Cooler Master’s 1000W PSU can handle overclocked FX-8150 & HD 6970-X4 QuadFire!

Specifications, Features and Packaging

Our Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum 1000W PSU arrived in this long and heavy box. You will find tough reusable canvas bags for your cables inside which also protect the PSU components during shipping.

Turning the box over we see the features of this PSU in several languages. We open the box and see the well-packed contents inside in a box-within-box method. The packaging is minimal so there is not too much to recycle.

Opening the box further, we see it is well-packed to protect the precious contents from any transportation damage and the bags are reusable.

We see instructions printed in several languages to accompany the cables, screws and the PSU itself; the warranty is 5 years warranty which is excellent for a PSU. The accessories come in a canvas bag.

The Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum features and specifications are detailed right on the box.

Here are the specifications also in an easy-to-read chart:

Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum 1000W PSU is a handsome, compact, solid and rather heavy unit that appears well put together. The specifications are also right on the unit as shown:

Here is what is included to make connections with your PC right out of the box (below). The cables are of a flat design which have become popular as they restrict less airflow if laid out properly inside the case. Since the PSU design is mostly modular, you only use the cables that you need. And everything you need is supplied right with the PSU as shown below.

Two cables are permanently attached to the power supply. The rest of it is modular and has the connectors as shown in Cooler Master’s chart below.

The cables are 18 AWG wires which are ideal.

The cables attached to the Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum are:

• Main motherboard cable with a 24-pin connector.
• CPU cable with two 4+4 pin connectors.
• One long PCIe cable with six 6+2 connectors

The modular cables included with the Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum are

• Two PCIe power cables with one six-pin connector each.
• Two video card power cables with one six- plus one two-pin connector (which can form an 8-pin connector) each.
• Five peripherial cables with four SATA power connectors each; one floppy cable connector and standard Molex.
• Two 7V fan connectors.

The Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum PSU’s PCIe cabling allows for the most modern 6-pin plus 2-pin connectors for three power-hungry videocards.  In our case, we used a dual-GPU HD 6990 and two HD 6970s all working together in CrossFire-X4.

Since our ASUS AM3+ motherboard uses a Molex connector to supply power directly to the motherboard, we had no issues.  However, if we used our EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard, it requires one or two PCIe connectors to be plugged directly into the motherboard when using more than one video card.  One PCIe connector is located at the very bottom of the motherboard while the one is placed near the top PCIe slot as pictured below.One could use Molex to PCIe adapters in this case where the other PCIe connections are taken up by 3 video cards.  Cooler Master assured us that it is acceptible to use the Molex connectors since it is pulling from the 3.3/5v connections.  As long as the board and the drives/accessories don’t pull more than 150w it should be fine.

Alternatively one could perhaps use the Molex to PCIe connectors to power one of the video card’s PCIe connectors while the PCIe cable can plug into the motherboard.

There are no doubts about what connects where.

As you can see, the modular design allows you to use only what you need.  Here are all of the included cables before they are neatly installed and many of them will be be routed behind the motherboard:

The large 135mm fan spins slowly under most circumstances and even when the PSU is outputting near its maximum, it never gets noisy nor is it ever heard over even one quiet video card.

Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum features 25 amps each on the 3.3 volt and 5 volt rail as well as 984W at 82 amps on the single 12 volt rail. It is rated for a total of 1000W watts at 92% (plus) percent efficiency. It is rated “Platimum” by a company,“80 Plus”. 80 Plus tests (for a fee) power supplies from many vendors to certify that the submitted PSUs are actually over 80% efficient at 20%, 50% and 100% loads as claimed. 80 Plus has expanded their testing to include bronze (82%), silver (85%), gold (87%) and Platinum (92%) certifications for power supplies.

Efficiency is the ratio between the useful output of a PSU and the input. For example, if your computer actually uses 600W but draws 800W from the outlet, then its PSU’s efficiency is 600W/800W, or 75%. It also means in this example, that 200W of AC power is not converted into DC and is wasted. Older or generic computer PSUs are typically 75% or less efficient. The more efficient your power supply is, the less your computer will waste power. Since any AC power that isn’t converted into DC is exhausted as heat into your room, a more efficient power supply unit will run cooler and your room’s air conditioner will also not have have to work as hard.

Take a look at the 135mm fan used to cool the Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum. Because of the excellent efficiency of the PSU, it allows Cooler Master to use a slower and quieter fan to cool it. One thing for sure, if you have a normal PC setup, your Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum fan will never be heard over your videocard, CPU cooling, or case fans. It is extraordinarily silent.

Everything looks great so let’s head for the installation of Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum PSU.

Options for installing the power supply and cables

Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum is an extraordinarily quiet PSU with an almost silent 140 mm automatically variable speed fan. It also features a short delay where the fan keeps spinning for about thirty seconds after the PSU is powered down, thus keeping its internal components cooler and likely lasting longer.

We note that Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum PSU can be installed so that the intake fan can be up or down. There are advantages and disadvantages either way although the modern/common usage is to have the fan installed so it brings air from under the case as most modern cases are set up this way, often including dust filters to protect your PSU and hardware.  We have dropped screws inside the PSU when the fan faced up.

If the fan is facing down, it draws air in from below the bottom of the case and exhausts it out the back of the PSU – outside of the case airflow completely. If the fan is facing up, it draws warm air from inside your PC and exhausts it out through the PSU back grille. We used the Chaser MK-I’s built-in dust filter with the Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum W fan facing downward as our normal installation.

Facing downward with the fan drawing air in, the built-in dust screen does not allow the PSU to become clogged with dust; however to keep the PS cool and with good air flow, the dust filter itself may need to be cleaned – especially if you are in a dusty environment. If the dust filter starts to clog with dust, simply tip your PC on its side and vacuum the dust away. You can also use a brush to loosen the dust, if necessary.

Note the back of the Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum grill (image below) which allows a free flow of air to cool your power supply unit’s internal components.

Do you ever wonder what is inside a quality PSU that differentiates it from other power supplies? Take a look:

Inside Cooler Master’s Silent Pro Platinum PSU we see a  high-quality Japanese capacitor. It features a single 82 amp 12 volt rail to handle most multi-videocard SLI and CrossFire configurations and it features all of the necessary components to support the complete stability of their unit.

The Cooler Master Silent Pro Platinum PSU looks awesome and the specs are right on. So let’s test it under regular situations with gaming under extreme situations. Our overclocked FX-8150 and HD 6970-X4 QuadFire sounds about right for a showdown with this PSU.