Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products, because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects must be taken into consideration. Certain criteria consist of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We are not going to try to create useless test results by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, it is not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 5.0W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is excellent. Independent sources with professional load testing equipment showed the DeepCool PX1000G 1000W delivered decent efficiency, especially at light loads, and excellent voltage regulation and ripple suppression across all rails. This power supply unit has 80 Plus Gold and Cybenetics ETA Platinum ratings.
Voltages with minimal load are generally accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation all are within 4%. This power supply is ATX 3.0 compliant and officially supports Alternative Sleep Mode with 100 to 150ms PG specifications, so it looks like the PSU tester I used was inaccurate when measuring the PG signal. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it, as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The DeepCool PX1000G 1000W has active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The DeepCool PX1000G 1000W is an average power supply when it comes to noise. This unit has a Cybenetics LAMBDA Standard++ rating for noise, which indicates a 30 to 35dBA noise output under regular loads. In low or idle power loads, the fan will not turn on if the zero RPM fan mode is active. However, when the power draw increases, I find the Hong Hua fan to be a bit louder than I would like. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the DeepCool PX1000G 1000W at 2.0/10 under moderate loads.
DeepCool provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
From our inspections of the DeepCool PX1000G 1000W, it is clear this unit is a capable performer. It should be no surprise we were satisfied with the PX1000G as it shares a CWT platform with other power supplies we have seen in the past. Third-party certifications show the DeepCool PX1000G's strong overall performance, with prowess in load regulation and ripple suppression, while maintaining good efficiency. From our internal inspection, DeepCool has chosen strong components. It should be noted they only claim full Japanese electrolytic capacitors, so while we did not see any Chinese polymer capacitors, it is possible other units may have them. Otherwise, the internal layout is clean, and we have support for zero RPM fan modes when power draw is below 400W. This unit costs $200 at the time of evaluation, which is the same price as the Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W at launch. Both options are a smart choice for a power supply that supports the latest connectors while providing peace of mind should any problems arise with ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 support and a 10-year warranty coverage.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
