Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ PSU Review

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Performance, Value, Noise & Efficiency

Performance Rating

The following graph shows the MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ's total performance rating, comparing it to other units we have tested. To be more specific, Cooler Master's new MasterWatt Maker is shown as 100 percent, and every other model appears relative to it.

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Despite a high overall performance score, Cooler Master's premium PSU cannot match Corsair's fully-digital AX1500i, which is no spring chicken. Based on the MasterWatt's huge price tag, it really needed to excel here in order to not get blown away in the next chart...

Performance Per Dollar

The following chart may be the most interesting to many of you because it depicts performance per dollar. We looked up the current price of each PSU on popular online shops and used those prices and all relative performance numbers to calculate the index. If the specific unit wasn't available in the United States, we searched for it in popular European Union shops, converting the listed price to USD (without VAT). Note that all of the numbers in the following graph are normalized by the rated power of each PSU.

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With a price tag nudging up to $1000, a last-place finish in this chart is no surprise. The original MasterWatter Maker 1200 lands one position higher.

Efficiency Rating

The following graph shows the PSU's average efficiency throughout its operating range, with an ambient temperature close to 30°C.

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The overall efficiency score, an average of roughly 25,000 different load levels, puts the high-end Cooler Master unit below Corair's AX1500i and the 1kW Titanium-class Super Flower model.


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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Can you say not worth it ? Not even close.
    Reply
  • SoFlaWill
    Quit reading at the price tag. Can I have some of what you're on?
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    A THOUSAND DOLLARS?! What on Earth would a desktop PSU have to do to be worth $1,000? Clearly nothing that this PSU in particular is doing.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Like, seriously, you could build an entire gaming PC with a different 10-year-warranty PSU for the cost of this one PSU. Simply MUST be targeting the more-money-than-sense crowd here.
    Reply
  • jcwbnimble
    What was CM thinking with this product? Are there really people out there that would drop $1K on a power supply that was inferior to units that cost half as much? This sounds like a product that CM agreed to just to get Murata in bed with them for future projects.

    Murata to CM "Sure we'll start making products for you, just agree to buy our first effort regardless of price point, quality, and technological compromises".

    I'm now waiting for the CM case made by Gucci that uses external laptop power supplies, has room for only one 7mm SSD, and can't even accommodate a 7" GPU. I'd pay $1k for it as long as everyone knows it's made by Gucci.
    Reply
  • jcwbnimble
    Oh, and I forgot to mention that it comes with ribbon cables. How did CM "spare no expense" when it includes basic black ribbon cables? Come on guys, you should have blasted this PSU the second you opened the box and saw ribbon cables on a $1000 power supply.

    AND this thing is huge. Seriously CM?!!! The PSU on my original IBM PC/AT wasn't this large, and that had capacitors the size of D batteries in it.

    Total fail by Murata and even bigger fail by CM for putting their name on it.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    lol Someone in the comments is actually trying to defend this product with downvotes. I'm sorry, but at this pricepoint, this product is indefensible.
    Reply
  • drwho1
    Like everyone is saying, NO Thank You, anyone can build an entire system for $1000 or less WITH a powerful/trusted PSU included.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    19609320 said:
    Oh, and I forgot to mention that it comes with ribbon cables. How did CM "spare no expense" when it includes basic black ribbon cables?
    What is the problem with "basic black ribbon cables"? Personally, those are my favorite. I much prefer that over individual loose wires and braiding that snags on every somewhat sharp corner, screw and anything else that might stick out a bit.

    @Arris: the "some other way" to rectify AC without a bridge is bridge-less APFC where the boost diodes and the APFC FETs effectively replace the input bridge.
    Reply
  • TheFuzzz
    the box and packaging are nice. $1,000.... It should have a lifetime warranty
    Reply