The Andyson Platinum R 1200W PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 24, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- 1200W
- 80Plus Platinum
- Andyson
Conclusion
Andyson may not be the most reputable manufacturer when it comes to high-end units but it seems that they really wanted to turn the tide around. As far as performance is concerned, the Platinum R 1200W has literally nothing to fear from its competitors. With superb output quality, efficiency and thermal performance, it excels on every performance aspect. It also has extreme thermal resistance, with high ambient temperatures having almost no effect at all on the performance of the PSU. The combination of great thermal resistance and high efficiency allows the fan to operate at low speeds, maintaining low noise levels under most conditions.
Aesthetically, the Platinum R 1200W is rather uninteresting. The full modular design and the all-black cables certainly enhance the appeal of this PSU a lot. On the other hand, printing a logo that will be facing upside down on the side of the unit is an amateurish mistake. It is not a secret that almost every case in existence that has the PSU compartment below the motherboard tray is designed to have the PSU installed with its fan facing downwards. It is unlikely that most people will care about the logo, yet modders will obviously seek to correct it somehow.
The quality is a little more complicated matter. The ten year warranty is certainly reassuring, the design is exceptional and the assembly job immaculate, yet we feel that Andyson did a childish mistake by selecting Teapo capacitors. It is not that Teapo capacitors are technically worse than their Japanese counterparts are. On paper, they are identical or even better. However, it all goes down to market psychology and Teapo capacitors simply are not loved among advanced users, which are exactly the target group of this product.
Andyson claims that the Platinum R 1200W is the most cost-effective PSU of its class. True enough, with an MSRP just over $200 and such performance, it could wreak havoc to the sales of its competitors. However, it is exceedingly difficult to find in the US at this point of time, or almost anywhere outside Eastern Asia for that matter. This negates the company's argument and reveals a major flaw, that of availability. There is no point with having an excellent product if the majority of your potential customers have no access to it. If it becomes readily available to the "western" markets and the price remains similar, then it will most likely be in the shortlist of every enthusiast shopping for a >1kW PSU.
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jabber - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Excellent...another PSU...I would never need to buy. Once again can we have some 'sane' PSU reviews?CrazyElf - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
The reason why I don't consider the sub-1000 watt as big is because the larger watt PSUs seem to cost exponentially more money than the ones that are cheaper in terms of price:watt output.That being said, never skimp and buy cheap PSUs.
Margalus - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
It's not about "cheap", it's about the output. Probably less than 1% of power users would need something this big. My system is an overclocked i7 930, 12GB of ram, 2-1TB hd's, 3 ssd's, a gtx970 SC, lg blu ray burner. It has never drawn more than 350W from the outlet. under normal circumstances it's about 150W for web browsing, or just general work. Goes up to 250W with most games. So I agree with jabber, it's not a "sane" psu for the vast majority of users.jabber - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Indeed, some of us aren't in our teens/20's any more and want quality, reliability and VFM, not just moar power! Plus a lot of us are moving to 'smaller boxes'. The term 'PC enthusiast' these days doesn't just mean flames/dragons on the case and lot of LEDs. It's not the turn of the century anymore.nathanddrews - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Right, some of us are beyond our 20s and have more disposable income and like to build more robust overclocked, quad CF/SLI systems that require bigger/better PSUs. This review is helpful to those people.Fortunately, the "majority of users" don't matter in enthusiast-level reviews. Titan X, 295X2, 5960X, etc. "Most people" don't need more than a random, budget 500W PSU. Those PSUs are a dime a dozen.
1. Go to Amazon/Newegg.
2. Sort by highest rating.
3. Purchase the first one under $60.
Margalus - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
nobody is saying to stop these reviews of extreme psu's , just add some that the majority of the enthusiasts can make practical use of. The last several psu reviews on this site have been for extreme psu's like this, they are ignoring a huge segment of the market. The last several reviews have been for a 1200W unit, 2000W unit, 1050W unit, 1500W unit.jabber - Saturday, April 25, 2015 - link
Some people really don't have a clue what 'enthusiast' means. It doesn't necessarily mean build the biggest and most expensive. Some of us have more subtle tastes.cruzinforit - Saturday, April 25, 2015 - link
You are an idiot, please do not give people purchasing advice on computer hardware ever again. Not all sub 1kw psus are created equal, and in fact Andyson has made some sub Par ones themselves lately.See here
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReview...
JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
That was awfully snide. Work on manners?Dansolo - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Grow up. Most of us realize that every single game is playable with high settings without ever touching SLI/CF and that using SLI/CF just adds a ton of problems. It's actually mainly the younger people who want these useless things while the rest of us aren't living with our parents anymore and have a mortgage and other hobbies like cars.It is absolutely a valid comment to point out that AAT's reviews have been very out-of-touch with the community. Personally I rarely read an AAT review these days for this exact reason. The only reason I even clicked this review is because I was curious if Andyson makes decent PSUs at all.