Kingwin is a manufacturer of computer components that we have become rather familiar with here at Bigbruin.com. Over the past few years we have taken a look at a good number of their coolers, external drive enclosures, and internal drive racks; and overall we have been impressed by what they have to offer. Prior to this review I guess I wasn't quite as familiar with them as I thought, as I never realized they offered power supply units, despite the fact that their present line-up includes a dozen models.
This review is going to take a look at their 1000W Mach-1 series power supply; a modular unit with a rather unique design. In addition to offering things that gamers need (like plenty of 12V power and four PCI Express connectors), the Mach-1 also offers an appearance that is obviously intended to be shown off in a gaming rig.
Before taking a closer look at the sample provided for review, let's look at some published data on the 1000W Mach-1 power supply, as taken from the
official product page on the Kingwin website.
Features and Specifications:
» Model: ABT-1000MA1S
» Special cable management system
» Comply with Intel ATX/BTX standard
» Two PCI express connectors (6 pin)
» Two PCI express connectors 8 pin (6 + 2 Pin)
» Eight SATA connectors
» One bottom blue led fan (150 x 150 mm)
» Support Intel Core Duo CPU & Core 2 Duo CPU
» Support AMD 64 CPU & 64x2 CPU
» Support High Performance Nvidia SLI GPU
» ATX 12V Ver.2.92
» AC Input 115 & 240V (Full Range Active PFC)
» Output gold-coated connector
» Output over / under voltage protection
» Output short protection
» Nickel-Plated
» Six 12V rails.
» Aircraft style modular connectors
» Built in auto fan-speed sensor
» 80 Plus™ Bronze Certified
» NVIDIA® SLI™-ready certified
» 3 Year Warranty
DC Output:
» +3.3V = 24A
» +5V = 30A
» +12V1 = 20A
» +12V2 = 20A
» +12V3 = 20A
» +12V4 = 35A
» +12V5 = 35A
» +12V6 = 20A
» -12V = 0.5A
» +5VSB = 5.0A
The first thing you might notice is that there are six 12V rails. I don't think I have seen anything like that before. Many manufacturers went to multiple 12V rails a few years ago, but fewer, higher power rails have become more popular these days. Regardless, two or four rails seems to be the norm for multi-rail units, so it is interesting to see a design with six.
You do not get combined Wattage information in the online specifications, such as for 3.3V + 5V, or 12V combined (but we'll see them later thanks to the data label stuck to the unit). Visiting the product page does show information regarding regulation and ripple for each rail, which at first might seem like an impressive bit of extra information. While it would have been very interesting to see useful data there, taking a look at the values shows that all they have done is echoed the maximum allowable value dictated by the ATX12V specification.
Elsewhere on the product page it details that the efficiency for this unit is "up to 86%", while the packaging claims that it is 80 PLUS Bronze certified. 80 PLUS Bronze requires that at 50% of full load that the unit be 85% efficient, while at 20% and 100% it must be 82% efficient. I'll do my best to verify these levels during testing, or at least use the tools I have on hand to agree that it is in the ballpark.
