The 80 Plus certification was an important step to change the scenario from the power supply industry: now the savvy consumer knows that he or she should buy a power supply with at least 80% efficiency. New certification levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) raised the bar even more. But maybe it is time for a change on the 80 Plus certification methodology. Let’s see why.

For a background on efficiency and the 80 Plus certification, please read our tutorial Understanding the 80 Plus Certification.

The main flaw with the methodology used on the 80 Plus certification process is room temperature. Ecos Consulting, the company behind 80 Plus, tests power supplies at a room temperature of only 23º C (73.4º F).

We always wondered why they chose this value, because in engineering the standard room temperature for data collection is 25º C (77º F). Not that collecting data at 25º C instead of 23º C would make a big difference on the overall picture, but we always wonder why this value.

Our conspiracy minds keep thinking that this could be done to help manufacturers to achieve the 80 Plus certification on power supplies that wouldn’t be able to get the certification if they set temperature at a higher value, because the lower the temperature, the higher efficiency is. So when they were trying to market the idea of the 80 Plus certification and getting customers, this lower temperature probably helped them to please their first customers.

The problem is that unless you have a very low-power PC, temperature inside the computer case is never that low, especially if you have a gaming-grade machine.

In our reviews we test power supplies with a room temperature between 45º C and 50º C (between 113º F and 122º F), because we like to test power supplies under the worst case scenario and not under the best scenario like Ecos Consulting does.

Is there anything wrong of using a lower temperature to test power supplies? No. It is just our personal preference to test power supplies at real-world temperatures.

The “problem” is that during our reviews we’ve seen several power supplies that received a certain 80 Plus certification but at a higher temperature they don’t achieve the same efficiency level. For example, some power supplies labeled as “80 Plus Silver” would need to be labeled as “80 Plus Bronze” if they tested the unit at a higher temperature range. And we’ve seen some power supplies that wouldn’t be even able to get the standard 80 Plus certification. So far the only power supply manufacturer we’ve seen labeling a power supply with an 80 Plus certification level inferior from the one they got because of this phenomenon was Corsair.

Thus consumers must be advised that the 80 Plus certification is achieved at a “lab environment” temperature and not at a real-world temperature. It is our opinion that Ecos Consulting should revamp their certification program and start testing power supplies at real-world temperatures. A short-term solution would be the power supply manufacturer guaranteeing that their products can achieve the 80 Plus certification at a higher temperature, just like some manufacturers advertise that their power supplies can deliver their labeled wattage at a higher temperatures like 40º C, 45º C or 50º C (104º F, 113º F or 122º F).

As a final note, a reader brought to our attention something really curious. At least in one occasion the 80 Plus report was copied and pasted from another one (OCZ400MXSP and OCZ400SXS). These two 400 W power supplies from OCZ use the same internal project with one of the models featuring a modular cabling system. As one may correctly assume, both power supplies should get similar results. But as anyone with the minimum good sense knows, two products, even if they are absolutely identical, won’t get the exact same results; little differences will exist. But these reports are identical, changing only the power supply model. If this was an error or was deliberately done we will leave to the conspiracy theorists out there to discuss.