Date:
Thursday , September 20, 2007
Author:
Paul Johnson
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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ABS ITZ1300 1300w Power Supply

ABS is known by many enthusiasts due to its affiliation with Newegg. Today we look at a high power PSU branded with the ABS logo sold through the ABS website. 1300 watts is a lot of power. What happens when we ask this PSU to put the rubber to the road?

Introduction

Today we look at a new product that is being certified by a company familiar to many HardOCP readers, ABS Computer Technologies, Inc the former parent company (now subsidiary) of perennial favorite etailer Newegg. Previously Newegg has branded power supplies (and a huge range of other peripherals and components) under their house label Rosewill, so the addition of ABS branded power supplies is an intriguing turn of events. ABS as a company has been a system integrator since 1991 (HConsumer covered a few of their fully built computer systems) and it later branched out into parts etail through Newegg. While the ABS/Tagan ITZ1300 is the first power supply we have reviewed from ABS/Newegg they are certainly known commodities in the enthusiast realm, so it will be of great interest to see if the ITZ1300 is a product that will be home in the enthusiast community as well.

Today’s Tagan power supply (that is branded by ABS Gaming Labs) is actually built by longtime Tagan OEM provider Topower, though Tagan gets the UL certification for the unit. Topower has been a large supplier of PSUs under both their own label and through contract production for other brands since 1986. Topower can be found providing OEM services for a number of brands including various Tagan products, BFG, Mushkin, ePower, Spire, among a number of others past and present. When new higher wattage power supplies start hitting the market Topower can usually be found among them. However, early to market isn't always a blessing and at times Topower units have struggled some and other times (like with P6 platform used by OCZ in the PowerStreams) they have been successes.

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Blue by ABS/Tagan

Since the ABS product page for the ABS/Tagan ITZ is nothing more than a place to order the unit (although basic specifications are listed here) we swung by the Tagan website to see how they were positioning the 1300w member of ITZ line of power supplies. The Tagan site was certainly more informative than the ABS one but the information is mostly bullet points outlining various features of the unit:

Compatible with Intel EPS12V Ver.2.92/ATX12V Ver.2.2 and downward versions. Over 80% efficiency means money saving due to the reduction of heat loss. TSTC (Tagan Silence Control Technology) keeps power supply running at “Super Low Noise” level. Four build-in PCI-E cables support SLI and Crossfire high-end graphic cards for perfect display. All Cables with mesh offer optimized airflow for system cooling. Internal Short-circuit, over current, and over voltage protection to save your devices.

Up to Quad Card Support. Patented Dual Transformer Technology (DTT) & 20+4 Cable Designs. Environmentally Friendly at Over 80% Efficiency. Gold Plated connectors. Thermal Control Cooling Fan. REMI Technology for EMI Reduction. Extra Ground Wire to Further Reduce Static Noise. Advanced Pull-n-Push Heat Dissipation Architecture for Maximized Cooling and Noise Reduction. Auto +12V TURBO POWER switch. Low ripple and noise. 100% Hi-Pot Tested. Titanium coating mirror case.

After reading those lists of catchy marketing speak and really nifty sounding features who wouldn’t be sold on the ITZ1300? But does any of it really mean anything to the user? Certainly in those lists some very common features get cool names but today we’ll see if those features with cool names deliver as promised.

Moving on let’s see what we can expect when a user purchases the ABS/Tagan ITZ 1300w supply in retail in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.