PC Power & Cooling 1KW-SR, 1 KW Power Supply

The test specs of my rig are about as extreme as is currently available today. Extreme systems of this type most certainly require desperate measures to meet their basic power demands, much less the requirements when I really push the system. Today I’ll outline my experience with the PC Power & Cooling 1KW-SR and detail it’s performance in the most harrowing torture test I could dream up to throw at the system.

INTRODUCTION

It was about this time last year that I had a most enjoyable time playing with NVIDIA’s new 7800GTS 512MB’s in SLI. As you may recall finding a power supply that would run those 2 cards turned into a nightmare. Several high end power supplies could not keep my system from shutting down. In the end I turned to PC Power and Cooling and got a 1KW from them to solve my problem. That power supplied worked flawlessly and earned a Golden Bear Award from Bjorn3D.

Now I have a new configuration, running XFX 8800GTX cards in SLI along with a few other power hungry system goodies. The XFX 8800GTX(s) each require 2 PCI-E power connectors. I almost went with the PC Power and Cooling 1K Quad for this system, but was just a little concerned that the power supplied on each rail might not be adequate to meet the needs of the extremely power-hungry 8800GTXs. After discussing the mater with the professional staff at PC Power and Cooling, I decided to try out their brand new 1KW-SR.

The test specs of my rig are about as extreme as is currently available today. Extreme systems of this type most certainly require desperate measures to meet their basic power demands, much less the requirements when I really push the system. Today I’ll outline my experience with the PC Power & Cooling 1KW-SR and detail it’s performance in the most harrowing torture test I could dream up to throw at the system.

PC Power & Cooling: The Company’s Overview

Before we continue here is some information about the company that manufactures the product we are testing today, all information was garnered from PC Power & Cooling’s website:

On April 19,1985, PC Power & Cooling began operations in a small warehouse just outside of San Diego, CA. Founded by Doug Dodson, a commodity trader and electronic hobbyist, the company’s first products were custom fans to cool and quiet computers.

In 1986, the company introduced its Silencer 150 and Turbo-Cool 200, the industry’s first ultra-quiet and high-performance power supplies. Other high-end products followed, the reviews were great, and the company continued to grow. In 1991, the company moved to a modern facility in Carlsbad, CA.

Over the last 21 years, PC Power & Cooling has produced many innovative products including: the first CPU cooler, the first PC heat alarm, the first independently-regulated PC power supply, the first redundant power system, the first NVIDIA-certified SLI supply, and the first One Kilowatt (continuous) computer power supply, the Turbo-Cool 1KW.

PC Power & Cooling takes pride in its loyal and knowledgeable customer base, its ultra-reliable product line, its professional and friendly staff, and its financial strength.

FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS

Features

• 1KW Continuous (1.1KW peak) @ 50°C
• Fits Std. ATX Cases (20″ min. depth)
• +12VDC @ 72A (78A peak) (Single Rail)
• High-Effiencicy With .98 Power Factor
• Rock-Solid, Super-Clean DC Output
• Amazingly Quiet Cooling System
• 24-pin, Dual 8-pin, 4-pin M/B Connectors
• Quad PCI-Express Video Connectors
• 15 Drive Connectors (incl. 6 SATA)
• EPS12V, NVIDIA® SLI™ Certified
• Individual 16-point Certified Test Report
• 5-Year Warranty; Unbeatable Support

Technical Specifications

Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR Technical Specifications – AC Input –
Operating Range>	90-264 VAC .98 power factor
Frequency	47-63Hz
Current	15A @ 115V
Efficiency	83%
EMI	FCC-B, CE
– DC Output –
Output	+5V @ 30A +12V@ 72A (78A peak) -12V @ 0.8A +3.3V @ 24A +5VSB @ 3.5A continuous power = 1000W peak power = 1100W
Regulation	2% (+3.3V, +5V, +12V) 5% (-12V)
Ripple	1% (p-p)
Hold Time	32ms
PG Delay	300ms
– Safety –
OV Protection	+3.3V, +5V, +12V
OC Protection	+3.3V, +5V, +12V
Agency Approval	UL/ULC/CE/TUV/RoHS
– Environmental –
Temperature	0° – 50°C
Humidity	10% – 90% RH
Fan Type	30 – 52 CFM ball-bearing
Noise	32 – 44dB(A)
– Miscellaneous –
Compatibility	EPS12V and NVIDIA SLI
M/B Connectors	24-pin, dual 8-pin, 4-pin, quad 6-pin video See Diagram
Drive Connectors	15 (6 SATA, 8 Molex, 1 mini)
MTBF	120,000 hours
M/B Compatibility	See List
Dimensions/Harness	See Diagram
Warranty	5 Years

A CLOSER LOOK

Package & Components

The PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR arrived in an extremely well protected shipping container. My initial impression was one of awe at the sheer size and weight of this baby.

Inside the package were the following components:

• 1 – Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR PSU
• 1 – Product Manual
• 1 – Certified Test Report
• 1 – Chroma 8000 ATE Test Report for included PSU
• 1 – 24 pin to 20 pin ATX adapter
• 1 – Molex to P4-12v adapter
• 1 – EPS12v to P4-12v adapter
• 1 – Power cord
• Case screws
• PC Power & Cooling Sticker

Exterior Views

You can see in the image above the differences in the amperage available to the entire 12V rail on the 1KW-SR(a whopping 72A, 78A peak) as opposed to the quad railed 1KW power suply with only 36A available as a maximum for a single 12V rail.

