1.21 GW? 1.21 GW. Great Scott! How could I have been so careless? 1.21 GW, Tom? How am I gonna generate that kind of power? It can't be done, can it? Marty, I'm sorry, but the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning. A bolt of lightning, unfortunately, you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike.
The use of a C19 cable instead of C13 is required to comply with IEC 60320. C13 is limited to 10A of current, or 1100/1200W of input power. C19 bumps the max to 16A.
This would be a problem for New Zealand power points, as our max current draw is 10A @ 230/240. Only power point in our house that allows for more than 10A is the oven and hot water cylinder.
Because you're at a higher voltage. You won't have a problem. 10A in 230v means 2300W. That power supply will draw maximum of 7 amps from the wall (1500W at 92% efficiency means 1620w from the wall, at 230v it means 7 amps)
Article starts with "making an 80+ PSU is much cheaper and easier than it used to be" and then here's Corsair with their ridiculous $450 PSU for the 0.01% of people who incorrectly believe they actually need this much power.
It will mostly be of use for people who are using quadruple GPU configurations or highly overclocked triple GPU configurations.
But yes, as the article notes, it's a niche product and arguably an overpriced product for what it offers. We'll see what similar 1500-1600W PSUs offer by other manufacturers in the coming months.
Good, you mentioned, almost. I've build recently dual cpu (using Supermicro X9DRG-QF), 5 GPU (Titan black) workstation, water cooled (for sake of efficiency and longevity, not wow factor), and it refused to boot on Corsair AX1200i, switched to dual Seasonic X1250, and it peaks around 2.1kW from wall (on 230V).
Assuming you're running an SSI EEB board, you should really be using server-grade EPS supplies rather than this consumer junk. Drawing 2.1kW from the wall is all the evidence you should need for this! ;)
Just because you don't give a crap about efficiency doesn't mean others won't. Going from 84% to 92% efficiency on a 500W load is over 1.2 kWh saved every day. At $0.15 per KWh, the PSU will more than pay for itself within the warranty period.
Why would a power supply need accessories? When I'm buying a power supply the unit itself is all I care about. Bundle a power cable that won't burn the house down and I'm good. The case badge, screws and bag are totally unnecessary.
I consider spare cables with different plug configurations, if PSU is modular, a very good accessory. Screws always come in handy - if you don't need them just shove back in the box, but sometimes you have to build in the wild, where you don't have any extras. Over the years I accumulated nearly geological layer of such accessories from hundreds of devices, but sometimes it just happens you need them. Of course if you throw them out (or don't get them in the first place), there will be time you miss some :) And sticker is always handy too - I have a friend that's sticker junkie, his PC looks like it had accident at the printer shop)
Gotta agree with the extra cables. A few 2/3 port molex/sata cables mean a lot less having to manage extra cable when you don't need all 4 ports on them. I've seen some vendors offer an alternate cable package (different plug counts, shorter cables, extra long cables, extenders, etc); but at this price I'd expect to see at least some of that tossed in.
For that matter, why is modularity limited to the PSU-cable connection itself. Make a few cables that will let you break off the last connector or two to shorten them.
It's probably cheaper to just include a bunch of cables with shorter run/fewer terminations and be able to use standard components, than to engineer a completely new terminal with a breakoff/attachment point just to be able to provide a shorter cable.
All they'd need to do is take molex Y cables, and put both downstream connectors on the same cable; and then do the same with sata power connectors. No major engineering effort needed.
What a sloppy review. It reads like an impassioned love letter. And hardly a comparable product mentioned or charted.
My comments shouldn't be taken as directed at the product - I have no quarrel with the power supply - just the squishy drivel being published in an attempt to describe it.
Question: Stipulating an identical draw of power, would this PSU, compared to a similar PSU with a lower max output, result in less heat generated?
An example for clarification: System X draws 500 Watts. Would there be a difference in total heat generated, whether System X had a 1000 Watt PSU or 1500 Watt PSU? The assumption being the quality of both PSU's were almost identical
Heat losses depend on the quality of the PSU components and its ability to sustain such power efficiency at different power draws, so I believe the short answer is No, it shouldn't matter. This reviewer says that this specific power supply provides for good efficiency even at low power draw, meaning that it generates little heat regardless of whether your load is 200 or 1500 watts.
Of course your hypothetical 500W system will draw 500W at times, but maybe only 50W when idle...
The advantage of having more power than you need is to let the components breathe better, widen the pipeline so to speak. You may not need 1500W, but the extra headroom provides for stabilty and overclocking potential.
