Enermax MaxRevo 1350W PSU review

[siopao1984]

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Enermax MaxRevo 1350W PSU review by VR-Zone.com

Introduction

If you ask any enthusiast to name the five PSU manufacturers that comes to mind, Enermax is certainly going to be in the list. The company is one of the oldest in the field and started designing high performance power supplies 20 years ago. Today Enermax is one of the largest PSU manufacturers on the planet and a favorite among enthusiasts. In this review we are having a look on a product all enthusiasts will drool over, the very pinnacle of all Enermax power supplies and one of the best power supplies money can buy, the MaxRevo series 1350W unit.

Manufacturer’s features and specifications

• FMQ Design - Fully utilize transformer’s quad magnetic quadrants energy to provide maximum switching efficiency and outstanding stability.
• 88PLUS ready! - World’s leading full modular cables PSU series with 88-94% efficiency @ 20-100% load. Compliant with 80 PLUS® GOLD standard (1200/1350W only).
• ErP Lot 6 ready! - Help system meet ErP Lot 6 2010 (< 1W at standby mode) with high efficiency +5Vsb circuitry. (With ErP Lot 6 enabled motherboard.)
• Copper-Bridge Array Transmission - Unique Copper-Bridge Array creating wider conduction path greatly helps reduce airflow resistance, voltage drop and energy loss.
• C6 & Hybrid ready! - Maximum compatibility with C6 & hybrid states of current and future CPU & GPU generations by ZERO LOAD Design.
• DXXI ready! - 100% 6+2P (8P) PCI-E connectors to support new generation DXXI graphic cards.
• Future ready! - 12P modular design for possibly upcoming new CPU and GPU 10P and/or 12P connectors.
• Modular ready! - Full modular cable design for easy customized support for various peripheral settings.
• SERVER ready! - SSI PSDG support for latest Intel® Core™ Extreme/i7, Xeon™ and AMD® Opteron™ and SLI® or CrossFireX™ and downward compatible with EPS12V v2.92, v2.8.
• CordGuard - Fixing the AC cord tightly to avoid accidental shutdowns of your PC.
• HeatGuard - Keeping PSU fan running for 30-60 seconds after shut down to dissipate the remaining system heat and prolong system lifetime.
• SafeGuard - Industry-leading octuple protection circuitry of OCP, OVP, AC UVP, DC UVP, OPP, OTP, SCP & SIP.
• SpeedGuard - The world’s leading patented fan control starting with unmatched 900RPM to a maximum of 2000RPM for optimal cooling and minimum noise.
• Twister fan inside! - 13.9cm Twister-bearing fan with low noise and long lifetime. (100,000 hours MTBF, Patented)
• 100% 105? Japanese electrolytic capacitors - Highest components standards for maximum durability and stability.

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Packaging and Bundle



The Enermax MaxRevo is supplied inside a large and hefty cardboard box. The black box is very simple with almost no artwork on it at all, with only the series logo seen at the front side of the box.



Inside the thick cardboard box everything is well secured and protected in separate compartments/drawers. The power supply itself is not protected by a nylon or cloth bag but lies tightly secured in its own compartment.



A fairly good bundle awaits those who will choose to purchase a MaxRevo series unit. The bundle consists of a standard manual, an A/C power cable, a card displaying the voltage rails distribution, four high quality cable straps, a metallic hinge to lock the power cable attached to the unit, a sticker with the company logo, a free 120mm cooling fan and four common 3M mounting screws.



Since this is a fully modular unit, you will also receive a lot of modular cables and two pouches which can be used to store the extra cables or anything else. All of the cables are sleeved, with Enermax using a black sleeve but visually enriching it with yellow and red threads spiraling around the cables.

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The unit's exterior



Externally, Enermax is using a similar chassis as the one we have first seen implemented for the Revolution 85+ series. The chassis is sprayed with a textured grey paint which is rough on the touch, except from the area around the fan which is sprayed yellow, also with a textured type of paint. It also is a little longer than a standard ATX power supply, measuring 190mm deep; however we believe that all potential buyers of such a high end product already own very large cases as well.



The sticker with the electrical specifications and approvals can be seen at the top side of the chassis.



At the sides of the unit, the series logo and deep cosmetic engravings are all that can be found.



The rear is entirely perforated to allow for the air pushed by the cooling fan to escape towards the outside of the case. Enermax have opted for a tight honeycomb design, which slightly reduces the airflow resistance and the aerodynamic noise. A simple on/off switch and a standard 3-DIN A/C power plug can be seen at the rear. There are also the mounting spots for the “Cordguard” holder, a simple latch holding the A/C power cable secured into place.



At the front we can see the numerous connectors for the modular cables. The Molex-SATA cable connectors are black while the CPU-GPU connectors are red. The large black connectors are for the ATX and CPU power cables. This unit offers the following number of connectors:

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The unit's interior





Enermax entrusted the cooling of their best power supply on a single 140mm fan with semi transparent blades. The “twister” bearing fan has a maximum rotational speed of 2000RPM.



