Club 3D is one more graphics card manufacturer that decided to follow the latest trend and present a PSU series. In this review we will evaluate their strongest model, which with its 1000 W is able to support up to three VGAs. Our only concern is that it's only 80Plus Bronze certified.
The High Current Gamer series, according to Antec, manages to combine high power and increased efficiency with low pricing. As the naming scheme reveals, HCG PSUs are intended for users that want to feed their precious PC with lots of power, but are on a tight budget.
Amacrox's Free Earth 88PLUS AX600-88FE PSU boasts 80 Plus Silver efficiency and its name promises that it will save Earth. With a rated capacity of 600 W it will handle all single GPU systems just fine. Thanks to its reasonable pricing, the AX600-88FE is also interesting for budget users.
The Tagan SuperRock 680W is a great power supply for budget aware users who are looking for a cost effective way to power their system. With 680W it should be good for almost everything you can throw at it. During our testing we found out that the PSU is running very quiet which makes it a good candidate for a silent media PC system, too.
IKONIK's latest power supply comes with a whopping 1200W of output power. It offers six 6+2 PCI-Express connectors, which means it is able to handle any video card configuration you can throw at it. The efficiency of over 83% also makes it a viable choice for green computing.
The Hiper Type R Mk-II 680W is a unique power supply because it comes with an integrated 8-port USB hub. A ninth USB connector is dedicated to charging any USB based devices like your Iphone or Ipod, even while the PC is turned off. The PSU itself delivers excellent performance values in stability and fan noise. Efficiency is also high with 82%.
The Hiper Type M 780W is a great all-round power supply. It offers an exceptionally stable 12V line and is sufficiently quiet to not annoy you during every day PC use. Also it supports SLI or CrossFire with a high efficiency of over 83%. With a price of around $125 it is also cheaper than similar products from bigger brand names.
Cooler Master's new Ultimate Circuit Protection power supply is among the first to receive the prestigious 80plus Silver certificate for an efficiency of above 85%. With 900W of output power this PSU can easily handle every rig that you put it into. During our testing we saw very stable voltages, especially 3.3V and 5V delivered great results.
Even though X-Spice is not a very well known brand name, they achieved what nobody else could do: building an extremely quiet power supply that is stable and affordable. We are testing the 530W model today and found that it could easily handle a Quad CrossFireX rig, and produced less fan noise under load than most other power supplies in idle.
The ES-800 from BFG is an 800W power supply that comes with everything an enthusiast might want. It has support for up to four PCI-Express power consumers and features an unorthodox internal layout. In our testing we saw an amazing efficiency of 84.9%.
Mushkin's new XP-800AP power supply offers enough power for even the most demanding rigs. The shiny black paint looks great and the connectors are numerous. One special feature is Rail Fusion which lets the user select if the whole PSU should run with one big rail or in Quad Rail mode.
Xigmatek's new NRP-HC1201 power supply offers 1200W of power with support for up to six VGA power connectors. Juice is delivered over four 12V rails with up to 36A per rail. Of course the usual features like long and fully sleeved cables and 80+ high efficiency are present as well.
Xigmatek's new NRP-MC851 power supply offers 850W of power on four 12V rails. The cable management has been optimized in a way that the most often used connectors are fixed to the unit and additional cables are optional.
Zalman's new ZM1000-HP power supply has been designed with fan noise in mind. The heatpipe experts from Zalman have stuck two of these inside their PSU and added a slow running 140 mm fan on top of that. This winning combination results in one of the quietest PSUs we ever tested, especially considering it delivers up to 1000W of power via six independant 12V rails.
Sunbeam's Mini Plant is a wolf in sheep's clothing. The PSU comes in an ATX standard sized casing but offers up to 950W of power. With most other manufacturers this means that the PSU fan will be very loud, not with the Mini Plant. Actually the fan is the quietest we ever tested in the 900W+ segment, you can almost not hear it, even under load.
The Tuniq Ensemble is Sunbeam's latest high-end PSU offering. It comes in at a whooping 1200 Watts with a large number of connectors included. For all your SLI/CrossFire needs you have two PCI-E 6-pin and two PCI-E 8-pin connectors available. Sunbeam has focused on making this a stable and efficient power supply and did a great job, the efficiency rating during our testing is well above 83%.
The SuperNova 600W power supply from AXP (in Europe) and Xion (in the US) is designed to be a cost effective solution for people who do not use things like CrossFire and SLI in their system. Another important feature of this modular power supply is that it has a number of LEDs placed in vital spots to give that PSU a really pretty outward appearance.
Sirtec's new RockSolid 1000W PSU is engineered to deliver high quality stable power to your components. Its modular approach lets you start small and attach just the cables you need as your power requirements grow. For a price of only $200 you get a solid PSU that has up to six PCI-Express VGA connectors.
GIGABYTE's Odin GT line of power supplies is the world's first PSU series that allows software control and monitoring. From within the GIGABYTE P-Tuner software you can adjust voltage levels, fan speed and get detailed monitoring info about your PSU like power draw. In addition to that we found out that the unit also has a very high efficiency of over 84% and good voltage stability.
Akasa's new PowerMax Family of power supplies offers power for demanding gamers and enthusiasts. We test the 1000W version today which has a large number of connectors on extremely long cables in an ATX standard sized case. The unit boasts a high efficiency of over 82% which may even help you save some money on your electricity bill.
Zalman's new ZM850-HP PSU uses two heatpipes to transfer heat away from the hot components on the PCB to the rear of the unit. The hot air is then exhaust by a slow running 140 mm fan. This design allows Zalman to run their fan much slower than the competition. In the end this results in one of the quietest PSUs we have ever used, especially if you consider the 850W maximum load.
Corsair's brand new VX450W power supply comes with a maximum load of 450W. While this may not sound much it is absolutely sufficient to power most of today's systems. The PSU has a very high efficiency of over 83% which allows the fan to run slower because there is not so much excess heat to get rid of. In our fan noise testing this extremely silent unit leads by a large margin over all other PSUs tested so far.
PC Power and Cooling is without doubt one of the best power supply manufacturers out there. Recently they have been bought by OCZ and we are now seeing the first products which are geared for the masses. The Silencer 750W Quad CF comes with an ATI CrossFire certification and boasts four PCI-E power connectors. In our testing we saw excellent regulation qualities and very high efficiency of up to 82%.
The Silverstone Strider 850W is a power supply designed with gamers in mind. It comes with a modularity feature and allows up to eight PCI-Express video card connectors to be used. As fan a 135mm variant is employed, together with the high efficiency of 80%+ it allows the unit to be very quiet, considering the maximum power output of 850W.
The Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W is a massive power supply that can deliver power to any system you could build or dream of. With a total of 99 amps (!) on four 12V rails it easily exceeds any specifications and should be a good choice for a high-performance system with multiple video cards.
