Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply Review

2014 has been an incredible year for top grade, high wattage power supplies. We have reviewed the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1,000w, The Antec High Current Pro Platinum 1,300w and the Corsair AX1500i Titanium - all of which have claimed top awards. Today we look at the latest Cooler Master V1200 Platinum, a fully modular power supply created in partnership with top OEM Seasonic. Cooler Master claim the V1200 Platinum is using only high quality Japanese capacitors to ensure the highest reliability. The 135mm fan inside can operate in two modes - Auto and hybrid - giving options for the audience who dislike dealing with fan noise. More manufacturers are focusing on improving power supply efficiency and the Cooler Master V1200 is no exception, because it has been certified as 80 Plus Platinum. This is pretty much as good as it gets today, because the only power supply we have tested with Titanium efficiency is the new Corsair AX1500i Digital ATX. The audience using multiple video cards are well catered for as the V1200 Platinum has twelve 6+2 pin PCI connectors to support 4 way SLi and Crossfire configurations. It can deliver 100Amps via the single +12V rail. Cooler Master are supporting this power supply with a full 7 year warranty for peace of mind. The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum power supply ships in a nicely designed, rather heavy box - with an image of the product alongside some specifications. The long box houses the power supply, modular cables and other accessories. The power supply itself is protected inside a soft felt bag, sandwiched between two thick foam pads. There are two pouches containing the modular cables, alongside some literature and a box with 'Hybrid Fan Controller' labelled on the front. The fan controller has an 'auto' and 'hybrid' switch allowing for zero dBa operation. Cooler Master also supply some cable ties and mounting screws. The modular cables are all high quality and apart from the main motherboard ATX cable, they are all the newer flat 'ribbon' style. If you have three or four graphics cards, then you should feel well supported. The V1200 Platinum power supply has a total of twelve 6+2 pin PCIe cables. Two pairs of these cables are slightly shorter, measuring 500mm+120mm, rather than 600mm+120mm. The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum is a rather plain looking power supply and will fit perfectly inside any kind of system build. It measures 150 x 190 x 86 mm. As we would hope from a high end unit such as this the finish of the chassis is top quality, with thick paintwork. It passed our ‘screwdriver’ test with flying colours. This involves running the head of a Philips head driver down the side of the chassis with light to medium force. After all, how many times have you accidentally connected with a power supply during a system build? While the power supply is predominately finished in matt black paint, the fan surround is finished in silver, which gives it a little depth. The Cooler Master badge is visible in the middle of the metal grill. One side of the chassis is vented to help with airflow. At the side is a power switch and a power connector. The other side of the power supply is home to the modular connectors. Cooler Master place a removable yelllow sticker on one corner marked with 'hybrid fan'. The controller attaches directly here. All of the connectors are clearly labelled to make the build process as straightforward as possible. Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5Vsb Max Output 25A 25A 100A 0.5A 3A Total Power 125W 1200W 6W 15W 1200W The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum can deliver 100A via the single +12V rail. Both +3.3V and 5V rails can supply 25amps. The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum power supply is using a Protechnic fan, marked MGA12512XF-o25. Cooler Master have used the same fan before - we have seen it used in some of their high end power supplies in the past, such as the V Series 1000W. This is a fluid Dynamic Bearing fan which will have a much longer life span than a standard ball bearing cooling fan. This fan should last a very long time indeed. This is a Seasonic XP3 design and the build is very clean. The soldering quality throughout is exceptional. Behind the AC receptable is a sealed PCB which is home to some of the components of the EMI filter - a single X cap, four Y caps and a CM choke. The other components of the filtering stage are on the main PCB, which include an MOV, two pairs of Y and X Caps and two more CM chokes. The primary side is a full bridge design with an LLC converter for lossless switching. The secondary side uses a synchronous design with +12V fets on the main PCB. The DC-DC converters are installed on the modular PCB to help reduce power loss. The main PCB and modular PCB incorporate high grade Japanese electrolytic and solid capacitors. Seasonic are using three high grade Japanese Capacitors on the primary stage. These are 105c rated. One is rated 390uF 420V, and the other two are rated 330uF 420V. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -12V A V A V A V A V A V 100W 1.55 3.34 1.75 5.08 6.65 12.14 0.50 5.01 0.20 -12.03 200W 3.13 3.34 3.50 5.08 13.50 12.13 1.00 5.00 0.20 -12.03 400W 6.40 3.34 7.05 5.07 27.50 12.12 1.50 4.99 0.30 -12.03 600W 9.80 3.34 10.77 5.07 41.70 12.11 2.00 4.99 0.30 -12.04 800W 13.25 3.33 14.55 5.06 56.40 12.10 2.50 4.99 0.50 -12.04 1000W 16.55 3.33 15.75 5.06 71.40 12.09 3.00 4.99 0.60 -12.04 1200W 22.01 3.32 22.01 5.05 85.00 12.08 3.60 4.99 0.80 -12.04 Load regulation is excellent with all the rails holding tight, within 1.5%. Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply Maximum Load 1303W We managed to get another 99W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in. The supply was undamaged and it was ready to fire up again when we dropped the load to a more realistic level. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 1190W 4.0 3.33 3.0 5.04 88.0 12.05 0.2 -12.04 0.50 5.01 240W 19.0 3.32 22.0 5.01 2.5 12.07 0.2 -12.04 0.50 5.00 The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum power supply delivered a great set of results in the demanding Cross load test, as shown above. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 100W 10 10 15 5 200W 15 10 15 10 400W 15 10 20 10 600W 15 15 20 15 800W 20 15 25 15 1000W 20 20 30 15 1200W 25 25 35 20 Ripple suppression is very good. All of the rails exhibit very low ripple and the +12v rail for instance peaks at 35mV, well within the rated specifications. Efficiency (%) 100W 85.2 200W 88.5 400W 92.6 600W 94.3 800W 93.5 1000W 92.9 1200W 92.0 The overall efficiency results are excellent, peaking at 94.3% at 600W. This drops to 92% efficiency at full load, a very impressive result. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 100W 28.0 200W 28.0 400W 31.1 600W 32.5 800W 33.3 1000W 34.4 1200W 36.8 The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum power supply is very quiet under normal circumstances, and basically silent until around 600Watts of power is demanded. The fan profile holds fairly steady until around 1000 watts is needed. The fan quickly spins up in the last 200 watts of power output, however this isn't really a practical way to run a system. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 100W 35 39 200W 35 42 400W 37 45 650W 43 51 800W 45 54 1000W 47 59 1200W 50 65 Temperatures are well controlled as the fan spins actively once load hits 1000W load and beyond. Maximum load Efficiency 1303W 91.5 Pushing the power supply above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 91.5%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. The Cooler Master V1200 Platinum is an extremely impressive flagship power supply that ticks all the right boxes. Cooler Master have partnered up with Seasonic to use one of their latest high end XP3 designs. First impressions are positive. The power supply is shipped in a large box with a wealth of cables and a hybrid fan controller which can be installed to be readily accessible from one of the expansion slots on a case. Paint work on the chassis is deep and it passed our scratch test without an issue. As we would expect from a Seasonic design, all the components inside are of the highest standard which helps ensure the unit performs well in all the key areas. Load regulation is rock solid, and the V1200 also coped well with the cross loading test. Seasonic often over specify their power supply designs, and the V1200 is no exception - it delivered around 1,300 watts before shutting down safely. The only area the V1200 disappointed a little was in the ripple suppression test. The results are well within the industry rated specifications, but we have seen better results from other designs in recent months. Noise levels of the power supply are low, even under heavy load. Part of this is due to the inclusion of the excellent, high grade Protechnic fluid dynamic bearing fan, which should last a very long time indeed. Cooler Master have told us that the V1200 will be available in the United Kingdom from mid/late May onwards for £219.95 inc vat. This pricing is actually very competitive considering the power output, pure modular design, 80 Plus Platinum rating and overall build quality. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros: built to the highest standards, both inside and out. 80 Plus Platinum. fully modular. low noise levels. high grade fan. 12 SATA connectors. voltage regulation. 7 year warranty. Cons: Ripple suppression could be better. Kitguru says: A fantastic power supply which will satisfy the demanding high end audience.