Enermax designs and manufactures their products themselves; therefore there is no hidden OEM behind the MaxRevo. The interior of the MaxRevo unit is remarkably tidy because of the entirely different, yet very simple design which Enermax implemented. Instead of placing the primary on one side of the unit and the secondary on the other, Enermax moved the primary towards the front of the power supply and the secondary to the rear. This way Enermax did not have to use a large number of cables inside the power supply by transferring the power directly to the modular interface PCB. Only the 5VSB line is being transferred over a cable.



The filtering stage begins with a filtered A/C receptacle and continues on the PCB as well. The total number of components, including those inside the receptacle filter is four Y-type capacitors, two X-type capacitors, two filtering coils and a MOV. Enermax also placed a standard fuse on the PCB.



The three primary capacitors are made by Matsushita (Panasonic) and are rated at 330μF/400V and up to 105°C each. The secondary side capacitors are made by Nippon Chemi-Con and by Rubycon, making this power supply an all-Japanese affair.



Because of its different layout, Enermax went with large and tall heatsinks to direct and aid the airflow of the cooling fan. Given the efficiency of the power supply, the heatsinks should be sufficient for the thermal needs of the unit.



At the rear of the power supply, the modular connector and the DC to DC circuit PCBs can be seen sandwiched together.

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Testing equipment and performance

In order to provide you with the most professional and accurate reviews, we are using the following equipment to test the performance of power supplies:

Modified SECC steel case with thermal generation and control components installed
Custom USB controlled DC load, 2.2KW maximum power drain
3KVA VARIAC
Lutron DW-6091 Power Analyzer
USB Instruments Stingray Oscilloscope
SL-5868P digital sound level meter
CompuLAB interface
MyPClab thermal interface
Labjack U3-HV interface
Custom calibration box
Custom software

More information about our testing equipment and methodology can be found in this article.



The Enermax MaxRevo 1350W power supply unit successfully completed all of our tests without any operational and/or performance problems; except from the OCP circuit, that is. It is clear that Enermax did not set the OCP protection of this unit at 30A as the product’s specifications clearly indicate – the weakest of the 12V lines had to be loaded at above 46A to make this unit shut down and one line even reached 55A before shutting down. The electrical performance of the MaxRevo unit is setting new standards by suppressing the voltage ripple of all lines at under 20mV while the power supply is delivering maximum power! Most power supplies are unable to reach that kind of performance even when lightly loaded. There is a considerable change on the output voltage of all lines when comparing the unit heavily and lightly loaded, with the 12V lines dropping about 0.35V each; this translates to a voltage regulation of about 3%, which is close but inside this unit’s specifications of a 4% voltage regulation.



All power supplies are more efficient when powered from a 230V A/C source rather than an 110V A/C power source but their efficiency graphs are almost always similar. This is not the case with the MaxRevo which displays notably different behavior when powered from a different A/C input. In either case the power supply is very efficient and extremely stable, with the efficiency peaking at 92.7% when powered from a 230V A/C power source or at 90.7% when powered from an 110V A/C power source.



Considering its massive power output, the thermal performance of the 1350W MaxRevo power supply is fantastic. The power supply barely gets warm while under nominal load and has a temperature delta of only 18 degrees while running at maximum capacity.



The acoustics performance of the MaxRevo is excellent as well, with the unit being entirely silent at 50% load; which is an output of 675W! Beyond 50% load the fan’s speed will increase linearly but the unit will become audible only when heavily loaded.

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Final words and conclusion

Quality (30% of the total score)

The quality of the Enermax MaxRevo 1350W is exceptional, even for its class. It is an immaculately made product, both on the outside and on the inside. Enermax chose some of the most well known and reliable components, performed a fantastic soldering job and even a flawless paint job, despite the unique paint.

Quality Score 10/10



Performance (40% of the total score)

There is nothing to say about the performance of the Enermax MaxRevo 1350W unit when the numbers speak for themselves. The power supply excelled in every single one of our tests and even managed to continuously output up to 1600W for a prolonged period of time without shutting down; we had to force an output of 1750W to make this unit shut down after about 8 seconds. If you want the best possible electrical performance and top class overall performance, the MaxRevo is what you are looking for.

Performance Score 10/10



Value (20% of the total score)

Now that is where things are getting tricky. The Enermax MaxRevo is a fantastic power supply but the retail price is nothing short of ludicrous at the time of this review. Retailing at about 300$ USD (360$ SGD) at the time of this review, it is one of the most expensive power supplies currently available. While its retail price is relatively reasonable, considering the class and output of the product, it still is a very expensive power supply produced only for the most hardcore of enthusiasts.

Value Score 8.0/10



Aesthetics (10% of the total score)

People who are looking for something special concerning the appearance of their power supply and the tidiness of their PC will certainly love the Enermax MaxRevo. Its unique paint job, the entirely modular design and the colored cable sleeves are going to make it a favorite among modders. On the other hand, there is the chance some people will not like the yellowish appearance of the MaxRevo or the colorful sleeves for their systems, in which case they might be looking for a more plain and serious-looking product for their system.

Aesthetics Score 9.0/10

[eXpLoDe]

nice PSU. worth it pod ang price. 300 USD = 12,744.30 PHP

[dhekoy33]

yum..yum..yum, currently using enermax 625W PRO 82+ II(non-modular) payter kaau..

[zhrike]

kalamay kaayo nga PSU oi tsk tsk tsk... drolls...