Introduction

As PC systems are demanding more and more power, the power supply manufacturers are reacting by releasing units rated for higher power output. We can all thank NVIDIA and ATI, among others, for this trend, as we have seen an escalation in ridiculously high demands for power supplies with the latest graphics chips. That this power is in most cases unnecessary should be clear to everyone who owns such a card or wants to buy one.

One reason such requirements are overkill is that the resolution you are running is largely responsible for higher GPU requirements, which in turn leads to more power hungry systems. If you are running a top-end video card (or two) at just 1280x1024, much of the performance potential is going to waste. Still, multiple GPUs under load will still require a beefy PSU, generally starting at 400W and going up from there, depending on the rest of the system. If you're running a 30" LCD on the other hand - particularly with overclocking - we have seen power requirements break 600W in worst-case scenarios.

For those people who still believe the marketing hype - or for the extremely rare exceptions where you might actually run a system that needs 800W or more of power on a regular basis (feel free to let us know what you're doing that requires that much power!) - if you're thinking about buying this kind of power supply we are presenting today three of the highest rated power supplies on the market. In increasing overall wattage rankings, we start with the PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1200W. Next is the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W. Finally, we have the new ITZ 1300W PSU from Tagan.


As usual we are testing with our Chroma programmable loads to fully load each rail to a specific amount. This is important to get truly accurate results and not merely approximate values. The tests are conducted in two different temperature environments. One is normal room temperature of 25-26°C, while the second environment goes from room temperature and increases steadily up to 50°C. Especially during the higher temperatures we will see how good the power supplies are and what they're really made of. Components inside will perform much worse at higher temperatures, but we expect any good quality PSU to deal with such test conditions without failing.

On the DC output graphics we show the range of highest and lowest voltage. There is usually a bit of variance, particularly with multiple 12V rails, but with a PSU roundup we want to convey as much information as possible without simply bombarding our readers with graphs and charts. In essence, we will show the voltage range on each rail at various load points. This is especially easier to read and understand if you have more than four 12V rails since we will show them all in one graph together.

Note: If you would like to know more about our testing methodology, equipment, and environment, please read our PSU testing overview.

In a change from previous testing, we have added an additional 10% on the highest load to see how the units perform at overload levels. This test will be performed in all future reviews. The overload test will be performed at room temperature, but experience shows that many units can stand the overload in room temperature but will show problems at higher temperatures when overloaded. To verify this, we will also test in our stress 50°C environment. We don't want to be too cruel with the power supplies, so we will make sure we keep the ambient temperature at 50°C in the worst-case overload testing. Only the best PSUs will survive this sort of testing... but then anyone looking at 1200W+ PSUs is probably interested in exactly that sort of unit.




PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1200W


PC Power & Cooling sent us their brand new model of the Turbo Cool series rated to deliver 1200W. With its length of 23.1cm (9.1") it is definitely one of the longest power supplies we have seen so far. Obviously, these high capacity power supplies are intended for full tower cases, but whatever case you choose make sure there is ample room for an oversize PSU before spending hundreds of dollars. The Turbo Cool 1200W is cooled by an 80mm fan located at the front of the case. Our readers will probably remember our last encounter with PC Power & Cooling which was very loud indeed, and careful readers will have already discovered the small Delta logo printed on the fan on the picture above. The Delta logo means we will not have any surprises while testing; it's a three-blade fan and we expect noise levels to once again be quite high.


90A on the 12V rails is quite impressive and indeed it is quite hard to get this PSU on its limits with a normal system. The power supply comes in a PCP&C specific box and is protected by several layers of carton paper. There are not many accessories inside of the box since PCP&C has no need to attach little goodies like a lanyard etc. The power supply itself is black.

