Out the box Akasa's 1,000W PowerMax is actually quite... boring. Its simple black styling and large fan seem to appeal to gamers who think they are ninjas, obviously, so it'll never be seen.
The PowerMax matches normal sized PSUs and is much smaller than most 1,000W's we've seen, in fact the only other standard sized 1,000W we've used to date is the old OCZ ProXStream and it sounded like a hurricane at full load.
The saving grace for Akasa is that the PowerMax uses a much larger 13.5cm fan so should be quieter, but again others seem unable to condense a kilowatt into such a small space, so what compromises or advances has Akasa made - it must be super efficient, very noisy or are the hot spots that much more intense?
The PSU is of non-modular design and the opening isn't that tightly gripped around the cables, which aren't braided right the way into it either.
Despite sounding like a it needed strapping down, OCZ still sold a lot of its kilowatt PSUs simply because of its "normal" size, so system integrators could shout about having a "1,000W PSU" without having to worry if it fitted in cases. Part of us suspects if Akasa is appealing to these companies rather than the end users given the price, size and barebones styling.
The rear grill has an LED to tell the user whether it's either in standby (red) or actually turned on (green), which could help diagnose a few PC problems. Akasa uses a dual 12V design that delivers a hefty 35A on each rail, but both only supply 840W in total. Since most PCs in general are 12V weighted these days, thanks to increased power requirements for both graphics cards and CPUs, it does seem strange not to have used a more 12V heavy design for a "gaming" PSU.
The PowerMax matches normal sized PSUs and is much smaller than most 1,000W's we've seen, in fact the only other standard sized 1,000W we've used to date is the old OCZ ProXStream and it sounded like a hurricane at full load.
The saving grace for Akasa is that the PowerMax uses a much larger 13.5cm fan so should be quieter, but again others seem unable to condense a kilowatt into such a small space, so what compromises or advances has Akasa made - it must be super efficient, very noisy or are the hot spots that much more intense?
The PSU is of non-modular design and the opening isn't that tightly gripped around the cables, which aren't braided right the way into it either.
Despite sounding like a it needed strapping down, OCZ still sold a lot of its kilowatt PSUs simply because of its "normal" size, so system integrators could shout about having a "1,000W PSU" without having to worry if it fitted in cases. Part of us suspects if Akasa is appealing to these companies rather than the end users given the price, size and barebones styling.
The rear grill has an LED to tell the user whether it's either in standby (red) or actually turned on (green), which could help diagnose a few PC problems. Akasa uses a dual 12V design that delivers a hefty 35A on each rail, but both only supply 840W in total. Since most PCs in general are 12V weighted these days, thanks to increased power requirements for both graphics cards and CPUs, it does seem strange not to have used a more 12V heavy design for a "gaming" PSU.
RELATED ARTICLES
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.