900W to 1100W PSU Group Test

BFGTech 1000W Power Supply Results

The BFG started off well but two of the 12V rails still dropped off as we loaded the PSU to 100 percent. Since the unit can't take all four 12V rails at 20 Amps, instead 18.7 Amps were applied, which equates to the 900W limit it should be capable of but isn't. Even at 75 percent load one of the rails falls to within one percent of staying inside the ATX specification.

Other than that, the rest of the rails perform very well, and if anything are somewhat overzealous with the 5Vs, 3.3V and -12V, all consistently recording figures above their necessary values.

It's a shame the PSU fails because the efficiency is a consistently excellent 81-82 percent and the PFC is 96-97 percent throughout the entire test run.

Warranty

BFGTech sports a massive "lifetime" warranty on the box, which may equate to 10 years in certain regions. Either way, it's hugely beneficial to an end user as their large investment for a hefty kilowatt unit is certainly safe for longer than most people will use it. Even in several years to come when it's handed down to other systems, 1kW will likely remain more than enough. The only concern is that new cables and connectors will be brought out, meaning an upgrade is almost inevitable eventually, unless you plan to run some old kit for a while yet.

Value

The BFGTech is £170, which is more expensive than the OCZ, but around the same price as the Silver Power SP-1000E, Silverstone SST-ST1000, Thermaltake ToughPower 1000W and Tagan Turbojet 1100W. However, we know the Tagan and Silver Power both perform better. Both the Thermaltake and Silverstone are modular which arguably adds some extra value, although the BFG does come with a couple of cool extras like SATA to Molex adapters and reusable Velcro cable ties.

Conclusion

The lifetime warranty is fantastic, the PSU looks pretty good and is quite cool and quiet, but ultimately it fails in the critical area of performance. It falls outside of ATX specification when tested, which means it doesn't do something it's inherently designed to do. It also has far too few connectors for the capability of the unit, and of those connectors it lacks the 8-pin PCI-Express cables required for high end graphics cards. With respect going to BFG for extending its product portfolio, we can't help but feel this is a PSU for willy wavers rather than those in actual need of a kilowatt of power.

• Features
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• 7/10

• Performance
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• 5/10

• Value
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• 7/10

• Overall
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• 6/10

What do these scores mean?