Specifications

This PSU can deliver its full power continuously at up to 50°C and is 80 Plus Platinum certified. As we expected from such a high-end PSU, it is Haswell ready and utilizes a fully modular cabling design. It is also equipped with all the necessary protection features and comes with a semi-passive operation you can deactivate via a switch for less noise output.

The unit uses a high quality Sanyo Denki fan. We should mention that the "S" in its model number doesn't denote the bearing type, but the Silent Fan series this fan belongs to. Another interesting point is its relatively small size compared to those of the competition. A 140mm fan would be a better choice in our opinion because the SS-1200XP3 is quite large and a larger fan produces less noise while producing the same amount of airflow. At seven years, the unit's warranty is also quite long, and its price looks fair.

The single +12V rail can deliver up to 100 A of power, so it will easily cover the needs of an extremely powerful system with multiple high-end VGAs. The minor rails are quite strong, too, while the 5VSB rail has a little more juice than normal. We, however, would like the latter to have at least 4 A maximum current output.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

Seasonic was very generous, providing a great amount of connectors, including ten PCIe and two EPS connectors that are all available at the same time. The similar CM V1200 may have two additional PCIe connectors but we think that ten are already more than enough for a 1.2 kW unit as only a handful of users will ask for more, especially now that mining with normal PCs isn't worth the trouble.

The cables are also long enough, and the distance between connectors is fine, with the SATA connectors a little closer to each other than the peripheral ones, which will be prove useful as you assemble your system. All connectors also use 18AWG wires, which is as the ATX spec recommends.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to comment on about its power distribution.