INTRODUCTION

   The recent release of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070/4080 Super graphics cards was an overall success with initial stock almost completely gone in just 2 weeks’ time. As expected, many consumers chose to accompany one of these cards with a brand new PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 power supply unit but if you happen to be among those who still have it on their to do list you may actually have more models to choose from soon. Apexgaming may not be the very first name to come up when talking about power supply units but their mother company Solytech has been doing this for many years now and today with me i have their latest top of the line model, the ODIN POWER 1650W.

   Apexgaming is a newly founded gaming company based in California. As a leading gaming brand, our mission is to “Make Gamers Better”. From power supplies, PC cases to accessories, we have a complete product line to fulfil your gaming accoutrement essentials. Everything we do is geared to bring you the ultimate and enjoyable gaming experiences. With experienced R&D team and young professionals, we are dedicated to create the most leading-edge technology, innovative and unique product designs possible. All of our gaming product families are equipped with excellent reliability, high performance and great efficiency. Designed with gamers needs in mind, Apexgaming brings gamers a new generation to the infinity of gaming entertainment. Quality is what defines Apexgaming! Whether you are a professional gamer, enthusiast, or a general gamer, Apexgaming is your trusted partner for the extraordinary gaming experiences.

   The ODIN POWER line currently includes 1200/1400/1650W output models all of which are fully modular, ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 compliant and are also 80 Plus Platinum efficiency certified (over 92% electrical efficiency). The 1650W variant which i have here with me comes ready with two +12VHPWR 600W and eight 6+2 pin PCIe power cables and sports a single powerful +12V rail (137.5A) capable of delivering 100% of the units’ total power output (1650W), peak power output of no less than 1798W (although once again according to ATX 3.0 specs peak should now be up to around 3.6KW for up to 100ms duration – not something i can check however), DC-DC design/topology, Full Bridge LLC resonant converter technology, active PFC, 100% Japanese capacitors and fan ECO mode with 0dBA function (fan starts spinning when load surpasses 50%). Finally, the new ODIN power supply units by Apexgaming are covered by a 12-year limited warranty and feature numerous electrical protections such as OVP (over-voltage), UVP (under-voltage), SCP (short-circuit), OPP (over-power), OCP (over-current) and OTP (over-temperature).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

For their ODIN line of power supply units Apexgaming uses a large grey box the front of which has the 80 PLUS logo, company name and logo and of course the product name.

At the rear of the box, we find the product specifications, electrical table and numerous certifications.

Packing is very good with the power supply placed between two thick foam spacers and the rest of the bundle placed inside another cardboard box.

Along with the ODIN 1650W PSU and its power cord inside the box you’ll also find 6 cable ties, 4 mounting screws, 14 velcro straps, safety information paper and the warranty guide.

THE ODIN 1650W EXTERIOR

All of the modular cables of the ODIN line are individually sleeved (low-profile effectively) and of course this also includes the 600W +12VHPWR ones.

Measuring 165mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height the ODIN is a very compact PSU, for its output of course.

Apexgaming has used an 140mm fan for their ODIN 1650W model that sits underneath a very nice looking grille (the silver part is actually plastic).

The company name and logo are printed on both sides of the enclosure.

All of the 18 available modular connectors available at the front are tagged and different in shape.

Turning the enclosure around we find the typical honeycomb perforation, on/off power switch, on/off ECO button and the power port.

THE ODIN 1650W INTERIOR

The 140mm DC brushless ball-bearing fan used is manufactured by AMBEYOND Technology (3000RPM/119.49CFM/7.81mmH2O/44.47dBA).

Interior layout is quite good and according to Apexgaming this is actually their very own design (Solytech).

Primary capacitors are manufactured by the Japanese Unicon and are rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius (unlike what I’ve seen with 99% of the power supplies to arrive in the lab Solytech chose to use solid capacitors instead of electrolytic ones on the secondary side).

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

   Apexgaming might not be the very first company I’d think about if I was out looking for a brand new PSU but the ODIN 1650W model features high build quality and pretty much every technology I’d look for. As it’s clear from my charts the ODIN 1650W PSU by Apexgaming passed all tests with flying colors. Be that as it may since I do lack equipment used to test for ripple and other things, I decided to use the ODIN 1650W for well over a month (not going to lie, this was mainly because Solytech decided to use solid caps instead of electrolytic ones and well, some industry experts say they are better while others claim they are worse due to capacitance issues) not just on my PSU test rig with the three GeForce GTX295 cards but also on both my Intel Z790/AMD X670E test rigs with Radeon 7900 XTX and GeForce RTX 4080/4090 cards. Again, I came across no issues with the ODIN 1650W and well, I couldn’t delay Apexgaming more than I already have. As for noise levels less than 42dBA from just 5-10cm away is a very good number but still I easily expect it to surpass 50dBA at around full load.

   Just like with past products Apexgaming prefers selling them directly from their website and so currently the ODIN 1650W power supply unit retails for USD449, a price tag which is very good for one such power supply unit. Granted, if I had to choose between two similar models manufactured by Seasonic and Solytech I’d honestly go for the former. However, the latter scores high in everything from build quality, rail stability and low noise levels (at least up to 1.1KW load) to output, design and cost and for these it clearly deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality (100% Japanese Capacitors)
- Rock Solid Rail Stability
- 80 PLUS Platinum Certified
- ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 Compliant
- Electrical Protections (OCP/OVP/SSP/OPP/UVP/OTP)
- ECO Fan Mode
- Powerful Single +12V Rail (137.5A)
- Two 600W 12VHPWR Connectors
- 12 Year Limited Warranty
- Design & Size
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Overall Availability
- Use Of Solid Capacitors?