Sirtec High Power 1200W PSU review

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Specifications
Let's dive into the color blue, the Sirtec High Power 1200W Power Supply unit.

The PSU tested today comes from Sirtec's "RockSolid" series. Rocksolid it surely seems to be. It's an understatement in that it will not only have a huge amount of power across all rails, but does so with acceptable noise levels. Built under SKU name 'HPC-1200-G14C' we can say it has pretty nice aesthetics, which we'll show you later on in our photo-shoot. In that same photo-shoot you'll notice the sheer size of the unit. It's as long as the Enermax Galaxy and might be even heavier at 3.3 kg.

Here are some other specifics

  • 1200W (continuous output)
  • Silent performance
  • NVIDIA SLI certified
  • ATI CrossFire ready
  • 80PLUS certified Green Power (>80% at all loadings)
  • Fan Delay-Off feature for extended product life *
  • Modular cable management design
  • 13,5cm ultra silent fan & 8cm Golf-Surface fan
  • Quad +12V output (1080W)
  • Overall Protection Design; OCP/OVP/UVP/SCP/OTP/OPP
  • 6x PCI-E connector (PCI-E 6pin x4 & PCI-E 8pin x2)

A 1200 Watts PSU ready for Quad GFX solutions and multi-core systems. The PSU itself is build in accordance with ATX12V Version 2.2 and EPS12V Version 2.91, including 8-pin 12V connection specification.

If we look closer at the voltage rails for a minute, we see there's nothing to complain about. In fact this beast of a nuclear reactor has juice to power anything in your rig no-matter how high-end it is, yet focus on the important 12 Volts rails. There are four +12V circuits. Two of them 20 AMPs and another 2 rated at 25 AMPs. There seems to be some more leverage though as the +12 maximum load in Wattage can be pushed towards 1080 Watt. Excessive ? Oh yeah .. certainly. But nothing about this PSU is normal.

You get to play around with six PCIe connectors for your graphics cards:

  • Native 2x PCI-E 1.0 6-pin (75 Watt)
  • Modular 2x PCI-E 1.0 6-pin (75 Watt)
  • Modular 2x PCI-E 2.0 6+2-pin (150 Watt)

These four separate 12V circuits each are rated with a 20A to 25A maximum peak load to ensure the stable distribution of the power requirements of your high-end gear. Where did the magic 1080 Watts come from ? Simple; 2x (20a x 12v) + 2x (25a x 12v) = 1080 Watt. To get you a broader overview, one GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra draws roughly 10A maximum. Tripple SLI would not even tickle this PSU with a peak combined 360 Watt load.

You'll have loads of connectivity:

Native (fixed on the PSU):

1x 24pin ATX
1x CPU 8pin
1x CPU 4+4pin
1x triple molex 4
1x triple SATA power
2x PCI-E 6pin
1x fan monitor

Modular (can be connected if desired):

2x PCI-E 8pin
2x PCI-E 6pin
4x 6pin device power (12+5+3.3V)

So this is interesting; two 6+2-pin PCI-E 2.0 connectors and four 6-pin PCI-E connectors are provided for SLI and Crossfire graphics cards. The PSU is SLI certified by NVIDIA, yet does not show up at NV's SLI Zone. Also, the PSU is covered by a two year warranty which is okay, but not special.

Product SKU HPC-1200-G14C
Rated power output 1200W
+12V output 4x +12V rails maximum load 1080W
mainboard compatibility ATX 12V v2.2
fans 1x 14cm fan 1x 8cm fan : low noise
connections

power

100-240V power input (with active PFC)

native cables

1x 24pin ATX
1x CPU 8pin
1x CPU 4+4pin
1x triple molex 4
1x triple SATA power
2x PCI-E 6pin
1x fan monitor

modular outputs

2x PCI-E 8pin
2x PCI-E 6pin
4x 6pin device power (12+5+3.3V)
packaging contents 1x 1000W power supply
1x external power cable
2x PCI-E 8pin
2x PCI-E 6pin
2x triple SATA power (6pin to 3 SATA power)
2x triple molex 4 (6pin to 3x molex 4 + floppy power)
1x user manual
4x mounting screw
power table AC INPUT : 100-240V
Frequency: 50-60Hz
Max Load: 1200W
DC OUTPUT
+5V +3.3V +12V1 +12V2 +12V3 +12V4 -12V +5VSB
30A 30A 20A 20A 25A 25A 0.8A 6A
200W 1080W 9.6W 30W
dimensions / weight (with native cables - without detachable cables) 150x87x220mm / 3.3kg

Power Efficiency
Judging from the specs the power efficiency of this PSU is is nothing to be ashamed about either as it is rated at 85% measured at 230V (which we use here in Europe).

But what does that mean? The Power Efficiency of a power supply? First and foremost; the higher the better, efficiency is good.

When power is drawn from your wall socket and travels into your power supply, not all of it is transformed into electricity that your computer consumes. A rather large part of that current will get lost as there is heat that is dissipating in the capacitors or leakage in circuits and other insufficiencies. So it boils down to this: If your computer requires 500 watts of power, a power supply will draw more than that from your electric company. Here's an example:

If you have a generic power supply with an average 70% efficiency a 350 power draw (350/70x100) watt load would mean it is drawing 500 watts of current from your wall socket while your PC only uses 350 watts, interesting eh? Let's do that math again , yet this time with a 80% power efficiency in mind: 350/80x100= 437 Watt. So that's saving 63 Watts over a 70% efficient product. If you have your PC powered on a lot, think about this theory and what it can save you in the long term.

Now we estimated that this PSU has 85% efficiency 350/85x100=412 Watt. We save 88 Watts by just choosing a better power supply. The higher the efficiency the less power loss, the less money you have to pay. And hey ... it's good for mother nature as well. I find energy efficiency one of the most important developments in a PSU this coming year, we'll monitor this closely.

So next to being really capable, this is an efficient PSU also.

Active PFC
This model has a very nice feature called Active PFC. To put it in simple terms, Active PFC PSUs are more expensive and, from a power consumption point of view, more efficient. Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its highest efficiency. There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. This PSU has Active PFC. Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is definitely more expensive to produce an Active PFC power supply.

Warranty
The PSU has a 2 year warranty which is legally required. Alright ... let's have a look at the photo shoot followed by some testing.

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