Five Highly Efficient Power Supplies: 1200 W and Up

Round-ups
By Patrick Afschar
published

Until recently, buying a PSU with a four-digit wattage was perhaps most useful for boasting among fellow hardware enthusiasts – there was barely any real need for such high wattages. However, Bitcoin mining and Altcoin mining have changed that.

Test Setup and Benchmark Results

Test Setup

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Test Hardware
AC Source:Chroma Programmable AC Source 6530
Power Meter:Yokogawa WT210 Digital Power Meter
Loads:4x 600 W Chroma 63306 for 12 V testing4x 300 W Chroma 63303 for 5 and 3.3 V testingusing Chroma HighSpeed- DC Load Mainframes 6334
Oscilloscope:Tektronix DPO3034 Digital Phosphore Oscilloscope (300 MHz)
Test Procedure
Voltages:110 and 230 V
Standby Power:0.25 A fixed current to simulate PC standby power on 5 Vsb
80plus Efficiency Testing:100/50/20% load, relative to specified total output Load distribution across 12/5/3.3V rails at the same proportion as specified for 100% testing at 110 V according to ATX 2.3 specification
Efficiency at Fixed Loads:25, 50, 85, 300, 500 W loads Load distribution across 12/5/3.3 V rails at the same proportion as specified for 100%
Peak Load Test:110% Overload Testing at maximum combined 12 V
Temperature Test:Air intake vs. Outtake temperature delta tracking highest delta during all tests

Benchmark Results

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You can find more test results for these and other PSUs in our Power Supply Charts.

Patrick Afschar
46 Comments Comment from the forums
  • blackmagnum
    I respect mother earth and her well-being; I will never hurt her by accepting these gluttonous monstrosities in my gaming builds. Low budget/ low power/ high efficiency FTW!
    Reply
  • Alex Kelly
    Where is the EVGA Supernova P2 series? Would have been nice to see it included. :)
    Reply
  • kevith
    Schön, dass Ihr auch deutsche artikeln jetzt schreibt. Das hätte ich mich nie gedacht. Aber was mit alle die amerikanischen leser? Die kann bestimmt kein deutsch?
    Reply
  • damric
    Much better PSU review than usual for THW.

    However, none of these PSUs are as interesting as the SF Leadex.
    Reply
  • Alex Kelly
    13853559 said:
    Much better PSU review than usual for THW.

    However, none of these PSUs are as interesting as the SF Leadex.

    Agreed! That's why I wanted to see the P2 here.
    Reply
  • nikolajj
    @blackmagnum

    Well, you don't seem to understand fully.
    They don't really consume more power than the connected hardware demands. On the other hand, they have an amazing efficiency rating, meaning that they use a minimum of power, and are therefore better for the planet. ;)
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    Pity the Thermaltake Toughpower XT Gold 1475W wasn't included, I've obtained
    half a dozen of them recently, excellent PSUs.

    Ian.

    Reply
  • TheMentalist
    Cooler Master really stepped up their quality in PSU's, can't ignore that.
    Reply
  • lp231
    I still like the interior of my Antec TruePower Quattro 850w. Massive heatsinks!
    About that Antec 1300w PSU, according to their site, it says that has a "20+8-pin MBU socket for the needs of tomorrow."
    Do you guys have any info on this?
    http://store.antec.com/highcurrentpro/hcp-1300-platinum.html
    Reply
  • majormajormajormajor
    "At the time of writing, the website Plugloadsolutions.com only lists 7 Titanium-grade PSUs: Six models from a company called ‘Super Flower’ and the Corsair AX1500i"

    Wow, way to discredit yourself completely. You're reviewing power supplies and you've never heard of Super Flower?
    Reply