PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR - If PC Power & Cooling has anything, it has a great reputation for making awesome computer power supplies. Today we weigh in on the self-proclaimed "Biggest, Baddest Power Supply Period." Is their 1KW that big, and that bad, and what about value?

When the PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR was launched it may indeed have been the “biggest, baddest power supply – period,” but while the king was looking down the jester stole his thorny crown. This isn't to say the unit performs badly as the Turbo-Cool does perform well, but what it does mean is that the 1KW-SR fails to meet the expectations instilled by PC Power & Cooling’s marketing, its own labeling, and the performance of other units currently on the market.
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Is it just me or is anyone else having problems reading the review past page two?
 
madmat said:
Is it just me or is anyone else having problems reading the review past page two?
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I am, too. In fact, the whole [H]ard OCP page is messed up for me; there appears to be no announcements apart from the PC Power & Cooling review.
 
And i was looking forward to reading the review. At least that quote sums it up for me.
 
pervisanathema said:
- Amazing DC output [check]
- Passed all tests [check]
- Loud under unrealistic loads that 99% of us will never see that stress the cooling system [check]
- Awesome support and customizing [check]
- An overzealous marketing department [check]

Conclusion: Not recommended. :confused: :rolleyes:
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I think you may have missed some key points. The unit costs $500, does not live up to the billing, is not efficient, is exceeding loud to the point of being uncomfortable (subjective sure), and is bested by a large number of units on the market in all tests save for one. Like the conclusion said when it was released it surely was good but now it relation to the market there are many many better options.
 
This unit has been on special at a price of $414.17 on the Pc power and cooling site for a while now.
 
pervisanathema said:
- Amazing DC output [check]
- Passed all tests [check]
- Loud under unrealistic loads that 99% of us will never see that stress the cooling system [check]
- Awesome support and customizing [check]
- An overzealous marketing department [check]

Conclusion: Not recommended. :confused: :rolleyes:
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They didn't get paid enough... or maybe they did, just by a competitor to OCZ....
 
pervisanathema said:
My point is that the unit passed the tests but got a not recommended mainly because the editors have a problem with PCP&C's marketing and were upset with the lack of desiccant. Any company worth their salt will claim to be the best.
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No, It was not recommended because of its performance in relation to other units on the market (and its own performance) coupled with the value it represents to the user as was outlined throughout the review and covered in the conclusions section.
 
nippyjun said:
This unit has been on special at a price of $414.17 on the Pc power and cooling site for a while now.
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On special is one way to put it... I tend to think that now that OCZ owns the company, we're now discovering it didn't need to be so costly to begin with ;)

Or maybe it did based on differences in the company finances.
 
pervisanathema said:
My point is that the unit passed the tests but got a not recommended mainly because the editors have a problem with PCP&C's marketing and were upset with the lack of desiccant. Any company worth their salt will claim to be the best.
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It didn't seem like marketing only. It seemed like the unit was outperformed and outclassed by competing units from Enermax, OCZ, etc. It's not very efficient, it's insanely loud, it's extremely expensive, it uses questionable caps on the secondary, it doesn't include a manual, etc. These are all things that are unacceptable for a $500 (or even a $414) PSU.

When I can buy an Enermax or Thermaltake 1KW unit that costs 2/3 as much, performs just as well but does so with more efficiency and less noise, and adds the bonus of modular cables, I don't see a reason to buy this PC P&C 1KW unit at all, honestly.
 
As a longtime PCP&C owner, and a big fan of [H]'s new PSU reviews, I have to say I whole heartedly agree with just about every summary point made in the article. Paul, I give you credit, PCP&C is one of those brands with such great support and reputation that I'm sure you knew you were going to ruffle some feathers if the unit didn't come out with a pristine report.

However I have to say, and I think you put it well, but didn't emphasize this enough: This review would probably have a different tone if it was done when the unit first hit the market. It's about 2 years too late.

I agree, it is not the biggest and baddest anymore. I kind of expected that today. PCP&C seems to have the mantra of "if it aint broke don't fix it", and they build PSU's that don't break. So it always seems they don't turnaround new designs until changes in hardware deem it necessary (i.e. SLI, higher wattage req's). It's slightly unfair, but still worth the evaluation to tag it up against "brand new" 1KW+ units with a couple years more of market and hardware development. However that doesn't let PCP&C off the hook for keeping their tag line marketing for this unit, it is misleading. Your money might be better spent elsewhere until PCP&C puts out something updated.

Noise is absolutely an issue with PCP&C, but their setup works. Their marketing doesn't. They are loud, no doubt about it. If you want quiet, don't get one. If you want solid rails, and a piece of hardware you never have to question or think twice about, thats why you get a PCP&C. I killed two Antec True Power 550W before I settled on my first Turbo-Cool 510. Would I buy another today? Maybe. The market has changed, it's not PCP&C makes the best and then theres everybody else anymore. The other guys make some great units now. I would shop around first.

