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Topower Tiger 1200W


Date
: 01/4/10 – 02:33:54 AM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Introduction

Sometimes a 800W power supply just isn't enough; sometimes a 1000W would be simply cutting it close, and sometimes one truly
does
need a 1200W power supply. By all means, it is indeed possible with today's hardware. Combined with rather deep pockets and need for sheer computing power, the need for a 1200W power supply is indeed possible. Today we are going to revisit the Tiger series of power supplies by Topower. A year ago, we looked at the Tiger 1200W's counterpart and smaller sibling, the Tiger 1000W- only at the time it was released under E- Power. For the sake of clarity: E- Power and Topower are names that are mostly interchangeable. The Topower Tiger 1200W variant is built upon the E- Power Tiger 1000W, only as one would imagine revamped ever so slightly to push that extra 200W.

In some way or another, all of us probably are in some way or another familiar with Topower. As one of the oldest players in the power supply market, Topower has a lot to bring to the table. Opening its doors in 1986, Topower has expanded its reach worldwide, including numerous branches across the United States. Under the larger umbrella of Topower, E-Power, Topower's North American arm, was founded in 1990 as a company with a sole focus: PC power supplies. Once a small provider of consumer grade power supplies, Topower has now expanded its product line to include server, workstation and industrial grade power supplies. Though immediately, Topower may not be the most recognizable name on the market, they have had a profound influence on the development of high-end performance power supplies including airflow, power supply connector design and the modular connection.

The Tiger 1200W is a six rail 12V power supply with can manage a maximum load of 1008W- plenty for all your hardware needs. All that we enjoyed on the 1000W model: the XLR connectors, the numerous cables, the finish and so on are here to stay as well.

Page 2 : Features and Specifications

First, here is what Topower has to say about the Tiger 1200W, a quote from the manufacturer:

And next, specifications:

Rated for 1200W, one would imagine a power supply would come with quite a number of connectors, and of course, Topower has indeed included quite a few connectors. 12 SATA power connectors, three six pin PCI Express connectors, three eight pin- 6+2 pin PCI Express connectors and an assortment of peripheral connectors.

As we mentioned earlier, the Tiger 1200W is capable of providing 1008W or 84A on the 12V rails alone. This is quite impressive.

Page 3 : Package and Contents

The Tiger 1200W comes in perhaps the nicest packaging I have seen to date. The container is a stitched leatherette material with a cardboard sleeve.

Printed on all sides of the cardboard sleeve, we have our typical assortment of product information.

The box, or container itself is divided into two compartments. The top houses various cables, the manual and screws while the bottom the power supply. The box itself is fairly well made and would serve excellently holding extra unused cables and other various computer parts if one intends to reuse it.

The unit itself, much like the rest of Topower's line of power supplies looks great. The body is finished in a shiny titanium colored coat with a matching fan grill accented by a matte black fan and the cables are covered in quality black sleeving with matching black or blue molex connectors. A sleek, understated but undeniably clean aesthetic- one cannot go wrong with simplicity.

Towards the front, we have the screw mounted XLR type connectors. These allow for very secure connections, albeit redundant, but they do look really, really good. At the same time however, this type of connection may be problematic for smaller cases, or 5.25 inch devices mounted in front of the power supply as XLR type connectors take up quite a bit of space and add considerable length to the power supply – that is with the connectors attached to the power supply.

The large 120mm fan situated on the bottom of the unit serves two purposes, first cooling the power supply itself, and second, acting as a system exhaust. Air is drawn from within into the power supply and then pushed through the perforated rear panel.

For the cables, we have two sets. The first set includes those that are permanently attached to the power supply- those which one would have no need of disconnecting, and then we have the modular XLR type connectors. Permanently connected to the power supply we have four SATA connectors, the 24 pin motherboard connector and two 8 pin motherboard connectors.

On the XLR connectors, we have eight more SATA connectors across two separate leads, four on each.

While we're on the topic of excess, let's cover the PCI Express connectors. The Tiger 1200W has a total of six PCI express connectors. Three of which are of the conventional 6 pin variant and three of the 6+2 pin variant.

Lastly, we have three 4 pin peripheral connectors and one floppy drive connector. On the Tiger 1000W model, the cables were covered in not only sleeving, but plastic tubing too. While it did look good- it was highly impractical in the sense of flexibility and for those with tighter fitting cases, out of luck. The more basic sleeving- over- wire case we have with the Tiger 1200W is very much welcomed.

At this point, a few of you may be wondering: why XLR connectors? Well there really is no practical reason, and I am not about to insult our readers by offering one. Sure, the screw mount allows further security in the plug- but power supply connectors were never, and have never been an issue. Perhaps a better reason would be that XLR connectors just look damn cool. Of course, in some way or another I am certain the cost difference for the manufacturer to implement these connectors is accounted for the product price.

Not to go on and on about appearances though, let's have a look inside.

First though, we are going to have a look at the fan. Lately, we have been finding quite a number of Sanyo Denki fans in Topower built units and we couldn't be happier. The particular model chosen for this unit is from the San Ace series, a 120mm fan with the model number 9G1212H401 which is a dual ball bearing fan. Dual ball bearing fans aren't the quietest out there, but their design allows them to last years and years on end, which in a power supply is a sensible choice.

