Super Flower & 8Pack Release the World's First 2kW Consumer PSU
by E. Fylladitakis on January 30, 2015 2:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Super Flower
- 2000W
- leadex
A new record was broken today, as Super Flower announced the release of the most powerful consumer PSU ever made, the Leadex Platinum 2000W. The PSU has been allegedly developed with the collaboration of Ian "8Pack" Parry, one of the most reputable overclockers worldwide, and in association with OverclockersUK.
The power specifications of this monster are certainly impressive. It is 80Plus Platinum certified and the single 12V rail that can output up to 166.6A, implying a certain fire hazard if that current were to be drained from a single connector. It also sports a fully modular design, which is a good thing for a PSU with twenty cables. The choice of a simple dual ball bearing 140mm fan is questionable for a product with such a price tag, but it obviously is not primarily designed with low noise operation in mind.
Huge numbers are certainly impressive, but let us also remember that the power requirements of a typical gaming PC hardly are a quarter of what this monster can output. Not even highly advanced multi-GPU systems require such power. Simply put, if you own anything less than an overclocked system with four GPUs, this product has nearly zero practical value. For example, in Ian's dual X5690 system with four AMD 7970 GPUs, he pulled 1550W with some basic overclocks on a 1600W PSU, meaning that a full sub-zero OC system has room to breathe with 2000W at hand.
With computer PSUs, bigger is not necessarily better, as the efficiency of the unit peaks at about 50% of its maximum power rating and declines if the load decreases or increases. Actually, due to their design, the efficiency of most switching PSUs plummets if the load is lower than 20% of the unit's rated capacity. Therefore, buying a very powerful PSU in order to have "better performance" and "headroom" is not always such a good idea, but for those who need it, 2000W could have practical applications.
Source: OverclockersUK
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DanNeely - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
Unfortunately I fear a lot of idiots who think bigger is better will buy it anyway, discover they don't have the right plug and either splice a power cable to fit or replace the wall outlet without upgrading anything else; or worse also upgrade the breaker but leave the old 15A wiring in the wall connecting them. Hopefully those idiots will never actually hit 2kw and burn their houses down.Flunk - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
A lot of US homes still use fuses, I've seen plenty of people just slap in a 30A fuse into a plug wired for 15A. That's what you call a fire waiting to happen.Alexvrb - Saturday, January 31, 2015 - link
How many amps is an old copper penny rated for vs a newer copper-plated zinc penny? :Ovalinor89 - Sunday, February 1, 2015 - link
Why would you put a penny when you can put a bullet?purerice - Sunday, February 1, 2015 - link
That is quite scary but true. A relative in the US is living in a 100 year old house. The standard sized doors seem to weigh 3x what a modern door weighs, the light switches are metallic, and the wiring is original. That relative's next door neighbor recently sold her house and the buyers had to put $$$$$ just into rewiring.The rest of the world that got electricity decades after the US at least got to learn from some of the US's mistakes before creating their own standards. Sometimes being first to market has its drawbacks. Perhaps given another 20 years the AC vs DC debate would have gone the other way.
BedfordTim - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
As bgelfand pointed out this is a UK unit for a 220V 13A supply.AnnihilatorX - Monday, February 2, 2015 - link
No, it's a EU plug, I have seen the exact same plug in Belgium. EU and UK do use the same voltageeanazag - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
As for the fan, when you're pushing a 2000W machine it is not going to be silent. Just get the ridiculousness out of your mind. For 2000W I want something that is going to cool it reliably. There will be system temperature pressure from the other components in the case.Yes, in the US this will require electrical planning. It would require at least a 20 amp breaker. It is not practical for most people. This is an expensive endeavor as you're not going to run this with no other electrical devices in the same vicinity.
eanazag - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
This is for dual 4K monitor gaming.eanazag - Friday, January 30, 2015 - link
Ian's machine could not run reliably and long term with that overclock with 1550 Watts on a 1600 PSU. Over time the PSU loses its ability to push the peak wattage reliably.