Asus showed off its latest, most powerful power supply units (PSUs) at Gamescom 2024. The ROG THOR 1600W Titanium III and ROG STRIX 1000W Platinum PSUs use Gallim Nitride (GaN) MOSFETs to reduce the space used up by its interior components. This allows for better airflow within the PSU, making it easier to cool while generating less fan noise. The company also claims that this new tech in its PSUs will make it up to 30% more efficient (via OC3D), hence the Platinum and Titanium ratings for these power supplies.
GaN technology has been around for several years already, where they’re usually found in compact, high-power mobile chargers. This tech started as third-party fast chargers for smartphones and other mobile devices. And as the USB-C standard evolved and was used in laptops, GaN chargers started to be used for them, too.
GaN technology isn’t widely used in desktop PC hardware, yet. But with GaN chargers starting to get output capacities of 300 watts or more, they’re more than capable of supplying the power requirements of most laptops and even some desktop/mini PCs. One of the most likely reasons for the slower adoption of this tech is that GaN MOSFETs are more expensive than regular silicon chips, so many manufacturers likely found it not worth the effort to develop a GaN PSU for the desktop PC market.
Since many PSUs already have achievable standard dimensions and since saving weight is likely not a priority of most PC builders, companies likely do not feel the urge to create a GaN PSU. However, as CPUs and GPUs get more power-hungry with each generation, the demand for high-output PSUs is slowly growing, too. For example, the upcoming RTX 5090 is rumored to require 500 watts. If you match this with a Ryzen 9 9950X with its 230-watt TDP plus add all the RGB in the world into your PC build, you’ll likely require at least 1,000 watts or more to power your desktop PC, to be comfortable.
By using GaN MOSFETs, Asus can reduce the size of the internal components in its PSUs. This gives it more room for more heatsinks and better airflow, allowing the PSU to run cooler with a reduced fan size or fan speed. These PSUs will then produce less noise, making them ideal for quieter operations. This increased efficiency also means that less power is wasted as heat, thus you can run more powerful components without drastically increasing your PC’s power bill.
Although some niche PSU manufacturers already use GaN technology, Asus is the first mainstream consumer brand to use it for its desktop PSUs. Its current lineup of GaN PSUs includes the ROG THOR 1600W Titanium III, ROG THOR 1200W Platinum III, ROG STRIX 1200W Platinum, ROG STRIX 1000W Platinum, and ROG STRIX 850W Platinum. We’re also looking forward to seeing other brands like Seasonic, Corsair, NZXT, and more start using these as well, for a more efficient power solution to our desktop PC needs.