Cables and Connectors



When it comes down to the cables we found a whole lot of them. Being a high performing power supply you need to have a lot of options for connecting enough hardware to fully use your PSU. While there are not as many SATA and Molex connectors attached as with the Tagan ITZ 1300W we'll see later in this article, we can see that PCP&C wanted to go a different direction in the first place. There are three 6-pin and three 6/8-pin PEG connectors attached, which gives the ability to power up even the meanest graphics card collection. AMD's TriFire has been sighted in the wild a few times, so if/when such systems begin shipping PSUs with 3/3 6-pin/8-pin PEG connections will be useful. (We'll wait and see what TriFire actually offers before rendering any verdict, of course.) In addition the Turbo Cool has two 8-pin EPS connectors for use with high-end enthusiast and workstation motherboards.


With "just" six SATA and eight Molex connectors the Turbo Cool is slightly under-equipped in the area of drive support, and there is certainly space for a few more of these connectors. A minimum length of 60cm for the main connectors is generally sufficient to reach the necessary areas in most full-tower cases. The maximum length of 115cm for SATA connectors is also very good. All the cables are nicely sleeved and the PEG connectors have white cables under their black sleeve which looks very cool. The ATX and EPS connectors are white in order to distinguish them from the other connectors.


The inside view brings us a totally different approach to higher wattage than we will see in the other power supplies of this roundup. The top view is unfortunately obstructed by the various internal components, but in essence this power supply has two smaller power supplies inside. There's a shared filtering stage at the entrance in the top-left corner and upper edge of the PCB. Starting at the upper heat sink of the three horizontal heat sinks we have two vertically arranged PCBs that extend from the top-left to the bottom-right of the PSU.

Each of the PCBs has its own PFC stage and transformer and is able to deliver two 12V rails up to a load of 50A each. All other rails are then taken from the 12V rails. This is done on the small sister PCB located on the lower left side in the above picture. This kind of topology is surely a new way of doing things - we haven't seen anything like this before. However, the overall efficiency should be lowered with this approach since there is a higher loss from the voltage regulation.

There are several kinds of capacitors used by PCP&C. The two primary parts have a Hitachi cap rated at 390µF and 450V, and besides normal electrolyte caps we also have some "solid" caps which we have previously talked about in the Seasonic S12II review (as well as in motherboard reviews). An interesting side note is that a happy competitor told us that there are several severe problems with these kinds of caps such as EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). In October we will be in Taiwan for a visit to several companies, and FSP is on the list. From former visits we know that FSP has proper test equipment to measure EMI and we will definitely attempt to get evidence either for or against this accusation.

In comparison with other design layouts we can definitely say that PCP&C has a completely different approach with this design. Most of the space inside of the power supply is used by the two main PCBs, leaving little space for bigger heat sinks. All the remaining space is taken by the small, flat heat sinks - heat sinks which get very hot during use, particularly at higher loads. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of a proper airflow through the chassis. There are components and even small PCBs that protrude from the various surfaces and block airflow - not just a little but completely. It's for this reason that there is such a powerful fan installed, which is capable of sucking large quantities of air out of the PSU. Despite our concerns with the design, however, PCP&C does have a reputation of providing very high quality PSUs, and they provide a seven year warranty on the Turbo Cool 1200W which isn't offered without purpose.


PCP&C 1200W Loads

PCP&C Turbo Cool 1200W Load Values
PSU Load	3.3V	5V	12V1	Wattage All Rails
10%	1.77A	2.21A	8.45A	122W
20%	3.54A	4.42A	16.90A	243W
50%	8.85A	11.06A	42.25A	596W
80%	14.16A	17.70A	67.61A	935W
100%	17.70A	22.12A	84.51A	1150W
110%	19.47A	24.33A	92.96A	1255W

DC Outputs




At the DC outputs we see the normal drop with increasing load. Outputs stay within a 1% deviation up to 600W. With increasing loads the output is still within 3% of the target value, and we only see it slowly falling out of spec at the applied overload.

Ripple & Noise Results







The 12V rail showed not more than 12mV which is a very sweet result.

