Date:
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Author:
Paul Johnson
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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Enermax Revolution85+ 1050W

We have been waiting for this one for a good while. A kilowatt of computer power at very high efficiencies. Looks to kill and enough new PSU features to make any enthusiast turn their head for a second peek. Viva la revolution baby.

Introduction

Enermax Technology Corporation is a company that is well known in the world of power supplies and general computing alike. Founded in 1990 Enermax has made a name for itself by providing solid performing power supplies, among other computer components, and accessories. Enermax' current lines of power supplies encompass a wide range of products targeted at various market segments including the Liberty, Noisetaker, Infiniti, FMA II DXX, Galaxy, Galaxy DXX, MODU82+, and PRO82+ series.

In addition to being a retail presence with its Enermax brand power supplies, Enermax Technology Corporation appears to be one of the few real OEM designers of power supplies. Their power supplies however, have only rarely shown up under other labels including Grow Up Japan and Sapphire. For the most part Enermax appears to be a factory to retail presence with their own discreet lines of power supplies including today’s Revolution 85+ 1050W (ERV1050EWT-01).

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Viva la Revolution!

The Enermax Revolution 1050W is the second ~1000w Enermax unit we have seen and is poised to take the top spot from the Galaxy DXX series in Enermax' lineup. As a new unit in that 1000 watt lineup, what does the Revolution bring to the table besides just change for change's sake? Change can be good, but only when we know what that change is and what that change will do for us. As we see from Enermax' PR about the Revolution, the majority of this units change is centered around efficiency:

It is all about efficiency, so goes the public mind. But Jimmy Song, ENERMAX’ director of R&D and co-founder, wanted more than simply the highest efficiency in the modular server/workstation class: “Being 85+ efficient was the minimum goal for our engineers. I wanted them to create the best PSU series in any regard and to have a worthy successor to our 1kW-class defining GALAXY & GALAXY DXX series’. By it’s (sic) name we want to communicate the most shocking news to our competitors:

REVOLUTION 85+ is FUTURE CPU ready! & FUTURE GPU ready! !

Normally, nobody can dare to claim such, but we can, because we have implemented all necessary for the future: Four 12p sockets for possible connector changes & six massive 12V rails of 30A each for perfect load distribution and flexibility, no matter what is coming up. Besides complying already to the upcoming EPS12V PSU Design Guide, especially the ZERO LOAD Design assures compatibility. By needing no load at all, we can anticipate to have no issues at all with any new CPU or GPU or their features like C6 state or Hybrid Modes.

This is all part of it’s (sic) “AHD2 Topology”. Asymmetric Hybrid DC to DC Topology means that we use multiple different technologies and concepts to maximize it’s (sic) performance by multiplying topology elements in differing exponentials compared to competition: QUAD FORWARD Circuitry, the main reason of our high efficiency, since everybody else is single or double forward. QUAD PFC, helps as well, again others are single or dual. TRIPLE AC + DUAL DC EMI Filter keep the current cleaner than others. > 20kμf secondary & even tertiary capacitors keep the output totally stable at all loads. A SYNC TRANSFORMER ARRAY renders overloading nearly impossible. And the good news is that we could squeeze all that with a single 135mm fan into 190mm length fitting into most mid towers, while still being 24/7 @ 50°C and ultra-silent.

The more “normal” features are our known PowerGuard status monitor, SafeGuard now with 8 protections instead of formerly six (SIP (Surge & Inrush Protection) and UVP now as separate AC UVP & DC UVP), AirGuard to reduce air turbulences and the new HeatGuard after shut-down cooling.

Let's move on to see what we have to look forward to when we purchase the Enermax Revolution 1050W in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.