These days, for a power supply company to be competitive, there's gotta be a 1kW or up model in there somewhere. Kingwin recently joined the party by bringing in their Mach 1 series of units, which tops out with a 1.2kW monster. Today I'm having a look at the second most powerful in the line, the 1000W model. This is the only 80 Plus Bronze certified unit in the range, and it features such cool things as modular cables with illuminated rings around them when you plug one in.
So, bring your lemonade out on the jonnyGURU.com patio and pull up a chair... I'm going to barbecue us a Kingwin today.
Many of you have heard the now familiar tale of an eMachines gone wrong at the tentacles of a subpar power supply. Some of you may have even had this happen to you. Well, a month ago it happened to a friend of mine. He had a power failure, and the next thing he knew his whole system was playing dead. Upon opening the computer case, I beheld a dreaded sight - a Bestec ATX-250-12E in all its glory.
No power supply attacks the computer of a friend and gets away with it, dear readers. I've got this little monster hooked up to the load tester, and we're going to have us some payback.
It seems an eternity since the last time Corsair released a modular power supply in their high performance HX line of units, and there has been a good deal of speculation around the net on when Corsair was going to finally release something in the 750W-850W range to better compete with the likes of the Seasonic M12D and Antec Signature units at that level.
Well, the waiting is over because Corsair is releasing two new units at 750W and 850W to fill the void. Today, I'm looking at the larger of the two units in the HX850.
I come before you today bearing another Enermax unit. This time, it's the flagship of the Eco80+ series, a line of units intended to provide energy efficiency, silence, and reliability all at a reasonable price.
Let's have at it, and we'll see how successful Enermax was at pulling it off.
I've looked at several BFG units in recent months, but none have piqued my curiosity as much as this week's review subject. The EX1000 belongs to a brand new line of units from BFG, bringing the "Frequency Conversion" feature from their previous high end unit to a new platform that adds the magic words "modular cables" to the deal.
Grab yourself a coffee, pull up a chair, and we'll find out just what this new line from BFG brings to the power supply party.
I've looked at the flagship line of Enermax power supplies twice now in the Revolution 85+ 1050W unit and the Galaxy Evo 1250W unit. Today, I'm looking at the baby of the series in a unit that promises all the excellence of its bigger siblings in a package intended for those who don't need quite so much power.
Come on in, and we'll find out how this 850 watt unit compares against its big brothers.
Last week, I took on a name in power supplies I had never reviewed before. This week, it's more of the same as I take on yet another newcomer to my lab: Tagan. They sent me one of their new PipeRock II units at 680W, and are anxious to see how I made out with it. This is an Impervio built unit that looks very promising.
Come on in, and we'll all find out how it did together.
I come to you today bearing a unit from a name I haven't tested before and not many of you may be familiar with: Hipro. Some of you may be thinking, "hooray, he's going to blow up another generic unit!" But, there's a twist... Hipro is a bigger name than one may realize, for they're OEM suppliers of some big names out there including Dell and Compaq.
Today's victim is a 550W unit intended to target us enthusiasts who may be looking for good performance at a good price. Let's find out how it stacks up.
It's been some time now since Thermaltake released the Toughpower series of units, and since then things have changed in the market. The competition is getting tougher, the power supplies are getting more efficient, and it's just getting harder for one company's CWT based unit to compete in a market flooded with similar built units.
So, Thermaltake figured they would freshen things up a bit with the Toughpower XT series. These units feature new toys like the ability to control how long the fan spins on power off, and bring things up to date by adding 80 Plus certification.
My test subject today is the W0230RU, also known as the Toughpower XT 850W. It's a single 12V unit with 80 Plus Bronze certification.
In these days of environmentally conscious consumers, it's getting harder and harder for computer power supply companies to remain competetive. Not long ago, you could barely find any units that would do 80% efficiency with any regularity. Now, 80 Plus Silver and Gold units are starting to become more and more common.
Silverstone joined the 80 Plus Silver club recently with the brand new Element ST70EF. This is a 700W unit built by FSP that can put 672 of those watts right on its five 12V rails. Let's see how it does.
