PC Power & Cooling Silencer 1050W PSU Review: Affordable Yet Powerful

Features and Specifications

As the sun sets on profitable GPU-based cryptocurrency mining, the prices of high-capacity power supplies are in free-fall. Supply was simply too high as demand dropped off precipitously. As a result, this isn't the best time for a manufacturer to introduce an enthusiast-oriented PSU. That isn't stopping PC Power & Cooling, though. Fortunately, the brand's Silencer 1050W serves up solid performance at a palatable price. It's consequently able to attack its competition head-on.

The fully modular Silencer 1050W boasts an efficient High Power platform under its hood. In fact, this platform seems new and improved, since it offers better benchmark results than any of the other High Power models we've tested in the past.

PC Power & Cooling's name is steeped in legend. The company offered one of the first independently regulated PSUs, along with the first redundant power system. It was also the first to hit 1kW of capacity. PC Power & Cooling sold to OCZ back in 2007. Seven years later, FirePower Technology acquired OCZ's PSU division, which of course included PC Power & Cooling. But the brand hasn't been particularly active lately, so we were pleasantly surprised when it asked us to review the Silencer 1050W.

The Silencer family includes two models a mere 150W apart in capacity, but priced much differently: the FPS1050-A5M00 we're looking at today has a list price of $180, while the FPS1200-A5M00 is listed for $288. You pay more than $100 for 150W extra watts. That's downright crazy.

The Silencer 1050W also features a single +12V rail, 100% Japanese capacitors rated at 105°C, and a 50°C maximum operating temperature for continuous output. PC Power & Cooling isn't clear whether that spec covers full load, though. In our experience, it's hard for even high-end PSUs to deliver full power continuously at 50°C. Recently, Seasonic had to de-rate its venerable Prime Ultra models, clarifying that continuous full load delivery is only possible at 40°C. They drop to 80% of their maximum-rated output at 50°C. If a capable platform like the Prime Ultra can't muster a continuous full load at 50°C, you know the task isn't an easy one.

Specifications

This is an 80 PLUS Platinum-certified power supply; on the Cybenetics scale, it satisfies the ETA-A and LAMBDA-S++ requirements. Given the Silencer name, we were expecting a better LAMBDA rating. But we wouldn't call this PSU noisy, either.

A double ball-bearing fan cools down the internals. A fluid dynamic bearing would have been quieter, but it wouldn't have matched the DBB fan's reliability in ambient environments warmer than 40°C. Thankfully, there is a semi-passive mode. It's only a bummer that this mode cannot be turned off.

There are certainly smaller 1050W power supplies out there, so we'd consider this model portly. We do like its 10-year warranty though, matching the coverage you get from Corsair and EVGA. Only Seasonic offers longer warranties (on its Prime models). Still, we think that decade-long guarantees are overkill. They'll only create problems for the companies offering them, which will eventually be passed down to customers. 

Power Specifications

The minor rails are stronger than they need to be for a typical enthusiast PC. Meanwhile, the +12V rail can deliver up to 87.5A. Fifteen watts of capacity from the 5VSB rail should suffice for a majority of users.

Cables & Connectors

It is nice to see thicker wires being used on the ATX, EPS, and PCIe connectors. The number of PCIe and peripheral connectors is adequate. Moreover, the distance between SATA and four-pin Molex connectors is ample at 15cm. It's about time that a PSU gave us enough slack between those connectors, leaving nothing for us to complain about in this department.

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