>>The advantage of having more power than you need is to let the components breathe better, >>widen the pipeline so to speak. What? This is audiophile-grade fluffy language. And a load of...
>>You may not need 1500W, but the extra headroom provides for stabilty and overclocking potential. ...bullsh!t. You either need 1500w or you don't. If you're overclocked setup draws 600w from the wall, having a 1500w PSU is not going to improve stability or overclocking.
Maybe he worded it with some level of ambiguity, but the point he wanted to come across can be easily understood.
If your overclocked setup draws 600W from the wall, theoretically you can have a 600W PSU supply all of that without the PSU going out of regulation. However, if you still have some room for additional overclocking (from better cooling), your overclocked setup might draw an additional 50-100W, and your 600W PSU (depending on its quality) won't have that headroom to sustain the additional power draw, which would lead of course to instability.
So what you're avoiding is the PSU becoming a bottleneck when you still have the capability to overclock further.
But the fluffy language he uses let's me rather suspect he's one of those people who believes a higher powered PSU makes his PC faster. Because moar power!!!
Like the audiophiles who think a super-expensive HDMI cable that is thick as a child's arm is improving colors and clarity of their blu-rays.
Maybe. If you've got a low power system with a decent smaller PSU this would probably be worse becuase you're in the sweet spot for the smaller PSU and in the low-load suck range on this monster. if you're running a 500W box on a 550W PSU, this would probably do better at full load since the 550 would be in the nearly maxxed out suck zone; OTOH the 550 would probably still do better at idle. You normally get peak efficiency around the 50% point and good performance from 20-80% before falling off at either end (see the curves on pages 3/4).
80+ Platinum is the first 80+ spec to set an efficiency requirement at 10% too; and platinum units generally do a lot better at low loads. OTOH since they're all still halo priced; unless you live somewhere with really expensive electricity they're not going to pay for themselves vs more mainstream models.
Great product, but the price is only meant for high-end workstations and the like. I think it would be useful for such extreme products to enumerate the connectors.
I am asking this because I was looking at the ASUS Z10PE workstation MB supporting dual Haswell Xeons with massive 150W TDPs. The MB in question requires 1xATX 24pin, 2x8pin EPS AND an optional but recommended 6pin EPS 12V connector for SLI/Crossfire. I haven't yet found a PSU with a 6-pin ATX 12V power connector, and I am almost certain it's not the same as PCIe.
Running this PSU to power my watercooled quad-Titan Black workstation running CUDA calculations. PSU remains surprisingly quiet and mildly warm to touch even under full load.
What a beautiful piece of hardware; fantastic to see something pushing so hard at the bounds that define 'well made'. Cheers for the review, was fantastic H/W pr0n to read :D
As somebody who has previously worked for a power supply company (not these ATX form factors though), designing very high efficiency PSUs like these is hard as HELL. You're not going to enjoy designing and testing these when all you're missing is that +1% efficiency for certification purposes.
Even small benchtop welders need double the power of something like this. Bigger free standing models start at needing a 50A-220V circuit for input (and presumably go up from there).
Dream Computer: Caselabs Magnum TX10-D 2x Corsair AX1500i Asus X99-E WS Intel Core i7-5960X 64 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2800 MHz 4x EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Black Hydro Copper Creative Sound Blaster ZxR 512 GB Plextor M6e M.2 8x 1TB Samsung 850 Pro in RAID 0 Digistor 5.25" Blu-ray Burner Slot-Load
Accessories: 3x 27" Asus ROG Swift nVidia 3D Vision 2 Corsair Vengeance K70 RGB Mad Catz R.A.T. Tournament Edition Razer Invicta Razer Oberweaver Turtle Beach Ear Force XP Seven Logitech Z906 Microsoft Xbox One Wireless Controller Thrustmaster T500 RS GT5 Wheel Thrustmaster TH8 RS Shifter Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Water Cooling: EK-Supremacy EVO Elite Edition 4x EK-CoolStream RAD XTX 480 2x EK-RES X3 400 2x Swiftech MCP655 2x Bitspower pump mod kit Bitspower XStation xx Bitspower Black Sparkle Fittings 2x Bitspower tap drainage 4x Bitspower mid-loop temperature sensors 2x Bitspower Flow-Meter xx Blacknoise Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilent Pro fans Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT Fan Controller Rigid Acrylic Tubing Coolant Some Lights
wow this is really tempting to pick up just to be compleatly fanless at around 600 watts or less! that justification enough to pick up a $350 dollar power supply thats 3x the power than i'll ever need right? .........right??
