1000W-1200W Roundup: Five High-End PSUs
by Martin Kaffei on December 9, 2010 1:20 PM ESTCooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W
The 16cm long Silent Pro Gold is Cooler Master's latest creation. The package comes with flat modular cables with gold colored connectors, a manual, some screws, and a power cord. Cooler Master told us that there are some special technical features like the transformer core mounted to the heatsink. They have reduced some power loss from terminal pads because many components have direct contacts. Cooler Master offers a 5-year warranty.
| Cables and Connectors | ||
| Fixed/Modular | Main | 24-pin 50cm |
| ATX12V/EPS12V | 4+4-pin 60cm / 4+4-pin 60cm | |
| PCIe | 4x 6/8-pin 60cm + 6-pin 10cm | |
| Peripheral | 3x SATA 50-70cm / 3x SATA 50-70cm / 3x SATA 50-70cm | |
| 2x Molex 50-60cm /2x 50-60cm + Floppy adapter 15cm | ||
The two 8-pin CPU connectors and eight PCIe connectors are satisfying. However, the peripheral cables are very short and there are only four Molex connectors for fans and other peripherals. This is not the best solutions for large cases, but it's good enough for triple-SLI and quad-CrossFire setups.
The 135mm fan from Young Lin, model number DFS132512H, is the same one like in the AeroCool V12XT--not very silent nor professional. It's a typical sleeve bearing type spinning at up to 1800RPM with eleven fan blades.
On the right side you can see both DC-to-DC VRMs. This PSU has two main caps from Nippon Chemi-Con, a very small transformer, and a clean soldered cable management PCB. The L-shaped heatsinks should help to increase airflow. Cooler Master has no real single rail for +12V and OCP to protect their multi rail design. The active PFC circuit allows Cooler Master to sell and use this power supply in countries with 90-264VAC input voltage. The placement of parts near the power inlet seems to be very chaotic.
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mattgmann - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
nice roundup though the outcome was predictable. I would have like to see some other heavy hitters other than antec included, i.e. mainly corsair, but also enermax, pc p&c, and maybe silverstone.I've been using mostly antec psus in my builds for a while. I like their low end series supplies, and the earthwatts series. I am running the SG850 in my personal rig. For my next personal workstation I plan to go bigger (dual socket). The antec hcp 1200 performs great by all accounts, but I have to say I would prefer a fully modular supply on a high end unit. The only thing I disliked about my SG850 was the cabling; it was also a pain to re-sleeve.
Antec_Jessie - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Am I to understand that you want the fully modular cables for ease of sleeving?Thanks for the feedback!
mattgmann - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
It would be nice to have a psu I didn't feel like re-sleeving. The sleeving on my sg850 was pretty atrocious. The hcp 1200 is a bit better.I'd also like fully modular because it's easier for me to make custom length cables, and not have to deal with hiding extraneous hard wire cables. My sg850 has both 4 pin and 8 pin 12v eps cables. Who needs a 4 pin eps cable on a high end power supply? At least make it a single 4pinx2 connector.
The other advantage to fully modular cabling could be in balancing load across the rails as I need or want.
I'd be happy paying a premium for an hcp1200 with fully modular connectors.
sirmixmasta - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
The other comments are right, seems like a bunch of bigger names often synonymous with quality are missing from this review. You guys only review what the manufacturers send over for free now or what? I don't think I would buy any of these...racerx_is_alive - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Thought it was kind of interesting that while the article mentioned the AeroCool's amazing carbon fiber exterior more than once, there were no pictures of that exterior in the whole article. Maybe that was to dissuade us from buying a terrible power supply based on looks? :)Also, in the Cooler Master review, it says that the fan has 7 blades, when in the picture it has 11 or something like that.
CTMorseJr - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
I took the plunge and bought 3x 27.5" 1920 * 1200 monitors for use in an NVIDIA 2D Surround View setup and it's rejuvenated my love for gaming. I have 2x GTX 470s in SLI and need to add a third to be able to play all the games I want to in full triple monitor 6180 x 1200 resolution (bezel adjusted).I need to upgrade my PC Power & Cooling 750W PS to accommodate the extra power for the third card and this review couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
I’m not a trust fund baby, just a lowly network administrator at an upstate NY community college who decided to invest a few extra $$hundred (okay, maybe a couple “few extra $$hundred) and try the world of Surround View gaming. I can’t recommend it highly enough if you’re a PC gamer.
cactusdog - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Did Antec pay for this review? Seems odd to include only bad PSUs for comparison. I.m guessing Antec chose the PSUs to test.Martin Kaffei - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Not true.In a payed review you would see a Gold Award. ;)
I'm sure there are more good PSUs and there will be more roundups in future. Maybe there is a PSU, which is better than Antec. Who knows. But I have to say, Delta is actually a very good manufacturer. So it is more the work of Delta I like, not the ideas from Antec. The cable management needs some improvements.
squidyj - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Kind of a dark horse pick I guess but I'd really just like to see some more 'ink' on Powercolor's 1000w design because well, I haven't heard a bad thing about it yet, and the price is right.ypsylon - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Any PSU review without obvious king of the market (Corsair) is completely pointless.Who, in the right frame of mind, will buy AeroCool, Cooler Master or OCZ when Corsair cost is exactly the same or much less (at least where I live), Corsair offers superior performance in every price range when compared to any competitor, absolutely astonishing customer care and equally superior quality. It is complete no-brainer!
In all honestly I would buy Tagan, Thermaltake or Enermax (even if I had some issues with them) over AC, CM or OCZ every single time.