Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ PSU Review

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Packaging, Contents, Exterior & Cabling

Packaging

The MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ's box is the largest and heaviest we've ever received. At first, you might even think that there's more than one power supply inside.

The front of the packaging clearly states that this is an analog platform designed and manufactured in Japan. With a majority of today's PSUs designed in Taiwan and built in China, a 100% Japanese PSU is definitely something new.

One of the two sides hosts technical details and a power specification tables. The most interesting information on the back is a cut-away diagram of the MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ's internals. With a quick look, we spot two large bulk caps and a pair of cylindrical PFC chokes. The design looks really interesting, and we're eager to break apart the PSU to identify all of its components.

Contents

Inside the box, you'll find two small cases and the gigantic PSU. A piece of paper in the middle informs you that Cooler Master teamed up with Murata for this project. The last line says, "We hope you will enjoy this product for years and years to come." Given a $1000 price tag, Cooler Master will be in trouble if that's not the case.

You get so many modular cables that they're spread across two cases. Cooler Master spared no expense on its MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ, and this is reflected in the high-quality enclosures as well. The user's manual is small, and along with it you also get a warranty leaflet.

Exterior

The external design is identical to the plain MasterWatt Maker 1200. The top cover looks restrictive and will surely affect airflow negatively. Up front, a classic honeycomb exhaust grille is used and the power switch is quite small.

A C14 inlet is used instead of a heavy-duty C20 one. For such a high-efficiency PSU, even under full load and with 115V input, you won't see more than 12A drawn from the AC socket. That's easily within reach of a C13 connector. Still, we'd like to see a C19/C20 coupler combination similar to what's found on the Enhance-made MasterWatt Maker 1200.

The PSU's sides are illustrated with a power specification table and several icons corresponding to its various certifications.

Some of the sockets on the modular board are installed too close to each other. This can cause headaches when you try to attach/detach them. It looks like there was plenty of room to place them farther from each other (at least the ones that are too close).

This is a huge PSU, no doubt about it.

Cabling

The cables are ribboned and consist of black wires, offering the desired stealth effect in cases with dark interiors and windowed side panels.

These connectors can handle increased amperage compared to normal Molex ones. The plugs are also upgraded, offering increased functionality. We would like to see similar connectors in other high-end PSUS as well.


MORE: Best Power Supplies


MORE: Power Supplies 101


MORE: How We Test Power Supplies


MORE: All Power Supply Content

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

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

  • 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