5-way High-End 1KW+ PSU Round-Up
Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W
Published: 3rd October 2008 | Source: Overclock3D | Price: - |
Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W
With their award winning Galaxy 1KW PSU, Enermax have long been the big daddy of the high-end PSU market. So when we contacted them about conducting this review, it came as quite a shock to us that they wanted to offer us something other than the Galaxy to test. However, time stands still for no man (or PSU), and with the Galaxy having served a full two years as Enermax's flagship product it was time to bring something new to the market. Bring forth the Revolution.
The Revolution 85+ is, at time of writing, in the final stages of pre-production; meaning that a lot of the smaller details such as packaging, accessories and manuals were not provided with the sample unit that we received. However, despite the lack of gumph that often allows us to identify some of the main features of a product, Enermax were quick to tell us that they had been concentrating hard on pleasing environmentalists this time around, and have actually developed one of the first PSU's to break 90% efficiency. Impressive!
Measuring in at 190mm in length the Revolution is significantly shorter than it's 220mm elder brother, making the unit much more suitable for the 'standard' sized PC case. Most of this space saving is undoubtedly down to the removal of the 80mm fan at the rear of the PSU which is no longer required due to the increased efficiency and lower heat output of the components.
In much the same style as the Be-Quiet unit seen over on page #2, the modular connector system of the Revolution uses both PCI-E style connectors as well as a flat 5-Pin style connector. Previous experience has told us that both of these systems work well, providing extremely robust connections than don't work their way loose or cause arcing due to ill-fitting plugs.
At the back of the unit you'll find the usual honeycomb grill along with the mains lead socket, a beefy power switch and a status LED. At this point it is also worth mentioning that Enermax have gotten rid of the annoying buzzer that was present on the early versions of their Galaxy and Infinity series. Having owned both of these units, the lack of 'beeping' when switching the unit on/off is a welcome ommision.
While we need to remember that the we're not looking at the retail version of the Revolution, the two large bundles of cables sent to us with the unit certainly look promising for those of us who have problems getting the PSU leads to reach certain parts of their full-tower cases. Furthermore, the unit is most definitely well suited to multi-GPU setups with a total of eight PCI-E connectors being provided via four modular cables.
Of course no Enermax unit would be complete without its trademark gold and black sleeved cables, and as we can see from above, the Revolution certainly doesn't disappoint. Unfortunately in some places where there are too many cables coming out of a single socket, Enermax have had to start the sleeving up to 10cm down the cable making things look a little untidy - but this is only a minor gripe.
Lifting the hood on the Revolution reveals a very tidy internal layout with minimal cable clutter and plenty of room for air to flow over and around the internals. This is surprising considering the Revolution actually has the largest number of primary components out of any of the units we've tested in this roundup.
Two beefy transformers located in the middle of the unit provide the power for the six +12v rails with a smaller transformer located just to their right dealing with all other rails such as +3.3v and +5v. Smoothing out the power are three medium sized capacitors rated at 400v / 220uF along with an AC filter fitted to the mains socket for filtering out voltage spikes and line noise.
Most Recent Comments
Fantastic review as usual Jimbo, some sexy PSU's there and just goes to show that OC3D REALLY tests stuff :)
fantastic comparative review, i was a little disappointed by the be quiet mind. wish you'd written this a month ago ;)
they all look rather nice
but isnt 1k overkill for all but the highest of high end systems now? :confused:
Yea unless youre like me and are developing a peripheral toaster that runs off the PSU :rolleyes:
Yea unless youre like me and are developing a peripheral toaster that runs off the PSU :rolleyes:
lol
"the USB toastomatic" :p
haha, What sort of equipment is used to test psu's?
haha, What sort of equipment is used to test psu's?
If you actually read the review it tells you...
If you actually read the review it tells you...
ooh, I only looked at the end and the enermax revolution :S
lol
"the USB toastomatic" :p
How did you get hold of my secret latest invention plans? That was due to be unveiled next year...:yumyum:
Hah you guys crack me up some times.. seriously :)
Great review, not that I'll be in the market for a PSU like that for a long time but it is really worth knowing that kind of information. Nicely tested, shows (as stated before) OC3D really go to the inth degree to test and make their reviews as accurate as possible!
Thanks guys :)
Great review, not that I'll be in the market for a PSU like that for a long time but it is really worth knowing that kind of information. Nicely tested, shows (as stated before) OC3D really go to the inth degree to test and make their reviews as accurate as possible!
Thanks guys :)
Nice...
Well powerfull PSU's needn't run on max to provide the juice needed and hence can run cooler... But ..
-Bubba
Well powerfull PSU's needn't run on max to provide the juice needed and hence can run cooler... But ..
-Bubba
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