PCP&C 1200W Efficiency, Temperatures, Fan Speed and Acoustics


With high input voltage the efficiency reaches up to 85% at a medium load of 600W. In general it always stays above 80% and doesn't go lower even at a 110% load. With lower input voltage such as 90 and 120VAC the levels are just average and only reach maximum efficiency at loads of around 900W - where it achieves a decent 83% efficiency. While 83% efficiency at 900W might be good, most systems that would require such a PSU will likely not be running at 900W load constantly. It should be possible to improve efficiency at other loads, but it seems likely that the unique design/layout PCP&C uses is playing a role.



During our first round of testing our temperature probe broke and we saw more than 1000°C on our thermometer. This is the second round of new probes we've had to install, a testament to the extreme conditions that can be found inside our testing chamber. Since the Turbo Cool has double the number of components of a "normal" power supply but also just "half" the load on each of the bridges, we actually expected the temperatures to be a little higher than we finally measured. Given there are three heat sinks, the primary in this graph is the top heat sink and by secondary we mean the two lower heat sinks.

The temperature delta from minimum to maximum load during testing is around 25°C at room temperature and as much as 40°C in the heat chamber. The temperature difference on the primary heat sink between the two environments starts at 5°C and reaches a maximum 18°C; this means that the primary heat sink is generally quite hot regardless of ambient temperature. Looking at the heat chamber testing, all of the measurements show a similar increase; this is good as it indicates the heat is at least getting out of the power supply and doesn't stick around to cook any of the components. To help make this possible PCP&C installed a Delta fan that can reach speeds of up to 4900 RPM.



We actually needed to extend our table to show the RPM of the Delta fan properly since we couldn't imagine finding a modern PSU with a fan that could almost hit 5000 RPM. Even at low temperatures we already measure almost 3500 RPM under room temperature. Starting with 30°C in the heat chamber the fan is already almost 1000 RPM higher. With these fan speeds the measured sound levels are hardly surprising. Please note the above measurements are taken at a distance of one meter! With its noise level of 50dB(A), this power supply tops even the Silencer 750 QUAD and is now the new leader of the non-silent power supplies faction. Once again, this loud fan is needed because there's no other reasonable way to get the heat out of the case with all the obstacles in the way of a proper airflow. High power with limited airflow pretty much necessitates the use of noisy cooling fans; this PSU would fit right in with many datacenter cooling racks.


Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W


Cooler Master sent us their latest and strongest version of the Real Power Pro product line rated at 1250W. The above picture shows a power supply that looks like many other units on the market; the actual manufacturer in this case is Enhance. When we open up the PSU, the heritage of the power supply will become more apparent. Indications of the original manufacturer are the green square capacitors on the filtering stage directly in front of the punched exhaust holes. Cooler Master went to Enhance for its high-end power supplies on certain models; unfortunately, this is not always the case since we have just seen that the M620 is manufactured by a lower quality offering.

There are a couple other interesting features that can be seen in the above picture. First, there's no manual power switch - a feature that's not strictly necessary but which can still prove convenient times. We can also see that the jack for the power cord has a different shape. Yes, Cooler Master decided to break with tradition and use a proprietary power cable. At this point we want to thank Cooler Master for this great invention since we needed to totally overwork the power distribution in our heat chamber (it is embedded within the walls of the box). Still, most people will have to worry about such difficulties, and we have to admit that this new plug is quite nice and fits securely into the jack.


The Real Power Pro has in total six 12V rails with a maximum combined power of 1125W. The different 12V rails are nicely marked with a different color in each of the yellow cables. This makes it easy to separate the rails for different graphics cards since it will not be helpful to use only one or two 12V rails when you have more to choose from. By the way, the little logo on the right side is the German so called "green dot" and means that the material is recyclable. The third logo on the right with the crossed trash can means you are not allowed to throw this power supply in the normal trash. It is quite clear why the last logo is printed on the label, but the first one? The only thing recyclable on this PSU will be the label itself - okay, and the exterior casing if you want to take time to rip out the internals. Maybe that is what Cooler Master wants to tell us? But maybe more logos just look cool....

