Enermax Revolution 85+ Power Supply
by Christoph Katzer on August 22, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
We've seen some surprises from Enermax in the past. They have always been good at manufacturing, but when it comes to new products or new things in the industry the reps at Enermax tend to be quiet. For example, the head of global marketing is Joerg Theissen, whom I have known for years now -- and not just because we are both born in Hamburg, Germany. Joerg has worked for Enermax for a while now and together with his engineers brought Enermax where the company is today. One could say Enermax has built up a dream team where clear western strategic minds meet clever Asian inventors.
Enermax started a very long time ago with one of its first branch offices in Hamburg, Germany under the name Maxpoint. To some this name will ring a bell since today Maxpoint is a totally different company and is responsible for power supplies with the names Tagan, Silverpower and in Europe Seasonic as well. Joerg made his way from Hamburg to Taiwan a while ago and became a key element in their success today.
Remembering the start of the Modu82+ and Pro82+ we can say Enermax makes power supplies for the masses. The power supplies perform well and have a great price tag as well. However, somehow Enermax isn't usually seen as a high-end brand that enthusiasts would choose for a high-end system. Why? One reason is that the highest power model of the new Modu82+/Pro82+ series is only 625W; that is in the range where the greatest number of power supplies are sold, but it's not going to be suitable for something like GTX 280 SLI and quad-core. For higher power requirements, Enermax still has the Infiniti and Galaxy series in their portfolio that have many good features, but they need to improve performance and top that with more innovations and features if they are to keep pace with other top-end competitor offerings.
Coming soon to the market, and announcing today at AnandTech, Enermax is introducing their new Revolution 85+ series. We already have our hands on a 1050W pre-production model, and we were surprised with the direction Enermax has taken. Looking at the specs, we see six 12V rails with each… nothing unusual, except here each is rated at up to 30A. The 3.3V and 5V rails will come from VRMs as we have seen recently with some other power supplies, which is a very good development in the market. Why pull all of the lower rails out of one transformer when you can just generate the lower voltage rails later via VRMs?
The Revolution 85+ will be available in 850W, 950W, 1050W, and 1250W, though the last is slated to only be available in Europe with support for 230VAC. Efficiency wise we have seen the highest results to date at AnandTech. With a 230VAC input, the power supply reaches up to 90% efficiency, and this might even be topped by the 850W or 950W models. Regardless, the efficiency stayed above 86% throughout operation. The cable management has jacks for up to ten extra cable harnesses, with four 12-pin jacks for the four 6/8-pin PEG connectors. Enermax has included 12-pin jacks since the Modu/Pro82+ to provide for compatibility with future requirements.
Of course a full review will follow soon and we hope to have price and availability information by then.
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nilepez - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - link
Peak draw on the GTX280 is 178w. Enermax's 600W unit could power those in SLI mode. 360w for video cards and you have plenty to spare for the rest, which barring tons of overclocking are unlikely to pull an additional 200 - 250 watts.Yes, I'm sure there are rigs that chew up more than that, but just because someone gets to high end cards doesn't mean the rig requires 1kw of power, much less 1.2kw. If you need that, there's a good chance there's something wrong with your PSU....esp when it's rated for 2x what the system is pulling (from the wall, as I recall), as was the case in this review (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341....
Sure looks like the OCZ was either ridiculously overrated or it was defective. I expect exaggeration in specs from crap vendors, but from OCZ, Seasonic, Enermax and the like, I expect conservative ratings, and the reviews I've seen on spcr lead me to believe that that generally is the case.
I know you had problems with a 1000w OCZ PSU when testing the GTX260 SLI, but I have to think there was something wrong with that PSU. Your own measurements didn't show it pulling that much power from the wall, much less form the PSU.
Furthermore, Xbit's tests hsow that a single GTX card pulls 180w from the PSU and that a mere Chieftec ATX-410 (410W) could handle a card. Given that, it seems likely that a quality PSU that's 600W or more, could do the same with SLI.
Dual SLI, is another story, but even that should be doable on a quality 1kw PSU with plenty of headroom.
