Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum) Power Supply Review

Overview

 

So this is it then, what I hear you ask? This is our first foray into Power Supply Reviews, something we have shyed away from for some time, but we have now decided to embrace the humble PSU and start taking a look at them from a Gamers perspective of course. We don’t plan to bore you with ripple voltages and ATX power specifications, we’re going to take a look more at the PSU itself and its associated accessories and software. If you want to know a little more about the process then take a look this article here.

First up is the monstrous Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum), a fully modular 1200W power supply with a hybrid fan controller and 80+ Platinum certification. Meaning that the V1200 is over 90% efficient (93% @ 50% load) at all times, which is always good to hear.

 

 

The Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum) came in a large, smart box highlighting its Platinum efficiency and its 7 year warranty on the front. Going on to also highlight the use of 100% Japanese Capacitors, Fully Modular Cable Management and Zero dba Fanless Mode Silent Operation.

The back of the box provides some additional technical specifications and also shows you what cables are in the box. There’s also a graph highlighting the money you can save by having a 80+ Platinum PSU. In addition to this there’s information on the Hybrid Fan Controller and the PSU’s silent operation (achieved by the PSU not running the fan when when the load is less than 30%).

 

 

The side of the box further highlights the technical specifications of the V1200 and also shows you how much current can be drawn on the three rails (3.3v, 5.0v & 12.0v). We can also see that this version is a UK specific version.

 

 

Opening the inner box allows us to see the nicely packaged contents within. There are two bags of cables and the Power Supply itself.

The Power Supply itself is safely tucked away in a black bag with a smart Cooler Master logo on the front, inside we can also see that the Power Supply is also sealed in a plastic bag.

 

 

Other than a small box of tricks (that contains the Hybrid Fan Controller, 4 screws and some cable ties) there’s not much else in the box other than a User’s Manual. The User Manual is a little poor I feel, being nothing more than a large folded sheet of paper, I expected something a little more akin to a Manual than this considering the premium nature of the product.

At the time of writing the Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum) is retailing for approximately £190 on Amazon and comes with an impressive 7 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Cooler Master

• Fully modular cable design for easy installation and cable management
• 100% high quality Japanese electrolytic & solid capacitors ensure performance and reliability
• 135mm FDB silent fan default as hybrid mode, equipped with hybrid fan controller, easily switch mode (auto / hybrid) by the controller
• Zero dBA fanless mode silent operation
• 80 PLUS Platinum certified: up to 93% efficiency @ 50% load
• Powerful single +12V rail, capable of delivering up to 100A
• Excellent output voltage stability ensures total voltage regulation under 1% (even better than DSP)
• Twelve PCI-E 6+2pin connectors for 4 way SLI & high end solution builds
• 7-year extended warranty

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

Well there’s no doubt in my mind that the Cooler Master V1200 is a good looking power supply, I like the subtle styling and am confident that it will look good in almost any rig.

Both sides of the PSU feature a large Cooler Master V1200 Platinum logo, with one orientated the opposite way to the other. So if you choose to fit the PSU with the fan pointing down (and sucking in cool air from the base of your case) then the logo will still be the right way up (assuming you’re looking in from the left side of the case of course). 😉

 

 

As you can see the top of the PSU is dominated by the large intake fan of the V1200, which is surrounded by a smart looking silver shroud. In the centre of this we find the single 120mm hybrid cooling fan.

Flipping the PSU over allows us to see the specification label, see below right. Here you can also see what power draw can be placed on each rail (3.3v, 5.0v & 12.0v).

 

Looking at the back of the Cooler Master V1200 Platinum PSU we see the main power input socket and a rather large power switch, well I guess there’s a lot of power on tap! 😉

 

Obviously one of the most important things about a PSU is its cables, well there’s certainly plenty of them with the Cooler Master V1200. And, as you can probably see, they’re also flat (well most of them are!), the main 24-pin is actually round!