Inside, things look pretty well put together and well, identical to the Tiger 1000W. We have the two 12V transformers responsible for handling the one-thousand-and-some-watts this unit claims. The heatsinks are respectably sized, all solder points look clean and we have heavy gauge wiring throughout. Towards the rear of the unit, there is a pair of stray wires to the LED mounted in the back panel. That is the indicator LED for what Topower calls Turbo Power to 'split or combine the 12V rails'. In all actuality however, it is nothing more than a LED for an over current protection circuit attached to the output. When output on any individual line surpasses the rated 20A, the circuit disables and causes the 12V rails to act as one, or 'combines them'.

On the primary side, we have two large Teapo capacitors and throughout the unit we have a large assortment of Hermei capacitors.

Page 4 : Testing Setup

Quite unlike any other PC component, properly evaluating a power supply involves much, much more than running a battery of tests or sitting down in front of a shooter for a few hours armed with a pen and a pad of paper. Although, we have the utmost appreciation for a few headshots coupled with explosions, power supply reviews call for much more. The general mantra for testing power supplies tends to fall somewhere in the ranges of loading the power supply up to the top, and letting it suffer. We here at Overclockers Online are inclined to agree. Accordingly, our testing methods have evolved to allow for more sophisticated and accurate testing.

The dilemma here is: how to test a power supply without a computer system, but emulate a computer system? It is important to not forget that as much as we try to part from throwing a power supply into a computer system and watching how it performs, ultimately, what we are distancing ourselves from is precisely what we are trying to replicate. Simply, the ideal testing platform would be indistinguishable from a computer system, but graced with the accuracies of an adjustable load. However, since we do not have access to state of the art testing equipment, or the funds to purchase such equipment, we have built a custom load tester. While it does not offer adjustments in the thousandths of a decimal place, it does offer enough flexibility to test current day power supplies and beyond.

Using thick high quality 16AWG wires throughout and equally high quality connectors and switches, we have sought to minimize resistance in the lines while maintaining flexibility. All it takes is a flip of a switch to turn a desired resistor on or off.

A proper electronic load is a start, but we are going to be a bit more ambitious. A keystone piece of our testing mythology is the heat box. A system drawing 800W from a power supply produces quite a bit of heat, and to be testing such a power supply in an ambient environment is not only inconsistent with in-system applications but unrealistic and misleading. Our hotbox consists of nothing more than a case graciously donated to us from Silverstone. Recycling heat produced from the load tester using a series of controlled fans and a duct, we can control operational temperatures and push a power supply to its limits, or over.

Using the heat and load, we will run a battery of five tests: three cold and two hot tests. The three cold tests consist of 50% load, 80% load and finally full load. Naturally, we will escalate the strain on the unit by adding heat in the hot tests. The final two tests are 80% load and full load at approximately 50°C or more.

While the purpose and effects of 'burn in' are debated, doing so causes no harm. Prior to any testing, all units are run for a maximum period of one week without load. At best, this will stabilize the unit; at worst it takes a few hours off the unit's total life span.

In our tests, we will do our best to adhere to ATX specifications including cross loading and criteria for testing. The presentations of our results are designed for ease of interpretation and conciseness.

So, without any further delay, let us get started!

Page 5 : Testing

The aim of the cold test is to reflect ideal operational conditions where heat from the computer system is independent from the power supply. Still though, the term cold test would be misleading as things do get quite hot!

And here we have it, the Tiger 1200W blew through our first three tests. In terms of performance, it is very much different than the 1000W. The 1200w, unlike its sibling does not budge at all.

With heat pumped into the power supply, the results shook up ever so slightly. It is quite impressive considering in our final test; the unit hit a high of 55 degrees Celsius.

Just comparing the unit at full load between our open air test bed and forced hot air test bed to stimulate operation within a closed environment, the Tiger 1200W's excellent line regulation is quite apparent.

Page 6 : Conclusion

And there we have it, let's tie this review up. The Tiger 1200W shares a lot with its 1000W counterpart, but it ends at appearances. Performance is quite a different story. Voltage regulation is wonderful on the Tiger 1200W, and oh did we mention, it is a 1200W unit? It is almost as if Topower combined the best of the Tiger 1000W and the Xscale 1000W then combined them together taking the best of both units.

The Tiger 1200W not only performs well, but it has the looks and features to match. The unit is quiet, only when the temperature hits the mid 50 degree Celsius range and fully loaded does the fan really spin up, but even then it is bearable, and by no means loud. The finish on the power supply is also great, the cables also great and I have to say, despite the added bulk of XLR type connectors, I have to say I am a fan of them. Or maybe that is just a full sized tower case user speaking, but either way it can not be denied: they look good. Finally in terms of price, for just in the mid $200 dollar range the Tiger 1200W is definitely not a bad deal. Power supplies of this output range generally sit in the $200 range (for low, low end models) and above where the majority of high end units are between $250 and $300. The Tiger 1200W is definitely competitive and for those looking for some serious power, it should definitely be at the top of your to buy list.

Advantages

• Excellent performance

• Beautifully finished cables; XLR connectors, sleeved and shielded
• Quiet
• Affordably priced

Disadvantages

• Could be an issue regarding fitting and size due to XLR connectors

I'd like to thank Topower for making this review possible.