Enermax Revolution 85+ High Efficiency PSU
by Christoph Katzer on November 6, 2008 4:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Introduction
We first received a sample of the Revolution 85+ about two months ago. Enermax was going to launch the product much earlier, but a sudden change in plans created some delays. During the past couple weeks, we've had a chance to play around with final hardware, which has been quite fun. There are some new innovations inside this PSU, and in fact the inside looks totally different from what we've seen in the past. Enermax now includes DC-to-DC circuitry to create all of the lower voltage rails, something normally done with a transformer. DC-to-DC technology is nothing new since we've already seen it in several other units, but the approach Enermax took isn't quite the same as other vendors, which we will see later. Note that some of the images for this article come from Enermax marketing, including photos of the packaging material since that wasn't ready in time for this review.
The appearance of our first sample was similar to previous tested models like the Infiniti or Galaxy. In fact, this power supply was originally going to be branded Galaxy 2 before Enermax chose the Revolution moniker. The original came in a gunmetal color with a golden fan-grille installed over the huge 135mm fan; all of that changed with the latest version, which will finally hit the market.
In typical Enermax fashion, the company equipped this power supply with a massive modular cabling system that can satisfy pretty much any need. Some critics will say that modular cables can cause problems with high-performance power supplies, but during testing Enermax still manages to reach very high efficiency with stable voltages.
The Revolution 85+ series comes in four different wattages: 850W, 950W, 1050W, and 1250W -- although the last will only be available for 230VAC (i.e. Europe). Today we will be looking at the 1050W model, the ERV1050EWT. The feature list is impressive, with six 12V rails, no-load operation (which will be important for future hybrid power GPUs), power saving modes for upcoming CPUs, high efficiency, and all outputs rated at 50°C.
The six 12V rails are each rated at 30 amps, although Enermax has almost certainly set the OCP a little higher, i.e. 35 amps. There is more than enough power to connect the most demanding graphics cards, a highly overclocked processor, plenty of hard drives, and still have room to spare. 12V1 delivers power to the 24-pin ATX connector; 12V2 powers both the 4/8-pin and 8-pin EPS connectors; 12V3 is for the first and second graphics card connectors; 12V4 handles the first 12-pin socket and peripheral sockets 1, 2, and 3; 12V5 gets the second and third 12-pin sockets; and last, 12V6 is for the fourth 12-pin socket and the remaining peripherals. The distribution is very good and nobody should experience any overloads with today's hardware. The 3.3V and 5V are both rated at only 25A, although this is still more than sufficient for modern systems. The standby 5V rail is stated at 5A, which is massive compared to many other power supplies, but it's necessary in order to comply with the EPS12V regulations in version 2.92.
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dh003i - Saturday, December 6, 2008 - link
This is really horrible on Enermax's part. It was said that the PSU would be available at the end of the month (then Novemeber), at the latest; here it is the end of the first week of December, and the thing still isn't to be seen anywhere. Maybe Enermax will decide to bless us by making it available before Christmas.When you announce the availability of a product, it damn well better be available.
dh003i - Monday, December 8, 2008 - link
I e-mailed Enermax and got a respond from them saying "The revolution should be available in about two weeks." That's December 22nd, or just around Christmas. So we'll see if that ends up being the case.s1ugh34d - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Enermax PSU. My liberty 400w over spins the fan, So I pulled the fans cable out, and hooked it up to 5v, It's always quiet right around 800RPMs...My Q6600 dual 8800GT's runs on a 610w PCP&C silencer. There is only a few small situations were over 750w is necessary.
dh003i - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
So-far, this sounds great, but almost like vaporware (except Anandtech has an actual working sample). I mean, when will this thing be available? I'm building a new workstation for myself, and have held out purchasing the CoolerMaster 1200W UCP because of this new Enermax Revolution 1050W, which is modular. But I don't know how long I can wait. It'd be nice if Enermax gave us some kind of clue as to when the thing will be available.Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Enermax says that the first shipments will arrive at the branch offices in the end of this month latest.gochichi - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
Good point, cause Hybrid SUVs are still SUVs and this guy is a 1050W powersupply... definitely an "SUV".This thing is really GOOD looking actually. To those of you who ask, why even write an article of a 1050W power supply? I say, this is an enthusiast's site... of course it should be covered.
I unfortunately won't be buying this beauty, but if I were more enthusiast-like (kind of past the stage now sadly)I would certainly consider it. $330.00 is a lot of money, but it's not so bad. You figure in the things prone to become obsolete are video cards (two-cards at least for a system with this power supply yes?) Those will run $200+ each. CPU... say $300+, motherboard say $150-$200.00 and on and on. If you're going to do that sort of build you may as well slap this thing on there.
I'm happy with my switch to the sub-$500 computer space for desktops. But it's boring, and this power supply isn't. I also own a Corolla, it doesn't mean a Lamborgini Murcielago is "irrelevant".
Oh just in case you've been in a cave for a few years. $150.00 buys you an awesome video card. Even if you're old like me, you should really get one just for goodness' sake.
CEO Ballmer - Saturday, November 8, 2008 - link
I like the specs on this!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
iwodo - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Thanks for all the hateful comment. But as far as i read, even a CoreQX97xx with Geforce GTX 280, as stated in the Corei7 review, only uses 300W at peak. ( And Corei7 uses less then that )Double that, so you have a Dual Quad Core, Geforce 280GTX 280 SLI, you will still ONLY arrive to 600W at peak.
So may be the article "Debunking the PSU Myth" never got enough people read it.
And this may be the second dumpest question ever as someone would post.
MrBlastman - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Yes, exploded - as in a shower of sparks, loud bang and the force was so strong it broke the plastic mounting bracket where the heat sink attaches to my CPU...Along with thousands of other people's Enermax PSU's exploding, I am very afraid to purchase another Enermax PSU. I used to be a stalwart supporter of them - they made great stuff. But... after hearing of others warranty'ing their PSU only to get another one, or a third one that exploded, I decided to move on to something else.
I hope they have finally fixed these problems.
xaris106 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
how come don't you do step load tests?It would be really interesting and informative to see transient responses, settling times and overshoots. Please consider it.