Cooler Master Announces MasterWatt V, MasterWatt Maker With Cooler Master Connect v2.0
One day before CES opens its doors to the crowd, Cooler Master announced two new PSU lines, the MasterWatt V and the MasterWatt Maker. The first consists of three PSUs with capacities ranging from 550W to 750W and 80 PLUS Gold efficiency, along with a fully modular cable design.
An interesting feature of the MasterWatt V models is the use of 16AWG gauges on the PCIe and EPS connectors, something that usually is the case in higher capacity PSUs and not in mid capacity ones. Thicker gauges lead to lower voltage drops, thus they provide a small efficiency boost because less energy is wasted as heat. Moreover, under tough conditions the thicker wires will have lower operating temperatures, which means they are ideal for extreme usage scenarios like mining.
According to Cooler Master, the max operating temperature under which the MasterWatt V models can deliver full power continuously is 50°C (122°F) and the cooling duties are handled by a fluid dynamic bearing fan, with 135mm diameter. The provided warranty is very long at 10 years, meeting the warranty periods that EVGA and Corsair provide to their high-end lines. This line is expected to be available during Q2 of 2018.
The MasterWatt Maker units with the Cooler Master Connect v2.0 meet 80 PLUS Titanium certifications, have an aluminum chassis, and will be available in 1,200W and 1,500W versions. Cooler Master said it will use a 3D circuit design which reduces the number of components, increasing airflow and reducing operating temperatures. Those units will also feature digital circuits, allowing users to manage some of their vital functions.
Cooler Master will also update the provided software which will incorporate the Overlay.live application. This app was created through cooperative efforts by Cooler Master, independent app developers, and extreme overclockers, and it allows users to monitor the PSU's performance in real time and store the data in the cloud. In addition, the data can be used as an overlay during live streams. Cooler Master said that the Overlay.live’s low resource usage allows users to monitor their system without the software hindering performance. In addition, the MasterPlus+ integrated solution will enable users to monitor several MasterWatt Maker with Cooler Master Connect v2.0 PSUs simultaneously. This new suite of tools also allows users to monitor the performance of every Cooler Master product connected to a system in real time, without any extra hardware needed. Users will also be able to access their data from the cloud. The MasterPlus+ software is currently available, while the new MasterWatt Maker units will make their appearance in Q3 of 2018.
Apparently it is too early to talk about pricing schemes, so CM didn't reveal any relevant information about the MasterWatt V or MasterWatt Maker units. There is also no information available on the OEMs of those units.
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Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.
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Zaporro An interesting feature of the MasterWatt V models is the use of 16AWG gauges on the PCIe and EPS connectors, something that usually is the case in higher capacity PSUs and not in mid capacity ones. Thicker gauges lead to lower voltage drops, thus they provide a small efficiency boost because less energy is wasted as heat.
That would be case if someone decides to span his PSU cables over 10 meter distances. In typical PC application, where at most, an ATX24 cable could be 1 meter long when routed in a weird way around the case, there is no significant difference between AWG18 and AWG16.