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Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming 1200 W PSU Review

Gigabytes re-enters the high-end PSU market with its Xtreme Gaming 1200 W PSU. Besides high capacity, it also features Platinum-rated efficiency, modular cables, and interesting looks. This unit is built to meet the demands of enthusiasts, to be sure.

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Cross-Load Tests And Infrared Images

Our cross-load tests are described in detail here.

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through our custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V and 3.3V rails. The load regulation deviations in each of the charts below were calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12 V, 5 V and 3.3 V) as point zero.

Load Regulation Charts

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Efficiency Chart

Compared to other Platinum-rated platforms, this one from Enhance definitely isn't among the most efficient. Nonetheless, within the 200 W and 860 W region, efficiency is above 90%. The XP1200M's sweet spot falls between 310 W and 510 W where its efficiency is higher than 92%.

Ripple Charts

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Infrared Images

Toward the end of the cross-load tests, we took some photos of the PSU with our modified FLIR E4 camera that delivers 320x240 IR resolution (76,800 pixels).

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The temperatures inside of Gigabyte's PSU are low to what we'd consider normal thanks to the high-speed fan and aggressive fan profile. We'd prefer to cope with slightly warmer internals if it meant a more relaxed fan profile responsible for less noise.

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • turkey3_scratch
    Yawn. It's loud. Might not be too loud in most people's cases where the unit is sucking cool air from underneath the computer, and where they overestimate their power requirements, but it's still way too loud. If they're going to make the fan that aggressive, they should give it a longer warranty. Give it an ol' 11 year warranty to beat the competition at least.

    The only way Gigabyte is going to sell this at whatever price is if they do some marketing. "Nvidia Gigabyte GPUs work best with Gigabyte PSU" and people will buy it.
    Reply
  • powernod
    Enhance continoues its mediocre performance!!
    The only series i can remember, in which Enhance showed some very good results were the Thermaltake's GRAND Platinum line.
    Besides that,..... just mediocre !!
    Reply
  • Vorador2
    When i saw that it used the word "xtreme" (ugh) and "gaming" together in the name of the product i knew it was going to be either overpriced or underperforming. Or both.
    Reply
  • DotNetMaster777
    Built by enhance electronics but only five years warranty !
    Reply
  • Sam Hain
    In the 1.2kw range... The EVGA SuperNOVA 1200 P2 is a great buy @$230 (or so), awesome specs and performance across-the-board and some of the highest customer ratings to back it's build quality.

    Reply