Power Supply Roundup: Eight 1000W for the Extreme Users
by Christoph Katzer on December 11, 2007 9:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W (TPQ 1000)
We tested the 850W version of this series in our last roundup and it performed very well throughout the test. Antec also sent us their 1000W unit to compare it to other similar units. As we mentioned before, the appearance of this particular design is unique with the racing stripe theme. That sets this unit apart from the "boring" black we see everywhere else, but for users without case windows none of this really matters. Antec is one of two companies with a single 80mm fan installed for cooling purposes; this is not necessarily a bad thing, as the internal design will determine whether this cooling is effective. 80mm fans are not necessarily louder than 120mm fans, but they do need to spin at higher speeds in order to move the same amount of air. The package is well made and you will find all necessary accessories for installing this unit.
The label isn't very different from the label of the 850W version. All the max outputs show the same values; the only difference is the max combined power of 840W here where we had 768W on the 850W unit. The combined power of the lower voltage rails of 3.3 and 5V is also 20W higher, which isn't much of a change.
The cable harnesses and connectors are the exact same as the 850W unit. There are eight SATA and nine Molex connectors, which provides plenty of choice for the end-user. However, as the 850W unit there are only three jacks for the peripherals, so you won't be able to use all 17 connectors. Still, it's nice for Antec to give users the choice of how many of each connector will be present. PCI Express graphics cards can be powered up with two 6-pin and two 6/8-pin PEG connectors, which is enough for a high-end SLI/CrossFire setup.
Even though the power supply is manufactured by the same company that builds the Akasa and Silverstone units, we see slight differences in the internal design. The heatsinks have a different shape, which is necessary given the different cooling setup that uses one 80mm fan. The heatsink is now thick and large, designed to work with the pull of the fan instead of the push method seen in other PSUs where the air blows at the heatsinks from below. The main capacitor is made by Hitachi, which is also a little better. It's not very often today that a company provides partial cable management and still uses an 80mm fan. The problem is the jacks at the back of the unit, which obviously block airflow. Antec manages to keep the jacks as low as possible so there is enough air coming through the front vents for good cooling. We will wait to pass judgment on noise levels, however.
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brian_riendeau - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
Depending on what site you check, I think you would find that very few 1000+ watt PSUs can sustain that output under load in real world conditions 100v to 120v. I am somewhat skeptical of that fact that 8 PSUs got tested here, and not a single one was labelled as a failure to provide on the rated specs.buzznut - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
So we have a line-up of 430 watt supplies, a comparison of 750-850 watt models, one of 1000 watts, and the "extreme" Power supplies at 1200W+.Anyone else notice the little gap there?
What about the 500-700 range, arguably the most popular with system builders right now? I can't even fathom why you would choose to ignore this segment.
Do ya think you could cover the more relevant enthusiest segment since this site is viewed by many enthusiests every day? I mean the ones that don't have $300 to blow on a power supply when a 650 watt one will do the job. Or ones that don't receive their equipment for free because they review hardware...
I buy a lot of equipment every year but I am not wealthy. I get tired of reviewers who tell me about the latest 700 dolla video card or other stuff I'll never be able to afford.
MadAd - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
Nice touch adding in the Euro prices, a welcome change, infact a first in over 8 years of readership i think.Just a quick point, i think the import duty allowances on purchases abroad are very low, so flying to the US is fine for a holiday, but unless you are prepared to break the law and claim it as your pc you took out or something, then you would have to pay duty and vat as if youd had it shipped. Add to that any warranty claims may be null or awkward to service then it may not be the bargain it could be.
Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
Wasn't really meant you would need to book a flight to go the States to buy a PSU... Of course there are import taxes (19-19,4% for France and Germany).PolymerTim - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
Is there a power supply roundup coming out any time soon for something like 400W-700W. I've been reading through the PS forums lately and it seems like a lot of the recommended PS fall somewhere around the 450W-650W range and this seems to be missing from the roundups. I realize there were a lot of individual reviews in this range not too long ago, but there are several new options in this range in the last few months that I think deserve a review a bit more than yet another "ultra high" or "extreme" roundup. Just for illustration, I posted the date and title of every anandtech PS roundup since the new PS test methods came out 5 months ago. See the gap? We have 3 roundups between 730W-1300W and 1 roundup at 400W-450W.12-11 Power Supply Roundup: Eight 1000W for the Extreme Users
11-22 Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W
11-06 400-450W PSU Roundup
10-22 Ultra High-End PSU Roundup (1200W to 1300W)
Of course, many PS in this range were reviewed, but never in a roundup compared to other similar PS.
09-14 Seasonic S12II: 330W to 500W of Silence
09-11 Enermax Infiniti 650W
09-03 Zippy Serene (GP2-5600V)
08-27 Silver Power Blue Lightning 600W
08-08 Silverstone Decathlon DA650: A modular alternative
07-30 The Enermax Liberty - Getting long in the tooth, but still worth a look
07-24 Gigabyte's New Odin GT 800W Power Supply
07-18 PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad CF-Edition
07-13 The Single 12V Rail SilverStone Olympia OP650
Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
Yeah this year still 600-650 watts...halcyon - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
How about also another type of article:How to build a computer that does 90% of what people need (sans games) and runs on less than 30W?
800-1000W is insane and people should come around to understanding that.
strikeback03 - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
I'm pretty sure even most laptops don't draw that little power. Not sure on the newer C2D processors, but I know the older Dothan Pentium M processors had a TDP in the 20-25W range. Add the rest of a system and you likely won't spend much time below 30W.Or check out some carputer setups. Using VIA mini-ITX motherboards with integrated processors and graphics and they still typically use 90-160W power supplies.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
At idle, most of the moderate notebooks (14-15" chassis) sit at around 25W. Load, they'll get up to around 60W with IGP and 100W with something like an 8700M GT. 8800M GTX will probably push that closer to 125W (give or take 10W).jonnyGURU - Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - link
I'm game (no pun intended.)I built a machine with all on board components, a mobile AMD chip and solid state drives and it still required over 200W to run. Mind you it had a 7950 graphics card, but still.....