 

 

Cable Details

 

 

Hardware Installation

 

Test Rig Setup

Case	Cooler Master HAF XB	Power Supply	Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum)
Motherboard	ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer	CPU	Intel Core i5-4690K CPU
CPU Cooler	Raijintek Themis	RAM	Kingston HyperX Savage 8GB 2400MHz
Graphics Card	XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X DD Black Edition	SSD	HyperX FURY 120GB SSD

 

Let’s be fair installing a Power Supply is normally a pretty simple task, but this one’s a little more tricky thanks to its oversized frame. The Cooler Master V1200 is a regular 86mm deep and 150mm wide, but it’s also 190mm long, meaning that you’ll want to make sure it fits before buying. As you can see from the image below it looks significantly bigger (30mm longer in fact) than our regular Corsair AX760i.

For installation into our test Cooler Master HAF XB there’s a PSU bracket that needs to be fitted first, handily this allows the PSU to hang out of the back of the case by a further 28mm, without this the V1200 would not have fitted.

 

 

Once in position you can see how tight the cabling is, but the second image shows that even with the cabling for twin drives, and Crossfire 290X’s there’s just about enough room…

 

 

Looking at the rest of the install we can see that the Cooler Master V1200 has been mounted fan side down to take advantage of the Cooler Master HAF XB’s bottom fan filter.

Inside the case there’s also a little extra work to be done, with the installation of the V1200’s Hybrid fan controller that’s attached to a single PCI bracket. Note this does not need to be fitted, if not fitted the PSU will run in Auto mode at all times. Unfortunately fitting this inside the case means that there’s some unsightly cabling which is a shame. If this was my Rig I would be unlikely to fit this particular item! 😉

 

 

At this point it’s a good time to talk about Cooler Master’s use of flat cables, to be honest it’s not something I’m found of. Although I have to admit I had no installation related problems due to the flat cabling and at times it was even advantageous. The issue is that although you can lay them flat, you’ll want (need) to get all of the inherent twists out first, so for me what you gain in the flatness you lose in the annoyance of the cable’s twisting in a similar way to a car’s seatbelt. I guess it’s just a bit of a personal taste thing…

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

When it comes to testing Power Supplies there’s very little else you can do other than put the PSU under load and measure the voltages. As this is not a very real world test (as it only takes seconds to setup and record), we have employed a more real world test. For more details on our thoughts regarding Power supply testing check out this article.

The Power Supply is put under a real world load for 1 hour, while running both Unigine Heaven and Prime95 (Blend) simultaneously. Power Supplies over 750W are tested using x2 AMD Radeon 290Xs to ensure the PSU gets a real workout! 😉

 

Hardware Performance

 

 

As you can see from the image above the Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply did well in our burn-in test, with all voltages (12v, 5v & 3.3V) remaining stable at (12.096, 5.040 & 3.344v). Throughout testing and during the week long test period no signs of instability were encountered.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply has put in a good showing here at pcG, with a good deal of power on tap, Platinum 80 Plus efficiency and good looks to boot. It would appear then that Cooler Master have a sure fire winner on their hands with the V1200.

The V1200 came nicely packaged, with not only two bags of cables but also a rather nice PSU bag also, although most of the time this is going to remain in the box of course! Another item that probably could remain in the box is the Hybrid fan controller, as personally I’m not too concerned whether the PSU fan runs at below 30% load or not to be honest! But if you are concerned you may want to fit this item, although the trailing wire that’s connected to the PCI bracket is likely to look a little unsightly within your case.

Of course the main job of the Power Supply is to deliver those all important voltages (12v, 5v & 3.3v) to your system and to do it efficiently and with a good degree of stability. During our burn-in test the Cooler Master V1200 platinum performed flawlessly and we saw no sign of instability during testing or over the week long test period. This coupled with the 90+ percent efficiency, courtesy of the V1200 Platinum’s 80 Plus rating, means that the Cooler Master V1200 is one damn good PSU!

The only stumbling block is the flat cables that can actually be more cumbersome than round ones (IMHO), all I know is that I still prefer round over flat; although if you asked me why, it would be difficult to answer! The final issue is the price, at around £190 at the time of review the Cooler Master V1200 (Platinum) Power Supply isn’t cheap, but considering its power delivery and efficiency it’s not too expensive either…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Cooler Master for providing this sample for review