My one big nitpick (and I'm sure it's arguable): Who cares about rubber bands and flashy packing? The silica point may be valid, but the last unit I bought had a test report withing 3 weeks of me receiving it.
 
pervisanathema said:
My point is that the unit passed the tests but got a not recommended mainly because the editors have a problem with PCP&C's marketing and were upset with the lack of desiccant. Any company worth their salt will claim to be the best.
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No, it did not "mainly" get not recommended because of marketing and dessicant. It is like you did not even read what you quoted....
 
Fushyuguru said:
However I have to say, and I think you put it well, but didn't emphasize this enough: This review would probably have a different tone if it was done when the unit first hit the market. It's about 2 years too late.


My one big nitpick (and I'm sure it's arguable): Who cares about rubber bands and flashy packing? The silica point may be valid, but the last unit I bought had a test report withing 3 weeks of me receiving it.
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The fact of the matter is the unit is what you buy TODAY, and we did point out specifically in the conclusion that the unit may have been king of the hill when it was released, but that means nothing today.

We care about packaging, maybe you do not, but we hold others to the same standards when we are looking at a big dollar purchase such as this.
 
Finally got the article to load right, and even though I love my PCP&C PSUs, I do pretty much agree with it. The unit has great DC output quality and does match it rated output power which is stated several times in the article, but it just isn't worth its price anymore.

Basically I wouldn't recommend this unit to a friend just on price, since you can buy much cheaper ones from other companies that perform similarly, and thats a very good reason to not give this a really high recommendation.

I would have liked to see the newer Silencer 750 reviewed. I picked one up for $160 a few months ago, and its got 75% the capacity at less than half the price. If I remember right (and I could be wrong), the TurboCool 1kW was basically two TurboCools 510s in one casing, probably designed to quickly get a high capacity unit on the market to meet the increasing demands on SLI and multi core CPUs. The Silencer 750 is a newer design
 
madmat said:
Is it just me or is anyone else having problems reading the review past page two?
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Yes, I am having problems too but managed to read the review ...

I totally agree the the reviews conclusion. I bought a Silencer 750 factory direct recently and their was no manual but for a mono rail PSU is a manual really required? For the price, I think it does. The unit was even scratched. Makes me wonder if I could have bought a cheaper unit and gotten as good a PSU.
 
MetsFan978 said:
I would have liked to see the newer Silencer 750 reviewed. I picked one up for $160 a few months ago, and its got 75% the capacity at less than half the price.
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Just read the Corsair HX620 review then, they're both made by Seasonic and use the same design and PCB, the Silencer 750 just uses a different cooling design and drops the rated temp (40C vs the Corsair's 50C) to hit 750W instead of 620W.
 
Personally, I feel that for as much as you pay for one, you shouldn't have to sacrifice your hearing just to have the best power supply money can buy. It's about the only reason why I don't buy PC Power & Cooling power supplies. I've always wanted to own one, but not at such an intense level of noise. The previous setup I had created enough noise that one could hear my PC through the walls. I don't need a repeat of that.

Also, if you're marketing something as silent, and it sounds like a jet engine, chances are, you're not going to want to be around for when you get hit for false advertising. Now if it defined silent as silent during a specific temperature range or specific temp point, that'd be a different story. Because then, at some point you know the fan is going to work harder to keep it cool, so it's going to generate some noise.

To be fair, I think that the power supply is still good for those who absolutely must have a brand name they know they can trust. But for me, that'd be about as far as it goes until a new revision comes out with a quieter fan. I would seriously do some shopping around first, and see what results people are getting with their own 1k watt+ power supplies.

And honestly, I don't see what people are so mad about. If anyone's even bothered to read the article past the first page, they'd see that a clearly explicit truth has been stated already: When this power supply first launched, it would have been easy to say nothing compared to it, loud fan or none. But today, there's equal or better, for less, and quieter.
 
I have three PC Power and Cooling PSUs. Two 510 SLIs and an 850W Turbo-Cool.

They are workhorses, period.

I'm disappointed in the review the 1KW got. I have to agree, if I needed a 1KW supply I'd have to put my money down on an Ultra x3. I think the modular cables and the lower price tag, plus a smaller more compact form factor sold me.

My 850W is damn big, just squeezes into my case, and probably contirbutes some to heat.

