900W to 1100W PSU Group Test

OCZ 1000W ProXStream Results

We see the OCZ performing solidly on all accounts, remaining clearly within the ATX specification throughout the testing process up to 100 percent load. Specifically the first 12V rail remains just over 12V whereas the other three 12V rails tend to drop just a bit below their rated voltage as the load increases. 3.3V, 5V and 5V stand by are a fraction overzealous, but remain thoroughly consistent throughout.

The efficiency starts off at a massive 84.4 percent at 50 percent load, but eventually drops to a shade under 80% as the load, and therefore temperature, increases. Incidentally, the PFC rating increases as the load does, offering up a fantastic score in excess of 98 percent at full load.

The load was even slightly in excess of the rated wattage limit of 976.5W between the 3.3V, 5V and four 12V rails, having 981.1W passed through it instead. All 12V rails were fully loaded to 70 Amps, in a 17.5 Amp spread across the four of them. There's no doubt OCZ has a solidly built and very capable kilowatt PSU.

Warranty

OCZ offers a three year warranty to match that of Enermax and it's a decent length but it's not near BFG's "lifetime" (10 year) warranty. It's hard to judge how long someone will keep a PSU like this, as one kilowatt should last quite a while. If anything, it's only connector changes that will force you to keep upgrading. You can pretty much guarantee that in three years you'll need some sort of new connector, but you'll likely be able to get adapters anyway.

Value

The OCZ is priced extremely competitively for a 1kW PSU, and at around £160 if you can live with the noise then you'll have an extremely capable unit for a rock bottom price. You might just be looking for something stable and efficient for a reasonable system so you don't care about the real lack of cables or 8-pin connectors, and in this case it could work for you. But if you're only looking to use it at a fraction of its capacity then why not consider cheaper alternatives like the Seasonic X-900, Enermax Galaxy 850W or Antec Quattro 850W (which is also 80Plus certified)?

Conclusion

OCZ makes a great performer and is a good looking power supply, but it's let down by everything else. As tolerant as we are trying to be towards the noise issues this power supply has (since it'll sit in a system that'll inevitably be quite loud anyway), this PSU is clearly louder than anything else in this group test. Not only that but it's somewhat inefficient at getting the head out from its internals. There are simply not enough cables included to supply 1000W worth of PC kit and it's missing the key 8-pin PCI-Express connectors. It feels like this PSU is just another number statement; you own a 1000W power supply so your PC must be better? Right?

We look forward to PC Power and Cooling instilling some attention to detail in the associated package, not simply just the PSU box itself.

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 5/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

What do these scores mean?