Date:
Thursday , May 21, 2009
Author:
Paul Johnson
Google +1

Topower PowerBird 800W Power Supply

Not too big, not too small, just right. Topower attempts to master the 800 watt range in computer power supplies which while becoming more of a standard wattage in the industry, is not always easy to do well. Will it nest in your next chassis or flip you a power bird?

Introduction

Topower Computer Industrial Co., Ltd 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, BFG, Mushkin, ePower, and Spire products among a number of others. When new higher wattage power supplies start hitting the market Topower can usually be found among them. However, being early to market isn't always a blessing and at times Topower units have struggled and other times they have succeeded. This is most easily seen in our ABS/Tagan ITZ1300 review, our Tagan BZ1300 review, and our previous Topower PowerBird Series review. Today we are back to the PowerBird series with an opportunity to look at Topower's newest, and most junior, member of this line the PowerBird 800W.

Article Image

Flying High Again?

While our previous experiences with Topower OEM products have been decided mixed, and particularly less than stellar when we get above 800 watts, the PowerBird series really turned a corner the last time we saw it. Indeed, the 900w unit in particular was good enough to grab a Gold Editor's Choice award. Today, however we are taking a step back from the ~1000w realm to the ~800W realm with the 800W PowerBird to see if the PowerBird line scales down as well as it debuted. Given our past experience with the series we would certainly hope so, but we can never be sure until we give a unit the once over. So, how does the PowerBird 800W distinguish itself from the rest of the units on the market?

PowerBird 800W PSU provides greatest freedom of cable routing and customization with fully modularized cables, and maximum 87% efficiency. PowerBird is truly a build of craftsmanship that is designed to meet today's most demanding gaming machine and expectations of system builders.

The marketing speak section is certainly a bit thin for this unit, and it no longer carries just a laundry list of features, that have been done by various other units at one point or another, and was the case with the previous PowerBird units. This new introduction gives us a certain set of expectations this time around for our evaluation so let’s move on and see what we can expect when a user purchases the Topower PowerBird 800W at retail in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.