Verdict and Conclusion
Enermax is taking a crack at a tough market here, high wattage designs cost a fair bit to make, high efficiency designs cost a fair bit to make, high wattage high efficiency designs cost a bunch to make. As far as the PSU itself goes Enermax pretty much nailed it, the price is likely to be the only tricky part.
The looks of the unit I like a lot, I’m a big fan of the crackle style finish (though scraping warranty stickers off it is a major pain), and the silver fan surround and such look great. The colored sleeving is an interesting touch, I rather like it but I can see some people not being fans.
I love fully modular units, and I really like how Enermax did this one. No complaints there.
The voltage regulation is quite good, if not fantastic. No complaints there, but it could be better.
Ripple control on the other hand is excellent overall. I approve!
The fan isn’t perfect, the ball bearings mean it has some low speed noise. Nothing you’ll hear with the unit inside a case, but it’s there. At high speed the fan is polite, but not silent. Noise wise there is a little bit of a buzz at high loads. Not a coil whine, or any other whine, mind you. Again, I doubt you’d hear it outside a case.
That brings us to price. The current price for this unit is $330 online. I found a couple of rather dubious looking stores offering it for less, but nothing trustworthy. That’s a fair bit of money! The previously reviewed Thermaltake 1275w platinum unit as well as a Zalman branded version of the same unit can be found for $230-$240. The performance on those units is pretty similar, but there are some crucial differences. The largest is probably the number of rails, the Enermax unit has six 12v rails, that’s nice and safe. The competition (built by CWT, as a note) has two. I like safer, personally. Also on the list is full modularity, something the cheaper units lack. Plus of course you get an extra 75-100w, that cannot be ignored! This is the highest wattage platinum rated unit I can find in North America. All told the extra $100 is a bit steep for my tastes, but not completely beyond reason.
I think it’s time for a pros/cons list, don’t you? Let’s start with the pros:
- 1350w of Platinum efficiency.
- Great looks.
- Fully modular.
- Intelligent cable selection.
- Very low ripple.
- Enermax build quality, excellent as usual.
There are a few cons as well:
- 12v regulation, while good, is not epic.
- Price is a bit on the high side.
Final words. There really isn’t much in the way of cons, other than having to pay for what you get. In conclusion, this is an excellent PSU that is definitely worthy of consideration for your next Epic Build. I give it a 9/10.
SCORE
9/10
