1KW PC Power & Cooling SLI power supply tests

[eva2000]

1KW PC Power & Cooling SLI power supply has arrived. I purchased it from http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod2484.htm

Pictures: http://fileshosts.com/psu/PCPowerCooling/1KW/html/

• Fan used is rated at 0.42amps and is quieter than either fans used in 650W Silverstone SLI or 510W PC Power & Cooling SLI psus
• Unfortunately, rails are NOT adjustable externally, but with 1KW psu i doubt you would need to adjust them
• It came with two adaptors, a 24pin to 20pin and a 8pin to 4pin. Also included is 4 psu case screws as well as a 1KW powered by PC Power & Cooling case sticker/badge.
• The box it came in was huge with dimensions of 42cm x 38cm x 23cm
• Apparently each 1KW unit is tested using a Chroma 8000 ATE machine. You can see the report at http://www.pcpowercooling.com/pdf/TC1KW_report.pdf

Highlights:

* 1KW Continuous (1.1KW Peak) @ 50°C
* Fits Std. ATX Cases (20” min. depth)
* +12VDC Rails Total 66A (70A Peak)
* High Efficiency with .99 Power Factor
* Ultra-Tight Regulation (+VDC @ 1%)
* Amazingly Quiet Cooling System
* Complete Array of Output Connectors
* EPS12V, SLI, and SSI Compatibility
* 5-Year Warranty; Unbeatable Support

Specs:
Typo guess continuous = 1000W



Dimensions and connectors:
Only down side is only 1xfdd connector, if you use DFI NF4 and SLI and need to use the fdd power connector, then you'd need an adaptor for powering a floppy drive if you have one (which i still use a floppy drive).



Test 1 - standalone psu
With 92x38mm sunon 120cfm (13W) + 80x25mm sunon 50cfm (4.3W) fan attached, digital multimeter read rails as



3.3+ = 3.397v
5+ = 5.09v
12+ = 12.24v

Test 2 - in below system

Opteron 148 CABYE 0543FPMW @2200mhz stock
Corsair Hydrocool 200EX
512mb HIS X1800XT
4x 80GB Hitachi 7K80 SATA II raid 0
1x 250GB Maxtor Maxline Plus2 PATA
LiteOn 165H DVD-ROM
FDD



Digital multimeter read the rails as

IDLE:
3.3+ = 3.364v
5+ = 5.06v
12+ = 12.19v

LOAD: CPU Burn K7 ran for 10mins



Forgot to measure the rails with multimeter so will redo the test :heh:

Okay retested under load but @3014mhz at 1.536v

Digital multimeter read

3.3+ = 3.353v
5+ = 5.05v
12+ = 12.19v

Windows showed

Stressprime


CPU Burn K7


Conclusion:
- Well 12+ rail is rock solid and didn't budge according to MBM5 or digital multimeter readings.
- 5+ rail dropped (0.6%) from 4.97v to 4.94v under load in MBM5 and 0.01v drop (0.198%) according to multimeter from 5.06v to 5.05v.
- 3+ rail dropped (0.615%) from 3.25v to 3.23v in MBM5 and dropped (0.327%) from 3.364v to 3.353v from multimeter readings.
- If you take into a/c all 3 rails that's ~0.405% fluctuation on average of 3.3+, 5+ and 12+ rails according to MBM5 or average fluctuation of ~0.175% according to digital multimeter read out. That is within the rated specs of 1% ultra-tight regulation claimed by PC Power & Cooling if you take MBM5 or the multimeter readings
- Real test will be when i use phase change, dual core cpu oc'd and SLI or CF video cards oc'd






.

[Coroner Kyle]

Great review. So, did you go w/ this over 2 PSU's?

Truly a great PSU and company. I love both my 510 SLI and 1kw, but I do agree about having only one floppy connector though it only matters when using my Expert and a additional connector is cheap.

[eva2000]

Yeah decided against 2x PSUs why risk the hardware

That as well as fact as i don't need money to fork out for X1900XTX anymore as i'm getting a loaner from local Gecube disty to play with, so money saved for this psu!

[nn_step]

I am glad that you finally got one of the greatest PSUs around.. a wise move and a good investment if you ask me

[eva2000]

Further load testing this time Opteron 148 @3102mhz at 1.6v with HIS X1800XT @756/900 with GPU = 1.45v (1.48v) running 3dmark05 with MBM5 running in background.



MBM5 results see:
3.3+ = drop from 3.25v to 3.23v (0.615%)
5+ = drop from 4.97v to 4.94v (0.603%)
12+ = drop from 12.27v to 12.14v (1.06%)

Digital multimeter read the 12+ rail as:

LOAD:
12+ = at start of 3dmark05 drops from 12.19v to 12.16v and stays steady at 12.16v throughout the GT1, GT2 and GT3 tests and then jumps back up to 12.18v for cpu tests in 3dmark05.

So for GT1-GT3 = 0.247% drop and CPU tests = 0.082% drop.

[dsecrieru]

How's the noise?