I do, however, believe there was a subtle undertone in the review. You had a bit of an attitude from the jump that PC P&C better put up or else. Yes, they are a top brand, but you definately came out swinging for the fence.
I'm not so sure you have to ding them just because they use a plain cardboard box, come on, do you keep the box after you get a part home, it's a shipping carton for crying outloud.
Oh, all three of my PSUs came with documentation and manuals.
I used PCP&Cs customer service more than once, they have always been superb.
 
magoo said:
I do, however, believe there was a subtle undertone in the review. You had a bit of an attitude from the jump that PC P&C better put up or else. Yes, they are a top brand, but you definately came out swinging for the fence.
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Well the box said "biggest, baddest power supply – period", and it wasn't. When you advertise a premium product you had better show up with a premium result. It is like the Asus Striker Extreme.....a fine motherboard but for the price and considering the advertising it has had and the competition?
 
pervisanathema said:
I have highlighted the parts of the article's conclusion that deal with PCP&C's marketing / marketing claims. As you can see, it is almost half the conclusion. [H] has a well deserved reputation for editorial / article excellence. Surely you can do better than this when skewering a product. NVidia, ATI, Intel, and AMD all claim to be the best in their respective markets as does PCP&C. I don't think it is fair to use a company's marketing against them when making recommendations about a product.
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And yet somehow you missed the entirety of the conclusions portion above the bottom line that was coupled with the value this product represents to the end user in comparison to other products on the market that determined the scoring.
 
Even at 40% load I bet the things' loud. I was shopping around for a 1Kw PSU about a month before [H] started doing PSU reviews. The single 80mm fan scared me off, along with their claims on the website that PSU's designed with larger fans have insufficient heatsinks and therefore cannot cool as well... Not sure if this is marketing BS or just plain misleading. I didn't buy it, and went with the Galaxy DXX.

The price, heat, efficiency, and noise are all substandard or borderline. The output capacity and voltage cleanliness are good. It's not suprising it wasn't recommended since there are other PSUs that excel in all the areas that cost less.

They just need to re-engineer it. And go with a larger fan. I'm sure they can design something that compete's with todays PSU's. (but the price best be in line as well)
 
Makes me grateful I only paid $300 for my 1000W toughpower. I purchased based off the 1200W review and I am happy as a clam. 140mm fan is inaudible and rails are awesome.
 
pervisanathema said:
I don't think it is fair to use a company's marketing against them when making recommendations about a product.
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I fully disagree with you on this point. Our PSU review program is specifically based on holding companies accountable for how they advertise and market their products to the buyer.
 
pervisanathema said:
I have been doing a lot of thinking as to why, exactly, I have had such a negative reaction to this review and I have reached the conclusion that I am sad to see PCP&C fall from grace. :eek: :( I have had them on a pedestal in my mind for YEARS. It simply didn't get any better. Period. Then last week, I had a 470 ATX (Dell) just quit on a machine that was usually under moderate loads. Then I read this review. I dunno man. Just sad to see giants fall.
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I think it's really a case of resting on their laurels for too long and relying on their competition not to innovate.

It's not really that the giant fell from grace so much as the fact that the giant, once the biggest, baddest son-of-a-bitch out there, got kind of lazy and refused to work out. Then the giant got fat by extorting the villagers for more and more food. Suddenly, a few competing giants showed up. Not quite as strong at first but well on their way. Now those competing giants are leaner and meaner, and they require only a fraction of the food in tribute that the old giant did. Plus, when it comes right down to it, the new giants are just stronger and more ready for battle.

PC Power & Cooling relied, for the longest time, on being the only "500W of REAL POWER" PSU out there, when Antec and everyone else tried doing 500-550W PSUs they ended up sucking. As soon as people caught up to making decent 500W PSUs, PC P&C went to 850 and then 1KW PSUs, and for the past 3 years or so nobody has really been able to compete with them.

Now, we have the CWT-built supplies (which are excellent) and the Enermax and Topower builds as well, all of which show the old, fat, greedy giant for what he was. The real question is whether or not PC P&C can recover and innovate with a new product.

Also it'd be nice to see them stop spreading FUD crap like their bullshit "tech notes" about how modular cables are bad, how single large-diameter fans are bad, how multiple rails are bad, etc. Pretty soon they're going to try and convince us that anything under $500 is bad.
 
Why review the old psu?(how old is this product - why not review a barton or rambus jk ?) How many people are going to buy them? (not many). Why not review their newer, more mainstream model? The model that is much more cost competitive, maybe it will have directions and a rubber band. Does a $200.00 psu require directions and a rubberband? ( I don't remember if my quad 750 had either item, I do know that it has two 8 pin connectors for PCI - express.) Also the marketing dept does not claim that it is the biggest and baddest.. maybe this one will be good.

Why not do the 750 quad? it is a newer model - price competitive and much more mainstream. They do call it the silencer or whatever, but I can't hear it over my 5 thermaltake jet engine 120mm fans.

