The top combination of Quiet and High wattage PSU-GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W
 

The well known MB manufacturer GIGABYTE is tier 1 in this industry.
Besides MB, GIGABYTE also has other components product line.
Power Supply is one of GIGABYTE main product line.
In my impression, GIGABYTE has been in PSU industry for over 2 years.

Now in the market, you can see several series in GIGABYTE PSU, which are
Superb, ODIN GT and ODIN Pro. There are 550W, 800W and 1200W in ODIN series.
This time I got is ODIN Pro 1200W, the highest wattage and most high end ODIN Pro series of GIGABYTE PSU.
GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W emphasizes high wattage, modulize, active PFC and quiet.

Let’s have a look of package first.
Front


Back cover information, ATX 12V v2.2EPS 12V v2.91


Accessories
Pack of modulized cables
Easy installation guide
4 easy installed screws
1 X ATX 20/24 PIN
1 X ATX 4+4 PIN
1 X ATX 8 PIN
6 X PCI-E 6+2PIN
10 X SATA
8 X 4PIN
2 X Floppy


GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W body
The case is mat black coating. Good style.




Back is power connector, and sides are cellular holes for heat dissipation.
Power LED turns red as power on. The users can know the status clearly.
Active PFC passed 80% Plus certificate. The max efficiency is 87%


Modulize holes, as it’s 1200W, you can see many connectors.


Official spec list. 12V has 4 ways input which can support 99A(1200W)
It also supports the latest GTX 290 SLI or 4870X2 CF.


Let’s look inside the PSU.
Look furtively, the fan brand is GP and model is D14BH-12.
14cm fan have good air blow and lower noise. In the spec. the lowest noise is 20dBA


Used components are Japanese high quality capacitors.

It looks like OEM product of CWT 1200W.
But same as CORSAIR HX1000W PSU, the look and used components are better and more solid than CWT own 1000/1200W.
I think GIGIBYTE also asks CWT to provide better components and quality.







Test Platform
CPU: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme
MB: DFI LANParty DK X58-T3eH6
DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX3 DDR3 1600C8D
VGA: MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC/MSI N9600GT Diamond
HD: Seagate 7200.10 320GB
POWER: GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W Power Supply
Cooler: Thermaltake BigTyp VP/JETART Nano Diamond/Lubic


OS Setup
CPU 133X30=>3990Mhz(C1E Enable)
DARM DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T


OCCT test, Quad core full load


CPU voltage change, it almost stops at 1.311V in full speed


3.3V
Most around 3.235~3.219V, it’s around 0.49% drop


5V
Most around 4.955~5V, it’s around 0.9% drop

12V
Most around 11.78~11.84V, it’s around 0.5% drop


The voltage above is measured in the board. Every board’s 3.3V, 5V and 12V are low or high sometimes, so it doesn’t mean the real voltage.
If you want to know the real voltage, please use the meter.
OCCT only can work under high load, the voltage is only for reference.
Even though GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W in 3.3V/5V/12V has some difference, but overall it’s all under 0.1%, it’s very small gap.


Using this configuration to test power consumption
Refer by Power Angle
Log into system desktop - 274W (It’s around 160W without 9600GT. The difference is small, but better than nothing.)


OCCT i7 3.99G Quad Core full load - 413W
My past system was Q9950 OC 3.7G+9800GTX and its full load is only 309W.
So even use high end VGA and Quad Core CPU, the OCCT only test CPU is hard to over 420W
For the high wattage PSU, OCCT software is hard to make PSU to reach the max Watt


3DMARK2005 - 473W
3DMARK2005 is most power consumption 3DMARK program. That’s why I use it to test 4870X2+9600GT.
Used to test 3DMARK Vantage several times, but the peak power consumption is hard to be higher than 3DMARK2005


SP2004 Quad core full load+3DMARK2005-572W


During the test, only use single VGA card, so the max consumption is only 572W.
If you are the extreme gamers and use 4870X2 CF or latest GTX 295, or ther other 3 Way VGA combination, it’s possible to reach 1000~1200W load.
This is the reason why 1000~1200W PSU exist.

Meter measurement
Test result of 5V is 5.10V. It’s higher than test by the board.
Operating under 3DMARK2005 and standby status are also 5.10V


Test result of 12V is 2.08V. Compare to 11.84V which test by board is much higher.
Operating under 3DMARK2005 is 12.09V and standby is 12.08V.



GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W Power Supply Conclusion
Good
1. The case is mat black coating. Good style. It’s also very heavy which you can feel it’s really high end product.
2. Active PFC passed 80% Plus certificate. The max efficiency is 87%
3.During high load mode, the PSU body is still cool. The 14cm fan is also very quiet. I am hard to hear the noise.
4. The 3.3V/5V/12V voltage is stable. The voltage drop is not obvious. Especially 5V/12V is no drop during test by meter.

Need to improve
1. Manual is too simple. It’s better to have more detail manual
2.1000W PSU price is over 300USD. GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W is around 12500NTD (ab. 370USD)

Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆
Components ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆
C/P ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Most users think the high end PSU is too expensive and C/P is not good.
However, we should treat it fairly in extreme user’s view, so let’s compare the C/P value of this 1200W PSU to the others same grade products.

GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W spec can be considered one of the best.
It reaches the high standard in all test and no noise.
The most important is compare to low wattage PSU in the same configuration, the power consumption is the same.
GIGABYTE has been in this industry for awhile, and also has very high commitment in product components.

The first impression of GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W components is better than CWT own products.
It’s good sign.
If it was OEM by the others, and made the same product, the only attractive point would be only price.
If use the better components quality and keep the same price as OEM brand or lower, that will be the best for users.

I do hope GIGABYTE can launch more mainstream PSU to encourage the market.
If you are the extreme gamers or enthusiasts who use high end CPU/VGA and change PSU very often as the lack of wattage,
GIGABYTE ODIN Pro 1200W is the good choice for you to avoid this issue:)