[eva2000]

quiet

PCmark05 load test

@3102mhz at 1.632v
HIS X1800XT @756/900 gpu = 1.45v (1.48v)

PCmark05 = 5,847
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm05=265260



MBM5 results see:
3.3+ = drop from 3.25v to 3.23v (0.615%)
5+ = drop from 4.97v to 4.94v (0.603%)
12+ = drop from 12.27v to 12.14v (1.06%)

Digital multimeter read the 12+ rail as:

LOAD:

Break down of multimeter read low points for 12+ rail while running Pcmark05

HDD - XP Startup = 12.19v
Physics and 3D = 12.18v
Transparent Windows = 12.17v
3D - Pixel Shader = 12.16v
Web Page Rendering = 12.19v
File Decryption = 12.19v
Graphics Memory - 64 Lines = 12.17v
HDD - General Usage = 12.19v

Multithreaded Test 1 / Audio Compression = 12.19v
Multithreaded Test 1 / Video Encoding = 12.19v

Multithreaded Test 2 / Text Edit = 12.19v
Multithreaded Test 2 / Image Decompression = 12.19v

Multithreaded Test 3 / File Compression = 12.19v
Multithreaded Test 3 / File Encryption = 12.19v
Multithreaded Test 3 / HDD - Virus Scan = 12.19v
Multithreaded Test 3 / Memory Latency - Random 16 MB = 12.19v

As you can see largest dip comes into play when X1800XT needs to do some work

[eva2000]

Well swapped back to my Opteron 170 0546XPMW dual core cpu to test this 1KW psu even more and looks good so far

[uOpt]

I have one, too. I ordered a custom build with dual 8-pin EPS12 for my socket 940 board.

I didn't really crack down on it yet because they removed the 4-pin P4 connector so I couldn't test it with my SLI-DR. Doh.

But very solid and quiet so far.

What I don't quite like is that they don't document which 12V power line is on which rail. I spoke to the customer order guy ont he phone and he said that e.g. they wire 4-pin P4 and 8-pin EPS12V so that some lines are on rail2 and some on rail3, with rail1 going to the 24 pin. I will probably ask them for a complete documentation, or take it apart to find out.

Well worth the money in my opinion.

[eva2000]

Yeah i emailed them to ask about rail distribution as well

[GSKILL TECH]

i have one and love it, i am going to get another one for my other computer
too bad our test machine can not use this high end psu

[eva2000]

dual stressprime @2600mhz at 1.312v, the 12+ rail via multimeter reads 12.19v steady guess the only time the 12+ rail will drop down is when X1800XT needs to work.

[FragTek]

Nice little review mate! I've got mine sitting here next to me begging to hop in to the new build It's a complete beast of a PSU.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

What I don't quite like is that they don't document which 12V power line is on which rail.

Should be 12v1 and 12v2 at the 8 pin EPS connector and 12v3 for everything else. There may be different color stripes on the different yellow wires to denote which is which.

[OmegaMerc]

pretty extreme, other then the extreme factor, why would you want 1kilowatt for? (curious)

[metro.cl]

* Ultra-Tight Regulation (+VDC @ 1%)

thats amazing, but i have to say that many psu i've measured could do that on 12v and 5v

[eva2000]

pretty extreme, other then the extreme factor, why would you want 1kilowatt for? (curious)

dual core at 2.95ghz at 1.65v and 7800gtx sli max clocked with 5x hdd already is at it's limit for me as i have to reduce my clocks to 2.9ghz when sli is maxed... i have phase change coming to get dual core to 3.3+ ghz and 2x separate water cooling loops for X1800XT, X1900 CF etc so want to be prepared


PSU seems to run very cool indeed, measured the temp of the air coming out of the psu via the fan and only 37-39C temps in 28-30C room ambients

More testing at 2750mhz and 2800mhz dual core at 1.536v and still 12v rail is at 12.19v steady as a rock according to multimeter

[eva2000]

I can definitely say this psu helps squeeze out more for cpu clocks on my Opteron 170 0546XPMW. Before 2800-2850mhz was best dual prime stable with 2900-2950mhz max benchable. There's no way i could do 2883mhz at 1.536v dual prime stable for even 30 seconds before with 510W PC Power & Cooling SLI psu or 650W Silverstone SLI psu.

And look at where it is right now with multimeter still reading 12v rail as 12.19v rock steady



At this rate I maybe able to achieve 3ghz dual core benchable

edit:


No way in hell could i even dual prime @2900mhz at 1.6v before until i got this 1KW psu

[uOpt]

pretty extreme, other then the extreme factor, why would you want 1kilowatt for? (curious)

Minimum requirement for the H8QC8 board

[eva2000]

Also got a reply from PCP&C folks regarding distribution of the 3x 12+ rails:

Hello George,
On our Turbo-Cool 850 and Turbo-Cool 1KW supplies +12V1 & +12V2 are for the processors and +12V3 is for everything else.

Thanks,
James Dickinson
PC Power & Cooling
V: (760) 931-5700
F: (760) 931-6988

Guess that explains why cpu stress loading has rock steady 12+ rails as they're from +12V1/V2 while X1800XT under load is shared off +12V3's 36amp rated rail.

[uOpt]

Uh, they told me rail 1 is for everything else and V2 and V3 are both put on each P4 or EPS12V connector

[eva2000]

maybe your custom built one is different ?

[kiwi]

There's no way i could do 2883mhz at 1.536v dual prime stable for even 30 seconds before with 510W PC Power & Cooling SLI psu or 650W Silverstone SLI psu.

wow, are you really sure on this? I mean PC P&C 510 is definitely not worse than OCZ powerstream and they are both great PSUs too. Can there really be such difference? I had them both and rails are rock stable but I start thinking that it is even not worth getting anything worse than this 1KW It must be a total bomb

[uOpt]

maybe your custom built one is different ?

I figured it out. Our two people just numbered the rails differently. Your guy had the strongest as V3, mine as V1. So both our guys said the strong one is on the 24 pin and the two weaker ones on the CPU pins.

[uOpt]

wow, are you really sure on this? I mean PC P&C 510 is definitely not worse than OCZ powerstream and they are both great PSUs too. Can there really be such difference? I had them both and rails are rock stable but I start thinking that it is even not worth getting anything worse than this 1KW It must be a total bomb

I have tried to improve my overclock that is most likely to be PSU limited (my Opteron 175) by using the PCP&C 1 KW instead of the OCZ 520 W Powerstream.

No change.