Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on November 21, 2014 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- 1200W
- Cooler Master
Conclusion
Being the most powerful and advanced unit that Cooler Master currently offers, the V1200 Platinum has clearly been developed to be the company's pinnacle power supply. A 1200W 80 Plus Platinum certified unit is a good selection for a top-tier product nowadays, as more powerful 80 Plus Titanium certified units are either too pricey or come with special requirements (e.g. specific cases or higher amperage household plugs). There is very limited market potential for such units, so their sales are a mere fraction of the overall income that Cooler Master will receive from their entire PSU division. Nevertheless, their influence on the reputation of the manufacturer is very significant, which is probably why Cooler Master chose one of the most reputable OEMs for their forerunner product, Seasonic.
Although the performance of the V1200 Platinum looks outstanding, it actually would be problematic for a rather large number of users. On one hand, the V1200 Platinum has excellent energy conversion efficiency and outstanding power quality output, as well as very low operating temperatures. Due to the behavior of its cooling system however, the V1200 Platinum tends to become very loud when heavily loaded for prolonged periods. This makes it virtually unsuitable for users with very advanced gaming systems that try to keep them as quiet as possible, as the V1200 Platinum will greatly contribute to the overall noise of the already numerous coolers and fans present in such a system (or it will generate a significant amount of noise on its own with a quiet water-cooled rig).
Ironically, the V1200 Platinum is entirely silent when the load is low, making it a very good (and overpriced) choice for a less powerful gaming system that will not draw over 800 Watts. On the other hand, the high quality and low operating temperatures make it ideal for use in systems and environments where acoustic comfort is not a major concern, such as for servers or cryptocurrency mining.
In conclusion, the Cooler Master V1200 Platinum offers great quality, excellent electrical performance and very low running temperatures for advanced users that do not mind the elevated sound pressure levels at high power draw. The modular design adds to its value, as does the outlandish seven-year warranty. There is just one problem - the retail price. The V1200 Platinum can be currently found retailing for about $300. This is not terribly high for a 1200W 80 Plus Platinum certified product, but the nearly identical Seasonic SS-1200XP3 retails for $240.
Cooler Master's minor modifications, the most important of which appears to be the transfer of the fan cooling profile switch to an expansion slot bracket, hardly justify such a price difference. If the price of the V1200 Platinum drops, it could be a good choice for systems that require a lot of power and operate under harsh conditions, as well as for gamers and professionals that do not prioritize low-noise operation over reliability and power quality. Right now, it has the unenviable job of going up against the ODM's own product that has essentially equal performance at a much lower price.
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Essence_of_War - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Good gracious, that is a LOUD fan!Luscious - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Your sound measurements are off.I have this power supply, and at 1200 watts it is quiet.
JarredWalton - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
What SPL meter did you use, what are the test conditions, what is the precise output load (in watts), and how far from the PSU are you measuring noise? My guess is: you don't have an SPL meter, your PSU is in a closed up case, the load is probably more like 700-900W at most, and you're sitting a few feet away. Remember, input power is not output power, and generating a load of 1200W would require basically four R9 290X GPUs running at max power with a bit of overclocking added in for good measure. There aren't many ways regular PC users would ever have a constant load anywhere near 1200W, and at 800W (which is still a lot for a PC) the noise is quite a bit lower.bebimbap - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I love these power supply reviews, esp the value statements in the conclusion. That is exactly how I would think.I especially appreciate the hot tests. They are tests a reasonable consumer could not easily perform at home.
Luscious - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
I admire your attempt to uphold your article's credibility, but did you think for a minute that perhaps you received a flawed unit, or compare your results with those of other credible reviews already out prior to publishing your findings?Going into detail here regarding my setup would require a page and a half, however I will say that I was running four 780's pushing near 1200MHz and an overclocked 5960X at 1.25 volts. And that doesn't include the ~100 watts needed by the dozen Bitfenix PWM fans on the rads used to cool all of this. No, this was not in a closed case, the load being pulled from the wall was between 1150 and 1290 watts depending on the job being run, and I was not sitting "a few feet" away as you think I might have been.
In the three reviews listed here, neither mentions this power supply being as loud as your review suggests:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/V1...
http://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/z...
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/power_supply/c...
Galidou - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
What kind of an answer is that man, giving links that doesn't even match the message you're sending to the anandtech reviewer?Overclock 3D isn't a full review all he says is that it's quiet, no ambient room temperature no noise mesurement device based on his opinion only. One page review where half of the time on the video speaks about the ripple suppression and the overhype of coolermaster about that.
Techpowerup comes to about the same results from 800 to 1200 watts power usage hovering around 51 to 54dba. Only results that differ a little are lower ambient temperature but again they use a custom anechoic chamber to measure noise that reduces the ambient noises to 20dba which is not normal usage, no one games in an anechoic room and some people are really used to outstanding ambient noise.
Kitguru is the only one with very lower numbers but then again they use THEIR acoustic room, doesn't specify what kind of fan settings they are using and so on.
Three reviews different on their testing methodology and you tell us you have a DOZEN bitfenix fans on the rad plus what other noise around you, no wonder why you think it's quiet, you live in the noise! what's your sound measurement tool? From what I can hear ''I was not sitting "a few feet" away'' your EARS?
Goodbye! Brush up on your reading skills man nice system you have btw.
E.Fyll - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I will simply comment that do not feel the need to "compare" my results prior to publishing them. And, trust me, I can tell if a unit is "flawed" or not.In the three reviews you mentioned, only one is actual, complete work and its results coincide with mine. Actually, since the floor noise of Techpowerup's setup is significantly lower, the PSU they tested appears to be even louder.
vred - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I have Seasonic SS-1200XP3, and its fan is quite loud when the PSU is fully loaded. I replaced it with Corsair AX1500i, and the fan noise is day and night compared to Seasonic - really quiet. My system easily draws 1100-1300 watts with 4 watercooled Titan Black videocards and really allows those PSUs to show what they are capable of.Flunk - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
"This makes it virtually unsuitable for users with very advanced gaming systems that try to keep them as quiet as possible"Who would that be? Anything that needs a 1200watt power supply isn't going to be quiet. Quad SLI systems are loud, even with liquid cooling.
E.Fyll - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Well, it can be entirely quiet, but it will also be very, very expensive.The thing is, sound power and sound pressure are additive figures. This means that if you have a noise source that outputs a total SPL of 50dB(A) and add another device that outputs another 45dB(A) to it, you will have a system with a total SPL of 50+45 dB(A). That's NOT 95dB(A), the scale is logarithmic, so the exact math are X = 10log[(10^5.0)+(10^4.5)] = 51.193 dB(A).
To make things simpler, no, I do not expect that such a powerful system will ever be entirely quiet. You can however build a system that is fairly comfortable for everyday use and gaming without terrible effort. But if you keep adding high noise sources, the total noise output of the system increases and it will sooner or later surpass that "comfort threshold". Ignoring the noise output of a power supply just because the rest of the system "is not quiet anyway" is very logical - a noisy power supply will make the entire system, which already is not quiet, even louder.