The total consumption of modern PCs has left the “safe” zone long ago, and has instead become a fully integrated decision factor when buying a new PC or upgrading it. OK, it’s true that any PSU will do for office computers, but if you’re assembling a remotely serious gaming PC or workstation, it’s always good to add up the values and get the total consumption before venturing out to buy a PSU (one 20% stronger than what you’ve got as your total wattage, mind you). PSUs that can provide more than a kilowatt of power are nothing new on the market, and since SLI/CrossFireX configurations are becoming increasingly popular in the average buyer’s PC, they’ve actually become a necessity, not just a precaution. If you want your pet’s heart (or hearts) to beat steadily, both the CPU(s) and the GPU(s), be prepared to feed it with four-digit wattage.
OCZ, the company that’s recently shown the most activity in the SSD market, has been a player on the PSU market for a number of years now, and has grown into a reputable brand amongst connoisseurs. The model we’ve received for testing this time around is one from their prestige Maximum Performance ZX series, with a power output of exactly one thousand watts.
OCZ ZX Series 1000 W is declared as being Multi VGA-Ready, which means that it can effortlessly run more than two GPUs simultaneously, while leaving enough energy for everything else. It has a gold 80+ efficiency certificate, which guarantees that the unit will be 90% and 87% efficient at 50% and 100% loads, respectively. The PSU itself is completely modular, which leaves all unnecessary cables out of the enclosure. Furthermore, it can pride itself on the PowerWhisper technology, which keeps the noise level very low even under maximum load. This is nothing else than thermal fan regulation, in all honesty, a feature that’s present on virtually all reputed models, even those that are much cheaper, but still, it doesn’t hurt to mention or emphasize it. Speaking of cooling, OCZ claims that it’s superior and ultra-quiet, and it’s delegated to a 140 mm fan, placed on the bottom, as is tradition. The PSU has an active PFC (Power Factor Connector) for effective regulation of input voltage, and other installed protection includes SCP, OVP and OCP.
The PSU arrives in a largish, rather luxurious packaging with a handle on top. The box contents are very rich, containing the PSU, a plethora of supported cables, all nicely wrapped inside an elegant canvas bag, then the manual, a power input cable, a set of screws, ribbons for cable management, and the very unusual 80 Plus Gold certificate printed on a piece of heavy paper. The PSU is wrapped in plastic so as to further decrease the chances for mechanical damage in transport, as well as preventing any humidity from permeating. It’s matte black and of standard shape. Having in mind its strength, it’s rather small, one of the smallest that we’ve seen in this category, and with its 175 mm of depth, it’s bound to fit anywhere. It’s a single +12V rail solution, which is an increasingly common case, with a maximum of 83 amperes across the rail. As for the cables, there are six PCI Express connectors, all of them in the 6+2 pin configuration, which is laudable.
