I have a friend who told me that PSU tier lists like this one (https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/) are not to be trusted, as he also told me (accdg to his electrical engineer relative or sometn) that 80+ certifications not only checks for the energy efficiency but also for power safety measures. How correct is he and what does actual sources prove/say truthfully? Given that he doesn't even know what 80 Plus is, I doubt his opinion should be taken seriously about other things on this subject. From their own site: What certifications does 80 PLUS offer? We offer six levels of certification from Standard to Titanium for internal power supplies at increasing levels of energy efficiency. There are currently five categories for certifications including 115V Internal desktop, 230V EU Internal desktop, 115V Industrial, 230V Internal AC and 380V Internal DC data center power supplies. The performance specification requires power supplies in computers and servers to be 80% energy efficient or greater at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load with a true power factor of 0.9 or higher. That's all 80 Plus is. It's a certification of power efficiency. It doesn't check for overcurrent or overtemperature protection. It doesn't check voltage regulation or ripple mitigation. It doesn't check to see if it uses quality 105 degree capacitors or the cheapest 85 degree capacitors that can be found rotting in the corner of a warehouse in Qingdao. It doesn't check to see if it uses an archaic topology or group regulation. Tier lists are by no mean perfect, because nobody's judgment is perfect. But they tend to be based on *actual* reviews of PSUs that involve teardowns (not basic YouTube looks and certainly not *ever* customer review threads on commerce sites) and enough knowledge to interpret what the guts and bolts of each mean. Answer from DSzymborski on forums.tomshardware.com