I always read the reviews here and value them, lets see how the new kid does, put him in the game coach.
 
azure said:
Why review the old psu?
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It is the PCP&C flagship unit that is sold TODAY and still sold widely. We had many readers asking specifically for this review as well.

We will keep reviewing plenty of other PSUs in the future.
 
Thanks for the review, it seems like your conclusions ruffled some feathers, but the efficiency and numbers speak for themselves. If there are better and cheaper out there, how could this unit get a 'recommended' stamp, just because it ONCE was the best?
Looking forward to comparing the transient responses as well, keep 'em rolling!
 
Bottom line is for $500 you should get a truly quiet, best output, and an Out of Box experience that can't be beat or at least is impressive.
I do not buy their non silencer line because of the noise and I just got a $200 750W Quad for an SLI rig that I am happy with the price and noise.
 
therapy said:
Now, we have the CWT-built supplies (which are excellent) and the Enermax and Topower builds as well....
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Read more PSU reviews and revise that list a little. ;)

I'm not the biggest Topower fan and the really big Enermax are just as out classed by cheaper models than the PCP&C IMHO.

How Paul got a 1000W to run so well, I have no idea. I've got an 850W on the load tester now and it's not getting a glowing review either. :)
 
therapy said:
I think it's really a case of resting on their laurels for too long and relying on their competition not to innovate.

It's not really that the giant fell from grace so much as the fact that the giant, once the biggest, baddest son-of-a-bitch out there, got kind of lazy and refused to work out. Then the giant got fat by extorting the villagers for more and more food. Suddenly, a few competing giants showed up. Not quite as strong at first but well on their way. Now those competing giants are leaner and meaner, and they require only a fraction of the food in tribute that the old giant did. Plus, when it comes right down to it, the new giants are just stronger and more ready for battle.

PC Power & Cooling relied, for the longest time, on being the only "500W of REAL POWER" PSU out there, when Antec and everyone else tried doing 500-550W PSUs they ended up sucking. As soon as people caught up to making decent 500W PSUs, PC P&C went to 850 and then 1KW PSUs, and for the past 3 years or so nobody has really been able to compete with them.
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Isn't that the truth. Hopefully this will spice things up in their world so they give their lineup a well needed refresh. The market and priorities have changed (capacity, efficiency and noise) and they didn't. They seem to be selling the same old dogs that in this case didn't get better with age.

Another case for me (and anyone for that matter) to resist fanboy'ing any brand. Things change.

Again, thanks Paul for the review. I'm glad this comparison and point of view came out from some good reviewers with a great soapbox.
 
drlava said:
Thanks for the review, it seems like your conclusions ruffled some feathers
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So true, once I saw this review on the frontpage I couldn't wait to get in here and read the posts. It appears the only people it bothers are the fan boys who live and die by the name *PCP&C*

I'm sure you folks have noticed that when you go to most forums and the topic of recommending a psu is brought up, you'll see a vast majority of the posts pointing at PCP&C, even when it's 3x the budget of what the person is asking for, or better yet, you have those on a fairly minimal system requiring a 500 watt psu, and the fanboys gangbang the thread telling them the 750 Quad is the *second coming* Hell, just check the psu forums here and you'll see what I mean.

I'm surprised this thread hasn't become a complete shit storm, but I guess the day is still young.

Thanks Paul for a good review.
 
Paul Johnson, great review. I for one appreciate a conclusion based on its peers and relative value to a degree. Hell, if not for that part of an analysis, I'd probably be running an old Sempr0n.
 
I think part of the issue here is that, as brutal as the review is, it doesn't take into account how long you're stuck with a PSU.

Frankly I'm shocked you don't ding companies for modular cables, there are problems with this. Granted you aren't going to see them right away, but wait two years. I'd never use a PSU with modular cables.

Likewise I've had PSU's from "good" brands conk out after a while. I've yet to have that with PC P&C. The fact that OCZ bought them makes me cringe.

I'm sure you folks have noticed that when you go to most forums and the topic of recommending a psu is brought up, you'll see a vast majority of the posts pointing at PCP&C, even when it's 3x the budget of what the person is asking for, or better yet, you have those on a fairly minimal system requiring a 500 watt psu, and the fanboys gangbang the thread telling them the 750 Quad is the *second coming* Hell, just check the psu forums here and you'll see what I mean.
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Or when you ask for a video card people will chant the 8800 mantra, even though it's overkill for most people. That's just how tech forums go everybody spouts off the most expensive "bestest product evah".

I've got the 750quad powering 8800sli, multiple HDD's, and an OC'd core2. The extra cost is worth the peace of mind.

One thing it is fair to rip PC P&C a new one for is that their products are not silent. I really don't care, but it's rather funny they claim it when their products are some of the loudest out there.:p
 
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