Date:
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Author:
Paul Johnson
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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Enermax Revolution85+ 1020W Power Supply Review

Efficiency as a goal. Future CPU proof and future GPU proof as a goal. Enermax has set the bar high and that is what we like to see out of one of our favorite PSU companies. Does the new Revolution85+ bound over that bar or just limbo under it?

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 SGalaxyEVO, Revolution85+, MODU87+, PRO87+, Liberty ECOII, Tomahawk, Infiniti, ECO80+ II, MODU82+ II, and PRO82+ II 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. Its 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 its own discrete lines of power supplies including today's Revolution 85+ 1020W (ERV1020EWT).

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A Little Rebellion Now and Then Is A Good Thing

Enermax has had a long history in our review process, in fact the Enermax Revolution85+ 1020W is the 9th power supply from Enermax we have reviewed, the 4th power supply from Enermax to be in the 1000W+ crowd, and the second power supply from the Revolution85+ line (the 1050W model was previously reviewed here) to cross our bench. As such, we are rather familiar with Enermax products and have had a lot of really positive experiences with their products in our testing over the last few years. Indeed, the last Revolution85+ unit we reviewed was perhaps one of the best 1000W units we have ever seen. That makes this new addition, the Revolution85+ 1020W, somewhat of an odd product launch. Certainly in the ~2 years that the Revolution85+ product line has existed Enermax could have made some significant improvements if this were just any other unit, but the previous 1050W unit left only a few areas for improvement. So let's see what improvements Enermax has made to the Revolution85+ line, what Enermax has to say about this unit, and then dive in to see how this unit really performs.

It is all about efficiency, so goes the public mind. But being 85+ efficient was the minimum goal for our engineers. We wanted 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 making REVOLUTION 85+ as the world’s first PSU to be FUTURE CPU ready! & FUTURE GPU ready!, we have achieved it!

REVOLUTION85+ is the first of the next generation of PSU design devastating the complete competition offering the highest efficiency available combined with the most connectors and versatility and the most comprehensive design and component selection to likely power the most demanding systems of today and tommorrow(sic).

Let's move on to see what we have to look forward to when we purchase the Enermax Revolution 1020W in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.