1000W-1200W Roundup: Five High-End PSUs
by Martin Kaffei on December 9, 2010 1:20 PM ESTAeroCool V12XT Regulation
| +3.3V regulation | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 10% | +2.73% |
| 20% | +2.12% |
| 50% | +0.00% |
| 80% | -1.81% |
| 100% | -3.33% |
| 110% | -4.24% |
| +5V regulation | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 10% | +2.00% |
| 20% | +1.40% |
| 50% | -0.60% |
| 80% | -2.20% |
| 100% | -3.60% |
| 110% | -4.40% |
| +12V regulation | |
| Load | Voltage best/worst |
| 10% | +2.00% / +1.58% |
| 20% | +1.67% / +1.25% |
| 50% | +0.42% / -0.25% |
| 80% | +0.00% / -1.67% |
| 100% | -0.75% / -2.75% |
| 110% | -1.00% / -3.33% |
AeroCool has one of the worst regulations out of all the high-end PSUs we've tested. The DC-to-DC VRMs are very weak, so the voltage has huge drops on +3.3V and +5V. Even +12V (V4/V5/V6) could be more stable. Most PSUs with DC-to-DC have no problems with ATX conformable loads on +12V, but the voltage drops on this particular PSU make the overall quality suspect at best.
Ripple and Noise
| +3.3V ripple quality | |
| Load | Ripple and noise |
| 10% | 13.70mV |
| 20% | 15.40mV |
| 50% | 27.60mV |
| 80% | 52.80mV |
| 100% | 62.60mV |
| 110% | 71.90mV |
| +5V ripple quality | |
| Load | Ripple and noise |
| 10% | 15.60mV |
| 20% | 17.30mV |
| 50% | 28.00mV |
| 80% | 45.80mV |
| 100% | 56.30mV |
| 110% | 61.70mV |
| +12V ripple quality | |
| Load | Ripple and noise |
| 10% | 17.80mV |
| 20% | 21.00mV |
| 50% | 35.50mV |
| 80% | 88.30mV |
| 100% | 144.10mV |
| 110% | 163.50mV |
Did we accuse OCZ of having high ripple on +12V? Okay, AeroCool is definetly worse! All the rails have ripple and noise problems; at full load, every rail is out of specification, and it only gets worse at overload. 72 mV on +3,3V is certainly "impressive"...impressively bad. It's probably for the best that this unit isn't for sale in the US, because we definitely wouldn't recommend it.
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SirGCal - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Ditto! I have bought nothing but Corsair powersupplies for quite some time. I got tired of my Antec supplies dieing out on me so I switched to some of the others (Seasonic) but once I found the new (at the time) Corsair's lineup... There was no competition. And generally speaking, I don't buy their ram or other products, but their power supplies are rock solid.Squuiid - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
+1Where's the Corsair?!
aandea - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
+1Where's the Corsair?!
Martin Kaffei - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Well, we can't test all brands out there, but we've already reviewed the AX 750, which is a very good PSU and this roundup wasn't the last one. I'm sure, Corsair will send more samples, if you are interested.landerf - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
The AX 750 and the AX1200 are hardly comparable. You can't just assume by the model line, especially with corsair. They're not made by the same manufacturer. The AX is considered "god" tier at the moment, so it'd be expected to be in any such comparison.landerf - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Meant AX1200Havor - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Still the AX1200 belongs among the tested products as its the only one that is in the same range as the Antec High Current Pro 1200WJerricho24 - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
I also have a few corairs and would have liked to see the AX1200 set along side the enermax Revolution 1250 or Galaxy 1000(that I also have both of)the REAL top end players seem to be missing from 1000W+ review.
Beenthere - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
...it's good to expose that some known and unknown brands have mediocre PSU quality. Now days you need to consider accurate PSU reviews on the specific model PSU you are considering purchasing as the quality and performance can vary drastically from one PSU model to another of the same brand.SirGCal - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Even the Corsair CMPSU-1000HX or CMPSU-950TX would have been interesting in the mix. Let alone the AX1200 monster.But still, the majority of users who aren't running tripple SLI won't need anything more than a 600-900W unit depending. It would be more interesting to see a good comparison of say the ~750W range. That'll hold most systems even with two GPUs in many cases. But no problem at all with any single GPU as the majority of users run.