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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dubyadubya - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Corsair supplies are great and should have been included in any review. You make it sound like Corsair makes their own supplies but they don't. The AX series is made by Seasonic and based on the X series. Their other supplies are made either by CWT or Seasonic. Both of which make great supplies. So in reality any PSU comparison review must include supplies built by Seasonic and CWT.scook9 - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Actually the AX1200 that is the king of the desktop power supplies right now is made by Flextronics. Corsair uses 2 different OEMs in their AX line up. This is why the AX1200 is the only model from the AX line I would consider. I already have a HX850 so would gain next to nothing with a AX850brotj7 - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
If a midtier review is being considered, please include some push/pull designs, or at least some high quality PSU's with an open grate in the front, and a fan in the back. Some of us are stuck with cases with wind tunnels like an antec p180 and the like, these do not lend well to a top/bottom mounted fan.Wander7 - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
I've had 2 Antec Neos die on me the last three years. Hope no one else has my luckvol7ron - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Cougar has a CMX 1000w PSU, does anyone know how this compares to the GX 1050?Martin Kaffei - Monday, December 13, 2010 - link
It's a little bit worse.Same fan, less 8-pin PCIe connectors, less efficiency.
TechieFan - Saturday, December 11, 2010 - link
When you perform a more thorough review, please include the "Thermaltake ToughPower 80 Plus Power Supply". I just purchased one and would love to know how it stacks up vs. the competition.I'd also appreciate a bit more detail regarding the comment that a 1200 is overkill for most people. While I'm sure that's true, if you run some of the powersupply estimators availble online it's somewhat surprising how much power they suggest (I run two GTX 580's (not 3) to my HP ZR30W and they suggested a 1075 psu minimum with my setup.)
METALMORPHASIS - Sunday, December 12, 2010 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...I don't need anything bigger to start my car with yet.
And thats more than enough for my rig today.
JimDDuncan - Monday, December 13, 2010 - link
Alot of people asked for ax1200 for good reason. Jonnyguru has a very complete test of this psu. It is rated very high on efficiency. No mention of it there but more than a few buyer reviews complain of coil whine. There is also a youtube vid displaying this. Still my choice and arrives tomorrow. Btw another site successfully ran four gtx 480s on it. Impressive but point of diminishing returns. Good luck with your choices. If this post stays up I will continue to visit this site. New here.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - link
Anandtech has run tests on mainstream PSUs recently - and runs more of them than on these kinds of PSUs. As far as people like you it's an obvious waste of time anyway, I doubt you'd actually read the articles if you found them.