"Unsurprisingly, Flextronics is the OEM behind the creation of the AX1500i and..." -------
I tend to buy about 40 power supplies a year from Corsair simply by the fact that they use Seasonic in the ones I like.. Unsurprisingly I won't be buying any more Corsair power supplies. It's that simple.
Wait, what do you have against Flextronics? They generally make better PSUs than SeaSonic on the consumer market. Not only that, the AXi series (and the AX1200) are the only series made by Flextronics. The rest are still made by SeaSonic and CWT.
1500 watts? I would think that we are just below the limit of a normal CCT Breaker (15 amps) in a normal household. Add a printer, displays and you need to change the wiring and the CCT breaker. You make reference to 107.5 amps, do you realize the size of wire for that amounts of current that is needed. Strange review, and useless power supply.
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pleuph - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Come back when you've got a 1.21GW model.davidgirgis - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
1.21 GW? 1.21 GW. Great Scott!How could I have been so careless? 1.21 GW, Tom? How am I gonna generate that kind of power? It can't be done, can it?
Marty, I'm sorry, but the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning.
A bolt of lightning, unfortunately, you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike.
xerandin - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
We do now.Dadunn1700 - Wednesday, October 21, 2015 - link
Lol. I'm sure he will Doc when the time machine is finished. ; )DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
The use of a C19 cable instead of C13 is required to comply with IEC 60320. C13 is limited to 10A of current, or 1100/1200W of input power. C19 bumps the max to 16A.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#Appliance_c...
mapesdhs - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Heh, 16A... the perils of 110V. ;)Kinda expensive. I just keep hunting for used Toughpower 1475W XT units, saved more
than $1500 so far.
Ian.
JayTheKing - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
This would be a problem for New Zealand power points, as our max current draw is 10A @ 230/240. Only power point in our house that allows for more than 10A is the oven and hot water cylinder.DIYEyal - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Because you're at a higher voltage. You won't have a problem. 10A in 230v means 2300W. That power supply will draw maximum of 7 amps from the wall (1500W at 92% efficiency means 1620w from the wall, at 230v it means 7 amps)Galatian - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
I purchased this power supply over two months ago. It is superb, but those cables are awfully stiff!Chrispy_ - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Article starts with "making an 80+ PSU is much cheaper and easier than it used to be" and then here's Corsair with their ridiculous $450 PSU for the 0.01% of people who incorrectly believe they actually need this much power.Halo product, useless for almost everyone.
CrazyElf - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
It will mostly be of use for people who are using quadruple GPU configurations or highly overclocked triple GPU configurations.But yes, as the article notes, it's a niche product and arguably an overpriced product for what it offers. We'll see what similar 1500-1600W PSUs offer by other manufacturers in the coming months.
Vatharian - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Good, you mentioned, almost. I've build recently dual cpu (using Supermicro X9DRG-QF), 5 GPU (Titan black) workstation, water cooled (for sake of efficiency and longevity, not wow factor), and it refused to boot on Corsair AX1200i, switched to dual Seasonic X1250, and it peaks around 2.1kW from wall (on 230V).piroroadkill - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Holy shit. Now that's baller.mapesdhs - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
And I thought my quad-580 3930K was nuts. :DCool dude!!
Ian.
Chrispy_ - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Assuming you're running an SSI EEB board, you should really be using server-grade EPS supplies rather than this consumer junk. Drawing 2.1kW from the wall is all the evidence you should need for this! ;)Barilla - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
80+ and 80+ titanium are two different things. And there are actually some people that need this kind of power, although not many.Sabresiberian - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
You know what is really useless? Comments about how a product is useless.They do more to show how limited the imaginations of the authors (of such comments) are than anything else.
