Today we're reviewing a power supply from Listan's "be-quiet!" product line, the be-quiet! Straight Power E9 680W. Listan is a German company that started out as a distributor in 2000 and is still a distributor of Chieftec, 3R Systems and HKC chassis today. In 2003, Listan started their own brands: Revoltec and be-quiet!. Revoltec offers a full gamut of PC accessories ranging from USB media card readers to cooling fans. be-quiet! focuses on higher-end cooling fans as well as power supplies like the one we're having a look at today. Listan's products are widely available in Europe, but have only been sporadically available in the United States.
Not too long ago, 80 Plus Gold units were coming out so often I wondered if the deluge would ever stop. Recently, the Gold units have slowed down only to have Platinum units popping up left and right. Today, I'm looking at the XFX entry into the fray in the Pro Series 1000W.
Today we're revisiting the Thunderbolt 1000W. We received the Thunderbolt "Plus" the other day. While internally, this unit is mostly the same as the GeIL Thortech Thunderbolt 1000W I reviewed last month, it features the same "iPower Meter" that the Thunderbolt Plus 800W that Tony reviewed last year. Because we ran the Thunderbolt 1000W through the full gamut just a month ago, I'm only going to do the 80 Plus loads and then compare those results with what the iPower Meter tells us.
Rosewill comes to us today with a new product to look at - the Capstone 750 watt power supply. This is a 750W unit capable of 80 Plus Gold efficiency, or so they claim. We haven't tested too many Rosewill products, so I'm eager to get started on this one and see what it can do. Time for some action.
It seems an eternity since we heard rumblings of something new and awesome from Seasonic. A while ago, they were rumored to be working on some higher powered variants of their X series units that would clear the 80 Plus Platinum certification level as well. Folks, the rumors are now fact - the new Platinum models have landed. I've got the 1kW model on my bench. Let's take a good, hard, look at what it can do.
Back in 1985, Doug Dodson revolutionized the computer aftermarket/DIY power supply market segment by offering products that were quite a bit more than the drab gray box that hardly anyone seemed to care about. In 1986 Doug's company, PC Power & Cooling, was the first to introduce a "low noise" power supply (the Silencer 150W) and the first to introduce a "high performance" power supply (the Turbo-Cool 200W).
That brings us to now. A few days ago, OCZ dropped me a line and asked me if I wanted to review the new PC Power & Cooling Silencer MkIII power supply. This power supply comes in a 400W, 500W and a 600W. They will be sending me the 600W.
Today's power supply comes to us from OCZ. The ZT Series is a fully modular, 80 Plus Bronze certified power supply, available in 550W, 650W and 750W. We're going to have a look at the 750W today.
GeIL, or "Golden Emperor International Limited", is a company that has been in the computer memory business since 1993. At Computex 2010, GeIL announced their own line of power supply products under the Thortech subsidiary. Not long ago, I reviewed a "Thunderbolt 1200W". And not to long before that, Tazz reviewed the "Thunderbolt 850W" power supply which includes a 5.25" bay display that shows the power supply's voltages, wattages, fan speed and temperature. Today, we get to have a look at the Thortech Thunderbolt 1000W power supply. It's 200W less than the 1200W version, costs a few bucks less, yet has all of the same connectors as the 1200W.
Recently, Corsair revamped their Enthusiast Series with a line of brand new modular units. I already took a peek at one of these units in the TX750M. Today, I'm going to have a look at another one to see if there are any major changes down at the 550W level. Folks, let's take a look at the TX550M.
Here's a scenario for you: you've been a longtime member of a certain online forum, and people keep asking you how to do the 7 volt trick for fans. Other people jump in after you post how to do it, arguing that you really shouldn't be using the 5V rail as a ground for your fans. Well, what's the solution then? No power supply on the market comes with a 7V rail!
Until now. Coolermaster decided to come up with a new line of units that do, in fact, have a 7V rail. An evolution of the Silent Pro Gold line, they also include such goodies as an external fan controller and full modularity. I'm looking at one of these units today, the 1050W middleman. Let's waste no time and see how it works.
