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.
Performance, Performance Per Dollar, Noise and Efficiency Ratings
Performance Rating
The following graph shows the total performance rating of the PSU, comparing it to other units we have tested. The Capstone-G1200 is shown as 100 percent, and every other unit's performance is shown relative to it.
Rosewill's new PSU takes the lead from the same company's Photon-1200 thanks to better ripple suppression (believe it or not). The older model approached the ATX specification's ripple limit on the +12V, 5V and 3.3V rails during our tests, costing it many performance points.
Performance Per Dollar
The following chart may be the most interesting to many of you because it depicts the unit's performance-per-dollar. We looked up the current price of each PSU on popular online shops and used those figures (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). All of the numbers in the following graph are normalized by the rated power of each PSU.
In this chart, the Photon-1200 jumps ahead due to its lower price. However, given the lousy ripple suppression we just discussed, we'd favor Rosewill's Capstone-G1200 if we had to choose between the two.
Noise Rating
The graph below depicts average noise over each PSU's entire operating range, with an ambient temperature between 28 and 30 °C (82 to 86 °F).
Without a doubt, the Capstone-G1200 is a noisy PSU. However, the Photon-1200 is even worse.
Efficiency Rating
The following graph shows the average efficiency of the PSU throughout its entire operating range, operating in an ambient environment between 28 °C and 30 °C.
The G1200 doesn't do so well in our efficiency performance metric. However, it isn't far away from the Photon-1200 and other Gold-rated platforms.
We should note that these results were collected under normal operating conditions. In more extreme environments, the efficiency impact varies since it depends on the design of the platform and the parts that it uses.
Windows 11 Mixed Reality support revived for Meta Quest 3, Quest 3S headsets
Kickstarter campaign claims its $39 AI-powered PlayStation 5 add-on reduces exhaust temps by up to 9 degrees C
Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all invest in light-based communication networks powering next-gen chips — Ayar Labs gets $155 million in funding