The power supply itself comes with a dark mirror coating and the large fan is located on the bottom side of the case. As there is no power switch on the backside you will need to pull the plug to fully separate your PC system from the power grid. Opinions on whether or not this is a useful trait will generally fall into one of two categories. Some people never separate their PC from grid power anyway, while other people can switch off power using a switch for the wall outlet (or on a power strip). If you are in the first group you can be relieved since the power consumption of this power supply is just 1W while turned off.

Cables and Connectors



The Real Power Pro has a different approach on power distribution to the components than the PCP&C Turbo Cool. There are six 6-pin PEG connectors and three 8-pin connectors. That means you have nine total PEG connectors from which to choose - certainly an impressive number, though not something we can currently use in most PCs. With a minimum length of 60cm the cables are long enough for any high-end system. Our second unit today is rated at just 50W more on the label, but the choice of connectors is quite better than what PCP&C offers. We have eight SATA and seven Molex connectors, and for workstations the 8-pin EPS connector is also present. All cables are sleeved to help things stay organized, as we would expect on any high-end power supply.



The inside reveals for certain that this is indeed an Enhance manufactured PSU. It is well arranged and all of the components seem to get enough air from the large fan that will blow directly at them. The heat sinks are both a reasonable size and thickness and should do a good job dissipating heat from the attached components. The secondary heat sink has two temperature diodes attached with black shrinking hoses on two fins. The fan control gets its data from these diodes for controlling fan speed.

The filtering stage and PFC circuit looks very well developed since the layout is based on previous models with lower wattage ratings. There are two capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con rated at 390µF and 420V which is a very good choice. The secondary side has Teapo caps installed which is a more common cost effective choice for mainstream power supplies. The two transformers in the middle of the PCB supply the dizzying number of rails for this PSU.


CM 1250W Loads

Cooler Master Real Power PRO 1250W Load Values
PSU Load	3.3V	5V	12V1	12V2	12V3	12V4	12V5	12V6	Wattage All Rails
10%	2.68	2.68	1.16	1.16	1.62	1.62	1.62	1.16	127W
20%	5.36	5.36	2.32	2.32	3.24	3.24	3.24	2.32	252W
50%	13.4	13.4	5.79	5.79	8.11	8.11	8.11	5.79	621W
80%	21.44	21.44	9.27	9.27	12.97	12.97	12.97	9.27	979W
100%	26.8	26.8	11.58	11.58	16.22	16.22	16.22	11.58	1210W
110%	29.48	29.48	12.74	12.74	17.84	17.84	17.84	12.74	1322W

DC Outputs




The two lower voltage rails perform okay, but at higher loads we came to the lower edge of the specified 5% deviance and even below with around 1000W of load. The 12V rail held stable in the range of 3% under the ideal amount of 12.00V. Since we show all six rails in only one graph it has a wide range of different distribution. While having the lower voltage rails drop out of spec is something of a problem, it's actually not as bad as some might think. Most of the load will be placed on the 12V rails, and as difficult as it will be to configure a system that can make use of 1250W of power, it is even more unlikely that most systems will come anywhere near requiring 100W on the 3.3V rail or 150W on the 5V rail - not to mention the 5Vsb rail. Still, it would be best to have all rails stay within spec.

Ripple & Noise Results







The Cooler Master power supply has more than just four 12V rails but to keep an acceptable overview we decited to just show four of them in each graphic.

CM 1250W Efficiency, Temperatures, Fan Speed and Acoustics


The efficiency is very good, and even with lower inputs of just 90VAC it generally stays above 80% (except at maximum load). With 86% it reached its highest point with 230VAC and 620W of load. Overall this is a very good performance by the Real Power Pro.



