Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ PSU Review

Reviews
By Aris Mpitziopoulos
published

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Load Regulation, Hold-Up Time & Inrush Current

To learn more about our PSU tests and methodology, please check out How We Test Power Supply Units.

Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ
Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200
FSP Twins 500W

Primary Rails And 5VSB Load Regulation

Load Regulation testing is detailed here.

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Hold-Up Time

Our hold-up time tests are described in detail here.

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The hold-up time we measured is pretty long, and the power-good signal is accurate. 

Inrush Current

For details on our inrush current testing, please click here.

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The inrush current is very low. That large NTC thermistor does an excellent job.

Load Regulation And Efficiency Measurements

The first set of tests reveals the stability of the voltage rails and the MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ's efficiency. The applied load equals (approximately) 10 to 110 percent of the PSU's maximum load in increments of 10 percentage points.

We conducted two additional tests. During the first, we stressed the two minor rails (5V and 3.3V) with a high load, while the load at +12V was only 0.1A. This test reveals whether a PSU supports Intel's C6/C7 power states or not. In the second test, we determined the maximum load the +12V rail could handle with minimal load on the minor rails.

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Test #12V5V3.3V5VSBDC/AC (Watts)EfficiencyFan SpeedTemps (In/Out)PF/AC Volts
18.174A1.954A1.972A0.981A119.77391.028%0 RPM45.19°C0.701
12.017V5.104V3.343V5.078V131.57841.14°C115.11V
217.383A2.929A2.963A1.180A239.61192.922%0 RPM46.02°C0.977
12.011V5.104V3.336V5.076V257.86341.85°C115.09V
326.973A3.427A3.479A1.379A359.87193.693%0 RPM46.52°C0.980
12.005V5.103V3.329V5.070V384.09542.46°C115.08V
436.546A3.917A3.971A1.575A479.63493.635%0 RPM47.50°C0.984
11.998V5.102V3.322V5.066V512.23843.52°C115.07V
545.794A4.902A4.975A1.776A599.60893.142%640 RPM42.33°C0.988
11.991V5.102V3.314V5.065V643.75745.13°C115.06V
655.047A5.879A5.983A1.974A719.50592.648%850 RPM42.79°C0.991
11.985V5.101V3.307V5.062V776.60345.20°C115.06V
764.308A6.864A7.001A2.169A839.35292.057%975 RPM43.52°C0.993
11.978V5.100V3.298V5.060V911.77745.75°C115.08V
873.579A7.849A8.020A2.370A959.30191.243%1140 RPM44.38°C0.994
11.972V5.100V3.291V5.059V1051.36546.39°C115.06V
983.296A8.335A8.553A2.369A1079.30690.355%1320 RPM45.62°C0.996
11.966V5.099V3.285V5.061V1194.51647.60°C115.06V
1092.564A8.826A9.063A3.481A1199.15189.243%1500 RPM46.99°C0.996
11.959V5.099V3.277V5.020V1343.69548.70°C115.07V
11102.655A8.826A9.078A3.484A1319.12088.076%1500 RPM47.32°C0.997
11.952V5.099V3.271V5.020V1497.69949.53°C115.07V
CL10.099A16.026A16.006A0.003A135.99983.196%1015 RPM45.78°C0.693
12.021V5.096V3.319V5.200V163.46947.80°C115.13V
CL299.928A1.003A1.003A1.002A1208.24989.251%1500 RPM45.79°C0.996
11.956V5.104V3.295V5.074V1353.76047.75°C115.07V

Load regulation is quite good at +12V, next to perfect at +5V, and satisfactory at 5VSB. The 3.3V rail performs the worst, although it's still close to 2%. Then again, we aren't talking about your average power supply. This is an incredibly expensive one, so we're not going to be satisfied with anything short of exceptional.

The MasterWatt Maker 1200 MIJ's efficiency is very high; it has no problem delivering full power under high ambient temperatures. Moreover, the fan spins fairly slowly, keeping noise output low as well.


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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

See more Power Supplies Reviews
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