INTRODUCTION

   If one was to go on YouTube right now and do a search for PSU explosion the number of available videos should count to the hundreds and honestly, that's not really a surprise. Of course, low-quality PSUs don't blow up or catch on fire that often, what they usually do however is short circuit taking with them not just themselves but in some cases several hardware components like your motherboard and/or graphics card. If that wasn't enough low-cost power supply units don't supply stable and clean power to those said hardware components and that alone can effectively "kill" your system. Aside cost however there's one more indicator that tells PSUs apart (both in terms of performance and build quality) and that's no other than the numerous 80 Plus electrical efficiency certifications. So, as you climb higher from 80 Plus to 80 Plus Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Titanium so does performance and build quality. The PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W by Chieftronic promises high performance and build quality levels and after testing their very good PowerPLAY Gold 750W model i just had to check this out as well.

   Chieftronic will build on the legacy of our Chieftec heritage of quality and experience in the PC chassis industry, while bringing in fresh and innovative design features, thus meeting the high demands of gamers and modern power-users. Chieftronic products are conceptualized, designed and supported in Germany to ensure the products we bring to market closely match the needs of our customers. To complement the new product planning and design, we will be relying on the trusted manufacturing quality the market has come to associate with Chieftec products. We are very excited to bring you the newest products and latest trends with tried and tested quality that you know you can trust. For more information, please visit https://www.chieftronic.com/.

   The PowerPLAY Platinum line of 80 Plus Platinum (electrical efficiency up to 90%) power supply units by Chieftronic is their top-end one and currently includes just 2 wattage models, 850W and 1050W. Both are fully-modular and as for the 1050W which is here with me today (1138W max load) it also sports a single powerful +12V rail (83.33A with a maximum supported power of up to 999.96W), support for multiple graphics cards (five 6+2 pin PCIe connectors), 100% Japanese capacitors, active PFC, zero-RPM mode (the 140mm fan only starts spinning after 30% load is reached) and a plethora of electrical protections including AFC (automatic fan speed control), OCP (over charge protection), OVP (over voltage protection), UVP (under voltage protection), SCP (short circuit protection), OPP (over power protection), OTP (over temperature protection), SIP (surge & inrush protection) and no load protection. Just like with their PowerPLAY Gold line Chieftronic covers the PowerPLAY Platinum line with a 3 year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Once again at the front of the box we see a partial product picture next to the company logo.

The wattage selection is located at the base of the box.

At the rear of the box we see the electrical tables of both available models in the 80 Plus Platinum line.

The PSU is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between two foam spacers whereas the modular cables are placed inside a storage pouch.

Along with the PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W PSU and its modular cables you are also getting a power cord, storage pouch, user manual and 4 mounting screws.

THE POWERPLAY GPU-1050FC EXTERIOR

The PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W model measures 160mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height (the same as the Gold 750W model) and features a scratch resistant black matte color.

Thanks to their spider web like grille located just over an 140mm intake fan both PowerPLAY lines (Gold/Platinum) score high points when it comes to design.

Both the company logo and product name are printed on a large sticker located on the left side.

The units electrical table is printed on a sticker located on the base of the enclosure.

The 12 available modular power connectors are not only different in shape but they are also tagged (unlike the PowerPLAY Gold line the Platinum line doesn't feature color coded connectors).

Moving at the rear of the PSU we find the on/off power switch, on/off zero-RPM switch, exhaust grille and the power port.

THE POWERPLAY GPU-1050FC INTERIOR

The 140mm fan is manufactured by Hong Hua Electronics and can reach speeds of up to 1800RPM.

CWT is clearly the OEM behind the PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W.

Once again Chieftronic states that they are using Japanese capacitors and this is true since the primary ones are manufactured by nichicon (rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius).

Secondary capacitors are manufactured by united Chemi-Con and nichicon and are also rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However, it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a test rig. Certainly, limitations do apply and so you can't really push a 1000W power supply to its limits if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why over the years we saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact much closer to real world usage. So as always, we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside a few minutes.

   Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say in order to get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate, nor realistic for that matter). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be considerably less.

* After well over 10 years of testing PSUs the Intel Core i7-920 CPU of this rig failed and so we replaced it with a Xeon X5660 (we also swapped the GA-X58A-UD7 for the G1. Assassin).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   The PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W PSU (GPU-1050FC) by Chieftronic doesn't just sport one of the two highest 80 Plus electrical certifications but it also offers near excellent rail stability (especially since our test rig got up to 98% of its maximum load), very good build quality (CWT is one of the leaders in that field) and more electrical protections than the majority of PSU's I’ve used and tested in the last 2 years. Unfortunately, the 3-year limited warranty applies here as well and even though it’s a sure bet that this PSU will live long past that “deadline” it doesn’t look good on paper and that’s something Chieftronic is well aware of (luckily, they are thinking of changing that bit to something more “generous”).

   With a price tag currently set at 203Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the PowerPLAY Platinum 1050W power supply unit by Chieftronic is priced extremely well, for an 80 Plus Platinum model that is. Yes, warranty may not be what we’ve come to expect by such models but if you’ve worked with PSU’s for as long as i have then you know that such models don’t fail after just 1,2,3,4,5 years (it can happen sure, but it’s highly unlikely under normal circumstances). Even without a longer warranty however the GPU-1050FC model is worth ever penny and it also deserves our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Near Excellent Rail Stability
- Fully Modular Design
- 80 Plus Platinum Certified
- Electrical Protections (AFC/OVP/OPP/OCP/OTP/SIP/SCP/UVP/No load operation)
- Peak Output (1138W)
- Zero RPM Feature
- Current Price (Always Compared to The Competition)

CONS

- Warranty (Always Compared to The Competition)
- Current Availability