Even though the heat sinks are quite massive the temperature still reaches up to 81°C, which is very high. The difference here is that all components of the secondary stage are connected to the one heat sink; the PCP&C Turbo Cool has several components with their own small heat sink and therefore these weren't counted into the main heat sink temperatures. Both graphs reach slightly above 30°C over the ambient temperature which means if you have a cooler environment you will have a cooler power supply. This is different from what we have seen with other power supplies where ambient temperature plays less of a role.



The graphs of the fan speed and the acoustics speak a clear language which may not be as visible on the other graphs. With a hot environment and a half load of 600W, the fan is already at its highest speed. Under room temperature the fan slowly increases speed until it just reaches the fastest RPM with full load applied. The produced noise is of course clearly auditable since more than 1000W need to be cooled down in some way. It's simply impossible to have a quiet (let alone silent) 1000W+ power supply fit into a reasonably small chassis.


Tagan ITZ 1300W


Tagan is not a newcomer in the market even, though it might be a new name for some. Tagan has existed for quite a few years, and they started life in Germany with roots tracing to a company called Maxpoint. The story of Maxpoint is indeed a wild one. Maxpoint started as a branch office from Enermax in Hamburg. After several turbulent disagreements, one of the shareholders bought Enermax out and started Maxpoint as a separate company. In the beginning they functioned as a distributor for PC parts, still including Enermax power supplies.

The competition in the market was growing steadily since there was another former colleague from Maxpoint who started another brand called "Be quiet!" A better name was needed, and thus Tagan came into being. Tagan has experienced ups and downs, but today after ~7 years of existence we can still see that Tagan is producing with renowned Topower. Topower had its brightest years several years back and unfortunately lost a lot of customers due to several problems in terms of quality and production. In our list of reviewed power supplies, we have only seen Tagan still sourcing from Topower.


Last year Tagan USA was established to get into the US market. With the ITZ series Tagan is introducing a very new approach to power supplies since it's the first time the company is using another color than black. With ITZ Tagan is actually coming back to its rightful place in the high-end business since there have been several complications with former product lines in other markets. Tagan USA sent us the 1300W version to show what they're capable of achieving. For the USA Tagan teamed up with the company ABS (parent company of Newegg) and you will find the ABS logo on almost every corner of the PSU. The label states 20A for each of the six 12V rails with a combined power of 92A - again, that's quite a load to come up with!

The unit comes wrapped up in a bubble bag with all the necessary accessories. There are cable ties, a Molex to floppy adapter, screws, and the power cord attached in the box. As already mentioned this power supply comes in a shiny blue color mirror finish. Not pictured are the front and sides; the front of the unit has an 80mm fan (with ABS logo in the center) and the side has the label and above it there are many small holes punched in the metal. We will come back to their function a little later. The rear also has an 80mm fan installed - along with the power socket and a huge power switch - which functions in a push-pull configuration. Since we got a Topower handpicked sample we still have the Topower sample number on the case and red dots for measuring the fan speed.

Everything about the Cables



The power supply definitely has the largest amount of cables we have seen so far. Not only do we have four 6-pin PEG connectors but we also get two additional 8-pin PEG connectors on separate cable harnesses. That's fewer PEG connections than the Cooler Master, but Tagan compensates in other ways. The PEG connections are accompanied by twelve SATA connectors on three harnesses and seven Molex connectors on three harnesses. We actually ran out of space on our cable graphic and had to make the best out of it. All cables are sleeved and the PEG cable harnesses are even sleeved with an aluminum mesh with rubber hose. In the end of each PEG cable is a ferrite coil to minimize ripple on the rails.



Once we had this very long power supply open we recognized the inside immediately. We have seen this design already one year ago in the first revision of Topower which didn't perform well at all. We can only hope that this one is a much higher revision and that all the problems from a year ago have been solved. Just to be safe, though, we'll keep a fire extinguisher handy during testing....