Yes you could build an SLI rig that requires more than 600w, but it'd require
raejae - Sunday, August 24, 2008 - link
Yes, but that power supply isn't going to push 625 watts over it's entire useful life, and will degrade faster the closer to max load you keep it under. In addition, what amperage does the 12v rail carry? That's what's more likely to kill the system with a mid-range supply. On top of everything else, your power supply is going to run most efficiently at 70-80%; running 700W on a 1000W power supply is going to cost a lot less on your electric bill than running 700W on an 800W supply.I'm all about not wasting money, and 1000W is definitely overkill on a single-card system, but for a dual-GTX280 or dual-4870 beast, it's definitely worth considering, especially if you have similarly high-end (QX9775, anybody?) components working with it.
nilepez - Sunday, August 24, 2008 - link
More efficient? Give me a break. Most computers sit idle most of the time. That 80% efficiency is hit, in most cases, around 20%.What's more, said rig is unlikely to run at 625W with those 2 cards. More than likely , it'll run around 500 watts or so, which happens to be around 80% of capacity.
Finally, if the PSU dies in 3 years, so what? With the money you saved, you can buy another PSU with better features than your last one. I just replaced my OCZ PSU (it was about 3 years old). Why? Because the Antec had better routing and ran a bit quieter. Power wise, the OCZ is just fine....might put it in a secondary system.
As for someone with a QX9775, then I'd agree with you, since that person would certainly be OCing the hell out of it. But the article said GTX280 SLI....and you don't need that much with most CPUs. You certainly don't need 1khz for a system that pulls 510W at 100%, as the previously linked article implied....if you do, then the specs that OCZ provided were about as useful as that no name PSU you can buy for 30 bucks at Fry's.
CK804 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - link
It seems like SPCR readers are the only people that don't have their heads up their asses when it comes to power requirements. C'mon people, 95% of home desktop computers don't require a 600 watt PSU, let alone 1 kW. What matters is quality, not quantity.Makaveli - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - link
Who pissed in your cereal this morning?mpjesse - Thursday, August 28, 2008 - link
This website did. Still no 790GX review and obviously no Enermax review. I'm beginning to associate this website with paper launches.mpjesse - Friday, August 22, 2008 - link
This policy of announcing reviews before posting them is starting to get really old. When you have the benchmarks and the review written, put it up. Or at least publish the review within a few days of publishing the "sneak preview." Here it is August 22nd and we still don't have benchmarks on the AMD 790GX chipset that was "previewed" on August 6th. The article notes "while we finish or benchmark testing..." I mean really, how long does it take to benchmark an integrated chipset??? Meanwhile the rest of the world has already published 790GX benches and reviews. So by the time you do get that article out the door no one will care. And now the Enermax article... when do you think we could get the full review on that? 2 weeks from now? 3 weeks? To me it looks like ya'll are using these articles under the guise of "sneak previews" as a means of getting traffic because your reviewers can't keep a deadline. That or you're just desperate for traffic. Either way it looks bad. In the past the editor actually put "sneak preview" in the article headline... so at least I knew what I was reading. Ahhh... but not anymore! I guess that doesn't generate as much traffic as tricking your readers does.MrSpadge - Sunday, August 24, 2008 - link
I also noticed that they tend to announce more than they actually deliver. But guess what? I absolutely don't care! It's not like they have some obligation to properly review everything they want / say. If you take the "in our full review.." as a declaration of intent, everything suddenly seems much more relaxed.And to be honest, I wouldn't have the time to read even more proper AT articles anyway. Plus I like these short hands-on previews of outstanding products or developments.
MrS
Zefram0911 - Friday, August 22, 2008 - link
I have a 1000W Galaxy and a 625W Modu82+. I have to say that these are the best PSUs that I've ever had a chance to work with. I love the. The Modu82+ is near silent also. I can't wait for the new models to come. They're my brand of choice. haha I sound like an ad.CherryBOMB - Friday, August 22, 2008 - link
I for one have always been a fan on Enermax PSU's even as far back as to when they were the *IT" PSU and this New line of Power Supply's is looking quite impressive up front.Christoph Katzer
"Of course a full review will follow soon and we hope to have price and availability information by then."
I look forward to the article.
COMPUTEX '08 gave est. release dates likely to be late July / early August. We are hear now late 8-08. I am much anticipating these power supply's and look forward to the review and the availability. 85+ should bring friendlier electric bills, cooler running performance and quieter operation. I believe I may want one.