PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW Power Supply Review

Cases & PSU/Power Supplies by KeithSuppe @ 2006-10-05

Describing any review involving PC Power & Cooling products is more difficult then one might think. How do you describe a company to which so many accolades have already been attributed? Today we have the honor of testing the Turbo-Cool 1000W (1kW) PSU.

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Testing / Conclusion

Test System


Madshrimps (c)


AM2 Test System
CPU Althlon-64 AM2 3800X2 Retail
Mainboard Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe (BIOS 0603)
Memory Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000 (2x1024MB)
Graphics 2X Leadtek 7950GX2 SLI-mode
Storage Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA150 120GB
Removable Storage/Optical NEC DVD-CD/RW IDE
Power Supply PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 1KW
Cooling Corsair Nautilus (external watercooling system)
Viscool V2 (CPU WB block modification)
Operating System Windows XP


Noise

Per the atypical Madshrimps method, noise-levels (recorded in dB(A)) were measured utilizing an Intellisystems AR824 SPL meter from a distance of 1m. To eliminate noise from the case fans the side panel was removed for added cooling case fans were disconnected and measurements were taken.

IDLE: 33dB(A)
LOAD: 39dB(A)

Temperature Testing:

Temp testing is crucial and many PSU's begin to suffer up around 50°C which is not out of the ordinary given the variations in temp from one system to the next. PCPower doesn't necessarily design their PSU's to double as an exhaust for case heat, nor should any PSU double as a cooling device for other sub-systems. I taped an external thermistor to the under-side of the unit's cover. temps ranged from 28°C during IDLE to 49°C at full LOAD.

Voltage Tests

Rails were measured at the board utilizing a Extech Mini Tec MN26. To stress the PSU our Retail 3800X2 was overclocked at 10x250FSB running in QUAD SLI Mode. I used the CPU stress tester S&M v.1.8.1. (160) a copy of this software can be downloaded directly from the following zip file: версия 1.8.1(160). In addition to CPU Stress testing voltages were measured running both Leadtek 7950GX2's in QUAD SLI. The thumbnails below exemplify how CPU stress tests were accomplished using the CPU-stress test software. While the voltages indicated are close to the multimeter they are not nearly as reliable, the same is true of graphics tests which were tested running 3DMark06 and AquaMark 3.

Madshrimps (c) Madshrimps (c)


Madshrimps (c)


Summary:

Things are as they should be although the TC1KW wasn't necessarily intended for QUAD SLI testing. With four independent cards the LOAD on the PSU would be greater and had the CPU been of the Prescott or Smithfield variety perhaps even the TC1KW would have been taxed. While I've been able to run this system overclocked to 300FSB (3.0GHz at 1.48Vcore) the 3800X2 crashes under the S&M stress-test. the fact Vcore remained stedafast and the 12V1/12V2 rails are isolated it's doubtful this contributed to the failure. At around 45C the AM2 3800X2 becomes unstable so temp is most likely the culprit.

PRO
Fairly Silent Operation
1.1KW of power on demand
Innovative design and construction
Excellent Build Quality
Pragmatic
Product Service (Warranty)

CON
Price; however, it's still worth it if your spending at least as much on a single videocard and/or CPU.

At the time of writing the TC1KW can be found at Newegg $489 PCP{ower also offers a long list of excellent values on refurbished PSU's on their Specials page.

Conclusion:

Any seasoned PC-Enthusiast or Overclocker eventually comes to understand, as much as we try, we simply cannot guarantee performance beyond the manufacturer's specs. Despite this there are numerous forum threads discussing CPU-steppings, fabrication dates, even attempts to identify where the core originated off the wafer. Armed with all this information it's still a crap-shoot. In a hobby with so many variables beyond our control, the last thing we need is an unstable power source. My experience with PCPower&Cooling is that their products offer the tulimate in stability eliminating that vaibale. While there are a few other PSUs on the market I might consider for different reaosns, when it's comes to maximum power and stability, for the last five years only PCPower&Cooling products remain in my personal high end system.

Stay tuned for my review of PCPower's Silencer 750W a unit based on design concepts sure to shape the future of the PSU.

Questions/Comments: forum thread
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