900W to 1100W PSU Group Test

Tagan Turbojet 1100W TG1100-U96

Supplied Connectors

• Four 60cm gunmetal braid with a clear plastic covering and EMI shielded PCI-Express cables with blue connectors;
  
• One 55cm gunmetal braid with a clear plastic covering and EMI shielded Molex cable;
  
• One 65cm gunmetal braid with a clear plastic covered 4-pin 12V cable;
  
• One 65cm gunmetal braid with a clear plastic covered 8-pin 12V cable;
  
• One 50cm black braided 20+4-pin ATX cable;
  
• One, four SATA connector partially black braided cable: first plug 40cm, fourth plug 85cm;
  
• Two, three SATA connector partially black braided cables: first plug 55cm, third plug 70cm;
  
• One, three Molex connector partially black braided cable: first plug 55cm, third plug 70cm;

The quality of cabling here is really excellent, with the gunmetal braiding and clear plastic covering making the cables look fantastic. Whether the EMI shielding is absolutely necessary, we don't know since Tagan is the only PSU manufacturer that feels the need to use it, and even then only on the PCI-Express and Molex cables but not the equally as important 4-pin or 8-pin 12V cables. None of the blue connectors on the PCI-Express cables are 8-pin, which considering the power the PSU offers is surprising, considering it's tailored for the most power hungry equipment.


It may seem strange to dedicate a whole cable to a single Molex connector, however many motherboards still use an extra Molex socket to provide additional power distribution to the PCI-Express lanes. By including a dedicated one you don't have to share the power with any other component and you don't have to waste an entire stretch of cable including all its connectors to plug just one Molex into the motherboard.

Having both separate 4-pin and 8-pin 12V cables means it supports server motherboards, but without the PSU being modular it means you have to hide an extra cable when using it in a consumer environment. The SATA and Molex cables are only partially braided too, the inter-connector cabling is merely twisted together. This means they can be bent into different orientations easier, but it also means they don't look that great.

Considering this is a 1100W unit (more than the Enermax), it's surprising to only get ten SATA connectors, of which some have to be sacrificed if you need to use more than three Molex plugs as well. In our opinion it's still short of cables given the total power offering. If the Enermax can support eighteen hard drives or more, you'd at least expect the Tagan to be able to run an equivalent amount considering the higher power rating.


The PSU itself is painted matt black and the almost the whole thing is entirely enclosed. On the Tagan site the company advertises the unit as having two sets of honeycomb holes on one side but our model only has openings in the two ends, both containing 80x80x15mm low profile fans. These fans are special not so much because of their Tagan branding but because they have dimpled blades, which increases the surface are to reduce noise and increase airflow according to Tagan.

At 3.15kg including cables the PSU is the second heaviest featured here, which when considering the heaviest is the much larger Enermax really makes you understand that Tagan has packed a serious power supply in such a small space. The unit is no larger than the other PSUs we've featured (bar the Enermax) and Tagan has even got away with including just a single PCB in it as well. To compensate for the increased heat output there are two massive circular, black rippled heatsinks arranged in line with either fan to optimise heat removal.

Testing

During testing we found the Tagan to not be a noisy PSU, but the additional fan and power rating meant that it was slightly louder than the Seasonic, BFG and Silver Power at load. At a nominal 50 to 75 percent load it was respectively still slightly louder but not offensive to the ear. The sides got a bit warm to touch, but it's not more than you expect and we recorded a 28.3°C air temp and 37.8°C surface temperature.