Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Edition Review (Titanium)

1. Introduction2. Bundle & Cabling3. External4. Internal5. Testing Methodology and Results6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

The Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Edition may have an almost identical design to the original Seasonic version we reviewed a little while ago, but the new grille design, state of the art fan implementation and clever fan curve mean this power supply is one of the quietest we have tested. The fact it can withstand 1600 watts while generating almost no audible noise is remarkable.

While there is no question that the brown Noctua colour scheme will split opinion, there is no doubt that regardless of the appearance, the technical design of this unit is class leading, It is basically the best design that Seasonic currently offer, with a power delivery to deal with any system demand you could throw at it.

It is not cheap, but quality like this will always be reserved for the high end enthusiast audience with deep pockets.

The main benefit of this power supply over the ‘standard' Seasonic version are the lower noise levels. Even at full load the Noctua version is almost silent, whereas the more traditional version with Hong Hua fluid dynamic bearing fan will be making a very audible hum. If you hide a power supply behind a shroud in your PC case this is really the only reason you would buy the Noctua version.

Noctua have informed me that the price of this unit will be EUR 499 / USD 569. Is this good value?

At the end of the day only you can decide if the funky Noctua colour scheme, custom grille and class leading 120mm fan are worth the extra over the regular TX-1600. My opinion is that if you value reduced noise levels and a little extra airflow along with a fan that will last longer than the Hong Hua FDB fan then it seems like a very minor cost increase.

I actually like the colour scheme because I do admire Noctua as a brand and have used their brown fans for many years without a problem. Heck, I even have some early Noctua fans from more than 13 years ago that still work perfectly well.

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Pros:

• The Noctua brown look is eye catching.
• 12 year warranty.
• Superb ripple performance.
• Class leading 120mm fan.
• Grille is custom and helps reduce noise while improve air flow.
• Titanium rated efficiency levels – top of the field.
• Tight load regulation across the board.
• High grade 105c rated Japanese capacitors in both primary and secondary stages.
• Super soldering quality throughout.
• Flagship level quality design from Seasonic.
• Silent operation – almost all the way through the load range.

Cons:

• Only those with deep pockets need apply.
• I would love to have seen them adopt a 135-140mm version of this fan for even lower noise and higher performance.
• The Noctua brown look might not be appealing to everyone.

KitGuru says: The Seasonic Prime TX-1600 won our Gold award last year. Noctua have taken this unit and sprinkled magic dust over it. They have reduced noise levels throughout the range with a clever grille design and class leading fan implementation. The other bonus is that you get this custom edition in the famous Noctua brown colour scheme. It's an iconic looking power supply that performs at the every highest levels. Highly recommended.

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