Forgetting for a moment our previous bad experience, the inside is very packed since we have one component after another and two huge flower-shaped heat sinks in the middle of it. There is nothing easily visible on the PCB and we could hardly make out the manufacturers of the components. The fans are located directly beside the heat sinks. This might look bad for some at first sight but the heat sinks have actually a round opening going horizontal through it so the air is guided easily through the power supply. Note also that the fan which is pulling the out of the PSU is stronger than the one pushing in. This means that there is more air pulled out than pushed in. Now the openings on the sides come into play because the air which is pulled out can also enter through the side openings. In theory, this helps to provide more fresh air to components besides the ones near the intake fan. On the secondary we had no chance to pull any cable beside to have a look at the components behind it. Everything is tight here and can't even be budged a millimeter without risking damage to the PSU internals.


Tagan ITZ 1300W Loads

Tagan ITZ 1300W Load Values
PSU Load	3.3V	5V	12V1	12V2	12V3	12V4	12V5	12V6	Wattage All Rails
10%	1.87A	2.16A	1.53A	1.53A	1.53A	1.53A	1.53A	1.53A	131W
20%	3.74A	4.31A	3.06A	3.06A	3.06A	3.06A	3.06A	3.06A	261W
50%	9.34A	10.78A	7.64A	7.64A	7.64A	7.64A	7.64A	7.64A	646W
80%	14.95A	17.25A	12.23A	12.23A	12.23A	12.23A	12.23A	12.23A	1023W
100%	18.69A	21.56A	15.29A	15.29A	15.29A	15.29A	15.29A	15.29A	1274W
110%	20.56A	23.72A	16.81A	16.81A	16.81A	16.81A	16.81A	16.81A	1393W

DC Outputs




From the DC results we can see already that this unit is actually much better performing than any previous version. As we have six 12V rails there is quite some load to put on this power supply. On all graphs we can see the same results as shortly before the lower end of the 5% edge the power supply tries hard (and barely manages) to stay within specs. All rails are operating close to the limits but remain inside the recommended output limit.

Ripple & Noise Results







The Tagan ITZ power supply has more than just four 12V rails but to keep an acceptable overview we decited here as well to just show four of them in each graphic. Tagan has indeed problems with keeping the specs since we measured up to 130mV at the 12V1 rail. The 3.3 and 5V rail went also out of specification with higher loads of more than 1000 watts.

Tagan ITZ 1300W Efficiency, Temperatures, Fan Speed and Acoustics


The efficiency is similar to what we have seen from the other two power supplies. The difference we can see here is the nicely even curve which is constantly above 80% with any load above 260W, with a slight drop near the 100% load mark.



The temperatures increase slowly during room temperature testing which is a good sign for a well arranged airflow. Just with overload the temperature is suddenly making a big step of over 10°C within a few minutes. Under the hotter heat chamber conditions the temperature begins to increase at medium load and beyond. Naturally, the fans are also spinning faster at this point, but they are nearing their limit. The temperature of both heat sinks mostly stabilizes by 80% load, beyond which point heat is only increasing slowly.



The push-pull fan configuration is quite effective, and having a more powerful fan on the exhaust also works quite well. In this way there is a kind of vacuum established which lets air come in through the venting holes on the side. The result is that the components are cooler but this kind of power supply still gets very hot and needs proper airflow to function. This can only be done with high speed fans, and with up to 4000 RPM this might be enough. Also with this power supply we see the full speed already reached at half of the full load while in the heat chamber. Under room temperature conditions the fan is steadily spinning faster and only reaches maximum RPM at full load. It's again clear that the amount of airflow necessary to cool a 1300W power supply cannot be achieved without producing noise, and therefore we see up to 45dB(A) under hot conditions. With low speeds at lower loads you can still hear the fan quite easily, but in a PC system this noise will not be as audible as when we had it open and running in front of us.