petteyg359 - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
Just because you don't give a crap about efficiency doesn't mean others won't. Going from 84% to 92% efficiency on a 500W load is over 1.2 kWh saved every day. At $0.15 per KWh, the PSU will more than pay for itself within the warranty period.Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
As a 220v user (New Zealand), due to higher efficiency should we also see lower temperatures?DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Slightly. 220v is generally 1-2% more efficient than 110; meaning at full load you'd have 15-30W lower losses being converted into heat.Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
In the scheme of things if you were running this full bore you'd be able to power an extra i3 system as well on 220v.E.Fyll - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Actually, no, you should be seeing very similar results. I'm on a 230 V - 50 Hz grid, it is noted in the methodology section.Flunk - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Why would a power supply need accessories? When I'm buying a power supply the unit itself is all I care about. Bundle a power cable that won't burn the house down and I'm good. The case badge, screws and bag are totally unnecessary.Vatharian - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
I consider spare cables with different plug configurations, if PSU is modular, a very good accessory. Screws always come in handy - if you don't need them just shove back in the box, but sometimes you have to build in the wild, where you don't have any extras. Over the years I accumulated nearly geological layer of such accessories from hundreds of devices, but sometimes it just happens you need them. Of course if you throw them out (or don't get them in the first place), there will be time you miss some :) And sticker is always handy too - I have a friend that's sticker junkie, his PC looks like it had accident at the printer shop)DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Gotta agree with the extra cables. A few 2/3 port molex/sata cables mean a lot less having to manage extra cable when you don't need all 4 ports on them. I've seen some vendors offer an alternate cable package (different plug counts, shorter cables, extra long cables, extenders, etc); but at this price I'd expect to see at least some of that tossed in.For that matter, why is modularity limited to the PSU-cable connection itself. Make a few cables that will let you break off the last connector or two to shorten them.
JlHADJOE - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
It's probably cheaper to just include a bunch of cables with shorter run/fewer terminations and be able to use standard components, than to engineer a completely new terminal with a breakoff/attachment point just to be able to provide a shorter cable.DanNeely - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
All they'd need to do is take molex Y cables, and put both downstream connectors on the same cable; and then do the same with sata power connectors. No major engineering effort needed.hrrmph - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
What a sloppy review. It reads like an impassioned love letter. And hardly a comparable product mentioned or charted.My comments shouldn't be taken as directed at the product - I have no quarrel with the power supply - just the squishy drivel being published in an attempt to describe it.
sweetca - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Question: Stipulating an identical draw of power, would this PSU, compared to a similar PSU with a lower max output, result in less heat generated?An example for clarification: System X draws 500 Watts. Would there be a difference in total heat generated, whether System X had a 1000 Watt PSU or 1500 Watt PSU? The assumption being the quality of both PSU's were almost identical
davidgirgis - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Good Question...Heat losses depend on the quality of the PSU components and its ability to sustain such power efficiency at different power draws, so I believe the short answer is No, it shouldn't matter. This reviewer says that this specific power supply provides for good efficiency even at low power draw, meaning that it generates little heat regardless of whether your load is 200 or 1500 watts.
Of course your hypothetical 500W system will draw 500W at times, but maybe only 50W when idle...
The advantage of having more power than you need is to let the components breathe better, widen the pipeline so to speak. You may not need 1500W, but the extra headroom provides for stabilty and overclocking potential.
hope this helps...
sweetca - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Thank you!tim851 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
>>The advantage of having more power than you need is to let the components breathe better,>>widen the pipeline so to speak.
What? This is audiophile-grade fluffy language. And a load of...
>>You may not need 1500W, but the extra headroom provides for stabilty and overclocking potential.
...bullsh!t.
You either need 1500w or you don't.
If you're overclocked setup draws 600w from the wall, having a 1500w PSU is not going to improve stability or overclocking.
quick brown fox - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Maybe he worded it with some level of ambiguity, but the point he wanted to come across can be easily understood.If your overclocked setup draws 600W from the wall, theoretically you can have a 600W PSU supply all of that without the PSU going out of regulation. However, if you still have some room for additional overclocking (from better cooling), your overclocked setup might draw an additional 50-100W, and your 600W PSU (depending on its quality) won't have that headroom to sustain the additional power draw, which would lead of course to instability.
So what you're avoiding is the PSU becoming a bottleneck when you still have the capability to overclock further.
tim851 - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Perhaps that's what he means.But the fluffy language he uses let's me rather suspect he's one of those people who believes a higher powered PSU makes his PC faster. Because moar power!!!
Like the audiophiles who think a super-expensive HDMI cable that is thick as a child's arm is improving colors and clarity of their blu-rays.
DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Maybe. If you've got a low power system with a decent smaller PSU this would probably be worse becuase you're in the sweet spot for the smaller PSU and in the low-load suck range on this monster. if you're running a 500W box on a 550W PSU, this would probably do better at full load since the 550 would be in the nearly maxxed out suck zone; OTOH the 550 would probably still do better at idle. You normally get peak efficiency around the 50% point and good performance from 20-80% before falling off at either end (see the curves on pages 3/4).80+ Platinum is the first 80+ spec to set an efficiency requirement at 10% too; and platinum units generally do a lot better at low loads. OTOH since they're all still halo priced; unless you live somewhere with really expensive electricity they're not going to pay for themselves vs more mainstream models.