A CLOSER LOOK

Cabling:

• 1 – 21″ cable with 24 pin main power connector
• 2 – 22″ +12V 8 pin EPS cables
• 1 – 21″ +12V 4 pin cable
• 4 – 26″ 6 pin PCI Express cables
• 1 – cable with 2 – 4 pin peripheral power connectors (Molex) spaced at 16 & 21 inches; with 1 floppy drive power connector spaced at 26 inches
• 1 – cable with 3 – 4 pin peripheral power connectors (Molex) spaced at 20, 25, & 30 inches
• 1 – cable with 3 – 4 pin peripheral power connectors (Molex) spaced at 31, 36, & 41 inches
• 1 – cable with 3 – SATA drive power connectors spaced at 19, 25, & 31 inches
• 1 – cable with 3 – SATA drive power connectors spaced at 32, 38, & 44 inches

As you can see from the cabling layout detailed above and the mechanical drawing, this power supply is designed to facilitate the needs of any sized case from mid-tower to full-tower that will accommodate size of this monster PSU. It fit very nicely in my Lian Li PC V-2000 case; but I believe the sheer size of this unit (5.9″ x 3.4″ x 9.1″) might be a really tight fit on some of the smaller mid-tower cases.

The interesting thing you also see is the Dual 8 Pin connector. This power supply is totally ready to run a dual CPU socket motherboard. I was told by PC Power and Cooling that this power supply can run anything I can throw at it.

Internal Views

The internal views show the power supply’s heatsinks that do an excellent job of dissipating the heat this unit manufactures even at the highest level of demand. These heatsinks coupled with the other commercial grade components used in the the 1KW-SR add significant weight to the unit. From a strictly subjective point of view it is one of the heaviest PSU’s that I’ve ever handled.

TESTING

Test System

Test Platform
Processor	Intel E6700 Core 2 Duo
Motherboard	EVGA NVIDIA 680I Motherboard
Memory	4 – 1GB sticks of Corsair DDR-2 Dominator 9136
Drive(s)	4 – Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATA drives in RAID 0+1
Optical Drive(s)	LiteOn Dual Layer 16X DVD-RW with Light Scribe LiteOn 16X DVD-R
Graphics	2 – XFX 8800GTX running in SLI configuration
Power Supply	Test PSU:  PC Power and Cooling 1KW-SR
Case	Lian-LI V2000 Case
Input Devices	Logitech Gaming Keyboard Logitech MX 518 Mouse
Operating System	Windows XP Pro SP2

Test Methodology

To act as a break-in period for the PC Power & Cooling (PCP & C) 1KW-SR 1KW power supply I ran it for several days in the above described test system case and allowed to run virtually undisturbed during normal everyday use ranging from surfing the Net to some hard-core gaming. To establish load conditions we ran a variety of different processes on my test system to create as much power demand on the PCP & C 1KW-SR as the components of the test system will allow.

As most of you are aware it is virtually impossible to drive a 1,000 Watt PSU to its maximum load capabilities using a standard test rig even with the number of components we have added to increase power draw. Unfortunately Bjorn3D doesn’t presently own an electronic load simulator to drive these devices to their maximum output. Hopefully we’ll have one of these devices in the not to distant future. While measurements taken using one of these devices show the true and ultimate capabilities of the power supply being tested, it’s not “real world”. By this I simply mean other than for bragging rights, why measure something you’ll never practically attain. The question then arises why buy a power supply that provides more than you need? Many computer enthusiasts subscribe to the premise that a power supply should never be driven in a real life environment to more than 75% – 80% of it’s capable output for obvious system performance reasons. I personally like a safety zone for my system so I feel the 60% – 70% range gives me more of a performance comfort zone.

To test the machine I turned up the heater in my house to get my office to a nice and toasty 85 F. Then proceeded to run a full virus scan on my HD’s and run 3DMark06 in a 6 loop run. I think most of you can agree that this is a good torture test on the systems since it is running real hot and the 8800GTX’s in SLI are pulling a lot of power. I measured the min and max on each voltage with my trusty Fluke multimeter during this testing to see what we came up with. I did this 3 times to check all the voltages and to watch them checking for spikes or dips. I can only estimate the power demand to be somewhere in the range of 550 – 600 Watts, as I don’t have the means for an exact measurement. The results are as follows:

Test Results

Voltage Rail	Minimum	Maximum
+5 Volts	4.91V	5.15V
+12 Volts	11.89V	12.34V
-12 Volts	-11.40V	-12.01V
+3.3 Volts	3.28V	3.40V
+5VSB	4.98V	5.10V

As we can see the power supply held well with the specifications from PC Power and Cooling. The fan on the supply did get a little loud during the testing but with the noise also increasing from the GPU’s the entire system scaled in loudness due the extreme workload and heat I put it thru.

CONCLUSION

I can not see you ever going wrong with the 1KW-SR, it performed flawlessly in my testing. It is more than ready to run SLI with 8800GTX’s. This is just one great power supply.

The Turbo-Cool 1KW is listed at $549 on PC Power and Cooling’s web site. That’s big money for big power. If you are going to spend over $1300.00 on video cards, I would highly suggest that you get a Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR. For me the PC Power and Cooling name has stood for a long time as the reference standard that all other power supplies are judged by, this is certainly no exception, in fact it their best product to date.

Pros:

+  Excellent performance
+  Active PFC
+  All cables fully sleeved
+  Incredible Power Output
+  Cooling design and results
+  Excellent power regulation
+  Industrial grade components

Cons:

–  Might be to long for some mid-tower cases
–  Fan can get a little loud, but entire system got loud in my torture test 

Final Score: 9.5 out of 10 and the Bjorn3D Golden Bear award.