularity.

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Seasonic has a small picture to go along with each bullet point. On the left, we find that the power supply uses Japanese electrolytic capacitors, but it may contain Taiwanese solid state capacitors.

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The other half of the back lets us know that the power supply supports multiple GPUs, has fully modular cables and a five-year warranty.

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This side gives us the protections present and connector types available, but doesn't give us a quantity.

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The other side gives us the I/O specifications, along with the quantity of connectors available.

Inside the Box

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This style of packaging seems to have become the norm for many manufacturers. It does a great job of protecting the power supply.

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The top of the M12II-750 EVO Edition is blank, but gives us a great shot of the semi-gloss black finish.

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Since the I/O specification label wasn't on the top, it is present on this side.

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The other side just shows the M12II-750 EVO Edition logo.

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All modular connectors are labeled clearly on the front of the power supply.

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There isn't anything special on the back of the M12II-750 EVO Edition. Present here is the AC input and on/off rocker switch.

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The bottom of the power supply is pretty bland with a black honeycomb grill and a black fan.

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The 24-pin Main cable is fully sleeved while the rest of the cables are of the flat ribbon type.

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Included with the power supply is the AC input cord, case badge, mounting screws, warranty card and user manual.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

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The cable summary for the M12II-750 EVO Edition looks more complicated than it really is and it also provides a near perfect selection of cables and connectors.

Some things that we don't normally see in 750W power supplies are dual EPS12V connectors and six PCI-E connectors. Both are quite welcome. After this we have both short and long SATA and Molex cables, which will help keep the clutter down quite a bit.

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Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail. There is no need to worry about load balancing here.

A Look Inside

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Inside the enclosure we find a very clean unit with plenty of passive cooling, while not over doing it so that fresh air can get clear down to the PCB.

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Multiple Nippon Chemi-Con bulk capacitors sit on the primary side of the power supply.

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The secondary side is littered with Nippon Chemi-con caps.

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ADDA provides the active cooling for the M12II-750 EVO Edition with their AS1212UB-A70GL 120mm fan.

Test Results and Final Thoughts

Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are higher than that of the Seasonic M12II-750 EVO Edition 750W power supply, we can test it to the maximum.

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The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different and actual loads can vary greatly even with similar hardware.

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Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 1% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .13V. The 5V rail managed to stay within 2% of specification with a total drop of .07V from start to finish. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was within 2% of specification with a total voltage drop of .09V.

DC Output quality for the Seasonic M12II-750 EVO Edition 750W was great and well within specifications. During Test 1, we saw 10mV of noise on our scope. When we increased the loads in Test 2, the ripple climbed to 13mV at a little under half. During Test 5 under a load of 750W, the oscilloscope showed a maximum of 24mV on noise on the 12V rail.

The Seasonic M12II-750 EVO Edition 750W is rated for 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 82%/85%/82% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the M12II-750 EVO Edition passed on our bench, and wasn't close to failing at any point.

Final Thoughts

If there's anything that we've learned from what we've seen today, it is that Seasonic doesn't just make toys only the rich can afford. Seasonic is known for their quality and the M12II-750 EVO Edition is designed from the ground up as a budget unit.

The M12II-750 EVO Edition exhibits the characteristics of both. Inside there are no signs of quality being cut, as the soldering is superb, and the components are just what you'd see in their higher-end power supplies.

When it comes to performance, the M12II-750 EVO Edition outperforms many of the higher-end power supplies that we've reviewed in the past months. Voltage regulation is superb with the 12V rail showing within 1% of specification and the other two rails showing within 2%. DC output quality is great as well, staying under 25mV at full load. The efficiency may not be on par with Platinum level power supplies, but it performs just as it should for a Bronze rated unit.

What really sweetens the deal on the M12II-750 EVO Edition is that it is cheap. At $99.99, it is right on par with a majority of 750W power supplies currently on the market, most of which have shorter warranties and worse performance. Unless you absolutely have to have a power supply with higher efficiency, the Seasonic M12II-750 EVO Edition is going to be hard to beat.

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Zac provides professional IT support by day, but plays the role of enthusiast by night. He's been building high-end custom computer for the nearly fifteen years and writing PC hardware reviews for the better part of a decade. Aside from computers, he also dabbles in quite a bit of home A/V equipment. Throughout the years, Zac has picked up an extensive knowledge of power circuitry and leverages this to provide the PSU reviews. When not found testing or writing, you can often find him speeding through the winding countryside on his motorcycle.

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