Gigabyte XTREME GAMING XP1200M PSU review

PSU - Power Supply Units 108 Page 2 of 7 Published by

teaser

Certification, Specs and Features

Certification

So Gigabyte introduced the new XG 1200 series with an 80+ Platinum certification, tested by the 80PLUS organization (the people that certify and test efficiency). We already explained a little what that literally means. But what does such a certification entail? Well, 80 Plus (trademarked 80 PLUS) is a voluntary certification program intended to promote efficient energy use in computer power supply units (PSUs). Launched in 2004 by Ecos Consulting, it certifies products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. That is, such PSUs will waste 20% or less electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, thus reducing electricity use and bills compared to less efficient PSUs. Sometimes, rebates are given for manufacturers who use 80 Plus-certified PSUs.

80plus-en 

Well there is plenty to choose from, we have Standard, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and even Titanium certifications. A PSU that is certified 80 PLUS Gold or 80 PLUS Platinum is far more efficient than your regular unit. The Xtreme Gaming XG 1200 supplies are certified by the 80 PLUS organization to deliver an 94% energy efficiency at 50% load and 90% efficiency when your PC idles (at 230 Volts). Additionally, the PSU has active PFC with a power factor up to 0.99 and are ErP 2014 compliant with a standby power drain below 0.11 watts.

These days we suggest you get at least a 500 Watt PSU for any mediocre PC, but considering your PC / PSU is the most efficient and energy friendly at half its load, it might be wise to get a higher rated power supply. The 700 Watt model tested is most efficient at 350 Watts, which is pretty much what a reasonably powerful PC with a high-end graphics card uses during a game of hefty fragging. Gigabyte released this power supply with the statement it will not only have a huge amount of power across all rails, but does so with very little noise + the option to create one huge 12V rail - that is fairly unique. The power supplies are certified by the 80PLUS organization to deliver an 92% (115V) and 94% (230V) energy efficiency at 50% load (which equals with a Platinum label) and also comply with the ErP (Energy Related product) directive to ensure less than 1W of power is used in passive standby and off modes.

Specs and Features

This PSU is 80Plus Platinum certified and comes with one big single +12V rail, it has a 140mm (smart) fan and is fully modular. The unit is 80PLUS Platinum certified, has a unique design + 12V rail, and most of the mechanisms of modern electrical and thermal protection.

  • Fully modular design
  • High quality 100% Japanese capacitors
  • 140mm smart control fan
  • 80 Plus Platinum certified
  • Single +12V rail
  • Supports NVIDIA SLI / AMD CROSSFIRE
  • 5 years warranty (Adjusted according to different regions)

The unit is fully modular with a 8-pin EPS, 24pin ATX, 8x Molex connectors, 12x SATA and 6x 6+2 pin PCI-Express. The device is cooled by a 140 mm smart fan which is in the color orange. The 1.2 KW unit has one big slash huge single 12V rail, which is rated at a stunning 100 amps, so if you multiply that by 12 Volts then we see an available peak of 1200 Watt on the 12V rail alone.
  

Model XP1200M
Type Intel Form Factor ATX 12V v2.31
PFC Active PFC (>0.9 typical)
Input Voltage 100-240 Vac (full range)
Input Current 10A
Input Frequency 47-63 Hz
Output Capacity 1200W
Dimension D180 x W150 x H86mm
Fan Type 140mm Double ball bearing fan
Efficiency 92% at typical load
MTBF >100,000 hours
Protection OVP/OPP/SCP/UVP/OCP/OTP
Regulatory CE/BSMI/EAC/TUV/FCC/CCC/RCM
Connectors ATX/MB 20+4 Pin x 1 : 700mm*1
CPU/EPS 4+4 Pin x 2 : 800mm*1+ 650mm*1
PCI-e 6+2 Pin x 6 : 650mm*2 + (650mm+100mm)*2
SATA x 12 : (550mm+150mm+150mm+150mm)*3
4 Pin Peripheral x 8 : (550mm+150mm+150mm+150mm)*2
4 Pin Floppy x 2 : 100mm*2
Cable Type Black Flat Cables

As such the power supply can be compatible with a wide range of CrossFireX and SLI setups as well as with all the upcoming high performance CPUs, including solutions built on top of you using the most demanding AMD Intel architectures, platforms and processors.

Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print