1000W-1200W Roundup: Five High-End PSUs
by Martin Kaffei on December 9, 2010 1:20 PM ESTCougar GX G1050
Cougar is a retail brand from HEC, and they sell some cases as well as many PSUs in EMEA. To export their products to the USA they started a marketing campaign a few months ago, which is why various tech sites have seen samples of late. AnandTech received their newest 80Plus Gold PSU from the GX-series (G for Gold). This series has PSUs rated at 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1050 watts; our test unit is the highest rated G1050 model. Cougar has two designs, one with a single transformer and two transistors, the other with two transformers (one switcher each) and an interleaved PFC; we will be looking at the latter.
In the GX G1050 box we find some mounting screws, cable ties, a power cord, a manual, and the modular connection cables. Besides the high efficiency, their robust case and special cable sleeving are the most interesting features. Moreoever Cougar told us that ripple and noise is low because of the CLC filtering; we'll test that claim shortly. The PSU case has a length of 18cm.
| Cables and Connectors | ||
| Fixed/Modular | Main | 24-pin 60cm |
| ATX12V/EPS12V | 8-pin 60cm + 4+4-pin 30cm + 4-pin 30cm | |
| PCIe | 6x 6/8-pin 50cm | |
| Peripheral | 4x SATA 50-95cm + 1x Molex 15cm / 4x SATA 50-95cm + 1x Molex 15cm / 4x SATA 60-110cm | |
| 3x Molex 50-95cm + Floppy adapter 15cm | ||
Two peripheral cables have SATA and Molex connectors; overall Cougar offers 12x SATA and 5x Molex. There is a very long cable with three different types of CPU connectors. This is good for just about any kind of mainboard, but three separate cables would be better. Most readers don't need more than one 4+4-pin connector and want to disconnect the other cables.
The GX fan has seven thin fan blades and comes from Power Logic, with the product number PLA14025S12M. It's a 140mm fan with a fluid dynamic bearing to provide increased longevity.
We have dismounted one part from the heatink on the secondary side to show more of the circuit. This Cougar design has DC-to-DC, synchronous rectifying, and more components than the smaller design used for the GX 600W. The main caps are from Japan while the other ones come from Teapo, a standard choice for HEC. There are many similarities to the AeroCool unit, largely because of the same EMI- and output-filtering. The rectifier bridge from Diodes Incorporated has its own heatsink and the wire cross-section of most cables is big.
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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.