AnnihilatorX - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Different PSUs have different efficiency curves at different power loads, so it is hard to say. Generally they are most efficient between 20-80% load.FriendlyUser - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Great product, but the price is only meant for high-end workstations and the like. I think it would be useful for such extreme products to enumerate the connectors.I am asking this because I was looking at the ASUS Z10PE workstation MB supporting dual Haswell Xeons with massive 150W TDPs. The MB in question requires 1xATX 24pin, 2x8pin EPS AND an optional but recommended 6pin EPS 12V connector for SLI/Crossfire. I haven't yet found a PSU with a 6-pin ATX 12V power connector, and I am almost certain it's not the same as PCIe.
vred - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
It is the same as PCIE 6-pin connector. You have not found a PSU with a 6-pin ATX 12V connector, because there is no such connector. :)
vred - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Running this PSU to power my watercooled quad-Titan Black workstation running CUDA calculations. PSU remains surprisingly quiet and mildly warm to touch even under full load.philosofa - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
What a beautiful piece of hardware; fantastic to see something pushing so hard at the bounds that define 'well made'. Cheers for the review, was fantastic H/W pr0n to read :DHomeles - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
The internals of that PSU are simply gorgeous. Can't wait to get my EE degree and help design something like that.quick brown fox - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
As somebody who has previously worked for a power supply company (not these ATX form factors though), designing very high efficiency PSUs like these is hard as HELL. You're not going to enjoy designing and testing these when all you're missing is that +1% efficiency for certification purposes.Samus - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
It's always useful that this thing doubles as a jump starter for my car...rickon66 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Electric welding anyone?DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Even small benchtop welders need double the power of something like this. Bigger free standing models start at needing a 50A-220V circuit for input (and presumably go up from there).davidgirgis - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Dream Computer:Caselabs Magnum TX10-D
2x Corsair AX1500i
Asus X99-E WS
Intel Core i7-5960X
64 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2800 MHz
4x EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Black Hydro Copper
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR
512 GB Plextor M6e M.2
8x 1TB Samsung 850 Pro in RAID 0
Digistor 5.25" Blu-ray Burner Slot-Load
Accessories:
3x 27" Asus ROG Swift
nVidia 3D Vision 2
Corsair Vengeance K70 RGB
Mad Catz R.A.T. Tournament Edition
Razer Invicta
Razer Oberweaver
Turtle Beach Ear Force XP Seven
Logitech Z906
Microsoft Xbox One Wireless Controller
Thrustmaster T500 RS GT5 Wheel
Thrustmaster TH8 RS Shifter
Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Water Cooling:
EK-Supremacy EVO Elite Edition
4x EK-CoolStream RAD XTX 480
2x EK-RES X3 400
2x Swiftech MCP655
2x Bitspower pump mod kit
Bitspower XStation
xx Bitspower Black Sparkle Fittings
2x Bitspower tap drainage
4x Bitspower mid-loop temperature sensors
2x Bitspower Flow-Meter
xx Blacknoise Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilent Pro fans
Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT Fan Controller
Rigid Acrylic Tubing
Coolant
Some Lights
Dr.Neale - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
AeroCool Dead Silence fans (available in black, or with red, white, or blue LEDs, in 120mm or 140mm) would be better.Dr.Neale - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
P.S. They are available at www.FrozenCPU.com FYI.fluxtatic - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Enjoy losing 8TB of data when one of your SSDs flakes out.Phillip Wager - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
wow this is really tempting to pick up just to be compleatly fanless at around 600 watts or less! that justification enough to pick up a $350 dollar power supply thats 3x the power than i'll ever need right? .........right??just4U - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
"Unsurprisingly, Flextronics is the OEM behind the creation of the AX1500i and..."-------
I tend to buy about 40 power supplies a year from Corsair simply by the fact that they use Seasonic in the ones I like.. Unsurprisingly I won't be buying any more Corsair power supplies. It's that simple.
iLovefloss - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
Wait, what do you have against Flextronics? They generally make better PSUs than SeaSonic on the consumer market. Not only that, the AXi series (and the AX1200) are the only series made by Flextronics. The rest are still made by SeaSonic and CWT.http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page44...
nos024 - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Get the new Maxwell and you won't need this energy guzzler, even in triple SLI.Max22258 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
1500 watts? I would think that we are just below the limit of a normal CCT Breaker (15 amps) in a normal household. Add a printer, displays and you need to change the wiring and the CCT breaker. You make reference to 107.5 amps, do you realize the size of wire for that amounts of current that is needed. Strange review, and useless power supply.madwolfa - Saturday, November 21, 2015 - link
So what is your problem exactly?