Introduction

We would like to thank Aerocool for supplying the review sample.

"Gran Turismo" or "GT" is Italian and refers to high-performance sport luxury cars that are designed for long-distance driving. By now, you will probably already have begun to wonder what the abbreviation GT could possible imply for a PSU. Well, according to Aerocool, the acronym GT means that the PSU will serve you for a long time without giving you any trouble - while you play your favorite video games or take your PC through any of your other paces. Since the GT-SG series PSUs sport really cool looks, they will most likely be used inside gaming systems with windowed cases, which allows for a clear view of the internals, and not in boring, ordinary office systems with much lower requirements.

The GT-SG series includes three units with capacities ranging from 500 W to 1050 W. The middle model has 750 W maximum output power and will have the honor to meet our Chroma loaders during this review. Besides the nice white finish, the GT-700SG features Gold efficiency and a semi-modular cabling design. It is also equipped with a white 13.9 cm low-noise fan that is thermally controlled. Moreover, the PSU has four PCIe connectors, so it supports up to two high-end VGAs, and Aerocool speaks of a very high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) exceeding 120,000 hours. If that stands, we have a very reliable PSU that will provide users with many trouble-free years of operation.

Specifications

Efficiency is 80 Plus Gold certified, and we couldn't find any information on the operating temperature range, but this won't stop us from conducting our tests at 40 - 45°C. After all, if anything goes wrong, OTP (Over Temperature Protection) will save the day and the PSU.

According to Aerocool, the cooling fan has a 139 mm diameter, but it is actually only 135 mm across. Some companies avoid installing 14 cm fans, which is the usual size, not because of space restrictions, but due to a patent that a company holds for the use of specific diameter fans inside their PSUs! Talk about crazy patents here! Thankfully, the dimensions of the unit are compatible with the standard ATX ones, so it will easily fit into every normal chassis. Also, the PSU is only compliant with the v2.3 ATX spec, not v2.31, which is the latest ATX spec, but it has the minimum of two +12V required by the latter spec. This is not that important, since it doesn't affect the unit's overall performance. Its warranty is set at three years. We expected a longer warranty from a unit of this category. The price looks quite stiff, even by EU standards. Finally, at the time of the review, we were unable to locate this specific model in a US online store.


Two +12V rails combine to almost deliver the full power of the unit together, something normal to all good PSUs nowadays. The minor rails are strong enough for today's standards/needs, and the 5VSB rail will easily cover every need with 3.5 A maximum current output.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

Four PCIe and two EPS connectors make an excellent number of connectors for the capacity of the unit, and all of them are available at the same time. Also, the length of the fixed ATX and EPS connectors is sufficient; however, we would like a little more headroom on the native PCIe cable. The same applies to the modular PCIe cables: the distance to the first connector should at least be 55 cm. Thankfully, the distance amongst all connectors is adequate and the mixed SATA/Peripheral cables may prove handy to some while troubling others. Finally, the 24 pin ATX connector is equipped with thicker gauges of AWG16 size, while all the other connectors, both native and modular, consist of AWG18 wires.


The two +12V rails handle all the connectors, so the first rail inevitably mixes both EPS connectors with the modular PCIe socket to which a cable with two PCIe connectors is connected. If you only need two PCIe connectors, you better use the native ones, or at least connect the modular cable to the bottom PCIe socket of the modular panel.

Packaging

The large package features a nice design with vivid colors. The two red strips on the front are catchy and the same applies to the "GT" logo, of course. Below the "GT" is the capacity description of the unit and a little below that is a shiny 80 Plus Gold logo. Next to it is an illustration of a speedometer with the needle at the "throw to prison" zone.


This side has a written and illustrative description of all available connectors, which will be useful to those that want to know the types and number of connectors this unit is equipped with. The only downside is that there is no mention of cable length.


Aerocool provides some close-up photos of the unit on one of two sides. The other side has a large list of the PSU's features. Also, a red badge pointing out the warranty period, which unfortunately is only three years, resides near the right top corner of the latter side. The warranty of a unit with such a high MSRP should be five or more years long.


This side has a brief multilingual features description.


The rear side has a couple interesting shots of the PSU - namely, three fancy photos of the PSU along with a paragraph explaining, among others, why they decided to dub the whole series "Gran Turismo". Finally, the top right corner has the power specifications table according to which we will program the Chroma loads through our special custom-made software.