Deepcool PQ1000M (1000W PSU) review - Load testing the PSU

Load Testing The PSU

Testing a power supply is a challenge, and you need professional load testers to check the PSU’s behavior the right way. 

The first basic test is performed with a simple power supply tester. It doesn’t load the PSU with more than a couple of Watts, but it helps to determine if the power supply unit is operational at all. There’s a self-check indicating if the voltages are at the proper levels. As you can see, there have been no issues with the Deepcool PQ1000M unit.

The following setup was used for the remainder of the testing:

• Voltcraft VC-850 Digital Multimeter - voltage measurement (+ Fluke 97 scope meter)
• USB Oscilloscope - Stingray DS1M12
• DC load - original solution
• Fluke 97 Scope meter (measurement of voltage and ripple),
• Voltcraft SL-100 decibel meter (volume measurement)
• Voltcraft Energy Logger 4000F – for measuring active power (input from the socket).
• Voltcraft DT10L laser tachometer – to measure the fan’s rotational speed.

Measurements are taken only using 230 V input voltage.

Efficiency

In our power supply reviews, we emulate real-world usage by creating such loads as a power-hungry, multi-GPU setup with a powerful CPU would generate. Older components used to require more power, but there has been some progress in this area. In a typical configuration, reaching over 500-600 Watts of power draw is difficult. Checking efficiency is a relatively easy thing to accomplish. Let’s take a look at the PQ1000 M’s efficiency first.

It does look great even at low loads (e.g., 10%, equaling 100 W), which is quite typical of the idle state in modern PCs.

Maximum load

Next up is the maximum wattage that this unit can hold before switching off.

 Efficiency looks excellent, even above 100% load. 1095 Watts is a good value, but you really wouldn’t want to come close to that for very long.

ErP Lot 6 Power Off wattage

We looked at the powered-off status (ErP/EuP), productivity mode (when we stress the CPU), and finally gaming. The lower the wattage, the more efficient the PSU. It is that simple.  

This is well below the 0.5 W requirement.

Ripple testing

First up is the ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple: 

The Deepcool PQ1000M 1000 W achieved the following results:

The values are very well within tolerance. Even in the worst-case scenario (100% load), it is not even a quarter of the allowed number, so this is not worrying at all.