Test results



As mentioned, when we arrived we were provided with a series of test results done by Cooler Master, for reference here they are:



These are some magnificent results, there are only few products who can meet 80+ gold specifications... High efficiency and stable volt lines, that's what you get. Off course, we do want some confirmations to know whether or not these results are obtained correctly. Here are our own test results, we tested 100% load only because of the small time frame:



Results match those from above: 90% efficiency at 900W load, that's amazing for power supply's up to this date. With 891W power output and 994W input power we're at 103 Watt power consumption / power loss inside the power supply, far from ideal though those who're worrying about paying these extra costs won't ever need a 900 W power supply, it's high-end remember. The heat produced by this power supply is cooled by aluminum cooling fins and a 120mm fan, unfortunately we were not able to take any sound or heat tests but we did test the protection circuitry:



First we increased the 12V load line, we were able to get up to 1052 Watt output power completely stable. The volt lines didn't swing that much at all, though further increasing the 12V load made the power supply go into hiccup. That's good news, this means the Over Power Protection is working out great. It's also cool to see that CoolerMasters allows small headroom for these who overpower their PSU once in a while, 17% extra power if needed, maybe more if we go tweak the other volt rails. Next we made a few shorts whether to see your other computer components will survives when one of them is being shorted.

12V short: OK

5V short: OK

3.3V short: OK

The UCP also comes with hardware inrush current limitation, or in other words, they have intelligence onboard which decreases the PSU inrush current when you power on your PC. With 900 Watt loaded, inrush current can be quite high and Intel specs say it should be 100 Ampere maximum. Here is what we measured:



41 Amps, even a whole lot of 500~600 Watt power supply's don't score that low, seems the CoolerMaster intelligence is doing very fine and it would be cool if we could see the same stuff happening with all of their new models (teaser: we have a upcoming article where we test the CM Silent Power M600, it scores good compared to the rest, but higher then the UCP 900). Off course, as long as it doesn't increase the costs too much...

What I have not mentioned here is the power factor, at 0,97 at 100% load I see no issue's there though.

Conclusive thoughts

Well what can we say, we had run only few tests but from what we did test I must say I'm very pleased with the results. Very high efficiency, at high loads this certainly pays off plus it makes the PSU run cooler. Volt rails remain stable, and if you accidentally slightly overpower the PSU it will continue working with stable volt lines. When you're way over the top with your PSU load it will go into hiccup due to the OPP system which is a good thing though, and the over current also did a great job shutting down the PSU whenever we shorted it. Heat/noise remains a mystery for now, cables and housing is unchanged though and we know from version 3 the UCP900 is well provided. CoolerMaster could not tell us anything about the selling price, neither about when it's going to be available, our guess is that it is going to be 250€ or more. But you know you pay for an excellent product, and off course, the 80+ gold certificate: CoolerMaster turned their UCP 900 from silver into gold.



That's it folks, before you go let me thank CoolerMaster for heaving us using their expensive toys and thanks for René for all his advise and help during the day. Catch you later!