The Gigabyte UD1000GM PG5 1000W PSU Review: Prelude to ATX 3.0
by E. Fylladitakis on June 23, 2022 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- Gigabyte
- 1000W
- 80Plus Gold
- ATX v3.0
- 12VHPWR
Cold Test Results (~24°C Ambient)
For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs - 2014 Pipeline post.
GIGABYTE’s UD1000GM PG5 obviously earned its 80Plus Gold certification rating with an AC input of 115 VAC. It is not required for a product to meet the certification requirements for any given input voltage and most manufacturers do seek to meet the requirements at 115 VAC, where the requirements are substantially lower and it is therefore easier for them to be certified. The UD1000GM PG5 has an average nominal load range (20% to 100% of the unit's capacity) efficiency of 91.1% when powered from a 230 VAC source, which drops down to 89.5% when powered from a 115 VAC source. It fails to meet the half-load 92% efficiency requirements of the 80Plus Gold certification when powered by a 230 VAC source but does meet the agency’s requirements for a 115 VAC input – even if only barely.
The GIGABYTE UD1000GM PG5 has a semi-passive thermal control circuitry, meaning that the fan will not operate when the unit’s load is very low. The fan will start when the load is a little under 300 Watts. While the internal temperature of the PSU remains reasonably low at all times, the fan becomes clearly audible at half load and downright loud once the unit is loaded, reaching its maximum speed at 90% load with the unit operating at room temperature.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
49 Comments
View All Comments
Threska - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - link
Wonder if "heavily loaded" will be the new norm with the upcoming video cards?PeachNCream - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - link
If people keep buying them regardless of the absurd power consumption, then yes. There will probably be a segment of the population that mindlessly chases more computer performance regardless of the lack of practical usefulness or implications it has for our shared planet. Those selfish sorts want their entertainment no matter the cost in resources or the impact it has in the long term.mode_13h - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - link
Yeah, I'm really hoping graphics cards with insane power dissipation numbers start to experience weaker uptake. As long as people keep buying them, manufacturers will keep building them.hansmuff - Monday, June 27, 2022 - link
People buy 3090 cards for their gaming performance. But those people are few, we just hear about them more because we travel in enthusiast circles.It's a given people will put up with 600W cards, however I imagine just the heat output alone, not even talking noise, will be unbearable in a regular size room. I mean, I throttle my 3080 to 250W, losing just a little performance but that's as much as I can take heat and noise wise; noise of course being particular to my model.
Anyhow. What I thusly wish is that these cards come with a switch that puts it in, for instance, a 300W max draw mode. Something people can use to boot the card with a 550/600W power supply, and then downvolt/downclock once in the OS.
That would make sense to me and would make me consider such a card. Those who want the thing to scream can have that, and I can have mine.
And I know a good number of cards have speed selectors/BIOS configuration selectors on them, but oftentimes they're not offering something that cuts down performance 20-30%, which is probably around what is needed for what I wish to exist.
nucc1 - Tuesday, July 26, 2022 - link
Why not buy a 3060 then?rtho782 - Monday, June 27, 2022 - link
Our long term plan for the planet shouldn't really involve worrying about 600W GPUs. They are a tiny segment anyway, but we should be looking for renewables, energy storage, and hell maybe fusion, to make electrical energy use irrelevant in the next couple of decades.If GPUs ran on coal I'd be worried but we just need to stop using fossil fuels.
rtho782 - Monday, June 27, 2022 - link
And in any case, for every one person buying a 600W GPU, there are probably 10+ "petrolhead" car owners doing far more damage to the environment.melisjan - Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - link
Hi I don't want to be anyhow offensive towars you, but renewable sources as substitute of traditional coal/gas/nuclear powerplants are just a dream of people who don't undrstand physics. We in Europe can see it for example in Germany. You need to understand that not every country have sunshine like on Sahara, not everywhere is wind like on Baltic coast and definitely not everywhere is river where you can build huge dam.Zoolook - Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - link
Luckily we have nuclear then, unless incompetent politicians ban them without reason.mode_13h - Monday, July 4, 2022 - link
> incompetent politicians ban them without reason.You're being sarcastic, right? Don't you know Germany has been decommissioning all of its nuclear plants for more than a decade? Germans got scared by seeing the Fukushima disaster and Green politicians capitalized on that fear.