Comparison and Conclusion

We have seen three totally different approaches to strong power supplies from the technology side today. PC Power & Cooling is using one fan and has in fact two separate power supplies in one chassis. We have already written about the disadvantages about this topology and when we compare the efficiency and noise later we will not see real advantages. Cooler Master is buying a very good basic design, and many other companies are using this design as well. There is little that can go wrong when buying from Enhance and the results show that. Finally, we have Tagan whose layout is a very good enhancement of the first revision and it shows almost no flaws in the performance.


From the appearance all power supplies make a very good stand and from the cable point of view they are all similar. The lengths are decent and the choice of connectors is also good. The Turbo Cool at 1200W is the lowest wattage unit on the field today, and it also has the fewest number of SATA and Molex connectors. We think that with 1200W you might want to have more connectors to choose from and not only six SATA and eight Molex - a few more would have been appreciated. Cooler Master is not looking too much better and has just two SATA connectors more and even one Molex less, but they do offer more PEG connectors. Tagan is top of the class you in this area with 12 SATA connectors, all of a decent length. All three power supplies have a decent amount of graphics card connectors and with these and it's hard to imagine anybody will have a problem.


The efficiency levels are good with all the models we have seen today. Cooler Master has slightly better results with lower and medium loads than the other two and Tagan keeps up its efficiency from 84% with 230VAC over the complete time of loading between 20 and 80%. With 86% Cooler Master leads the pack until beyond the half-way point in the "race", but overall the power supplies all performed well and there is nothing to complain about.



As we have mentioned before if you really want to have a 1000W+ power supply you cannot expect it to be quiet - especially not at full load. 1000W produced in the power supply leaves a lot of heat and this heat needs to be exhausted (unless you're planning on frying eggs inside your computer). This can only be done with a very good design layout and a decent fan. PC Power & Cooling clearly isn't the most elegant approach, instead opting for brute force in order to provide adequate airflow. The fan needs to be strong to reach around all the small corners where hot air could hide, and this creates a lot of noise. Cooler Master has a better approach with a 12cm fan that is just pushing enough air into the power supply to cool all of the components. The fins of the heat sinks are thick but with enough space between them that air can reach even to the PCB. In terms of intelligent cooling we have to admit that Tagan also has a very nice design which serves its purposes. Unfortunately, here we again have a very noisy fan which will probably wake the neighbors.

The DC outputs were good except for the Tagan ITZ which showed a view flaws. The voltage regulation functions very well, and even at the highest loads and with 10% overloading the three units stand their ground. In case of ripple and noise, we saw flaws with the Tagan ITZ where we measured fluctuations of up to 130mV on the 12V rail and quite high ripple at the 3.3V rail as well. PC Power & Cooling has not more than 12mV to show which is a very good result.

Pricing is a bit odd than the air, as two of the power supplies are not out yet. The Tagan ITZ with 1300W is already available for $399 USD and will not be available in the European market. Maxpoint told us they are working on European products which will have a different name when they are finally released. PCP&C will launch the Turbo Cool with 1200W for $499 USD and the release will be shortly. Cooler Master will launch their Real Power Pro for around $370 USD in the market. The European prices for these two products are not yet decided but the rough exchange rates for both of the models are 260 EUR for the Real Power Pro and the PCP&C Turbo Cool will be around 350 EUR at actual exchange rates. These prices make both the Tagan and Cooler Master a bargain since the prices will still surely fall during the first week of release.

Having seen these three power supplies now we can't really come up with a real suggestion which one to buy. All of them managed to deliver the rated power and even a little bit more. In the end the user has to decide which one will best fit their needs, although perhaps the more pertinent question to ask here is if there is really a need for huge power supplies like this at all? Just as not everyone needs quad-core processors, multiple graphics cards, extreme overclocking, and/or a dozen hard drives running in multiple RAID arrays, there are plenty of computer users that will likely never need anything near 1000W of power for their home computer.