As CPUs and GPUs become more efficient, the number of occasions where you will find yourself in need of a kilowatt or more from your PSU is diminishing.
However, there are some rare situations in which your average 750W model won't be sufficient, such as when running an overclocked quad-SLI or CrossFire setup with an cverclocked CPU (or two); in these extreme scenarios. EVGA has you covered with the SuperNOVA 1600 P2 Platinum.
Yes, the '1600' does indeed refer to the enormous rated wattage, and the SuperNOVA P2 Platinum can deliver a whopping 133.3A on its single 12V rail. Not surprisingly, the unit is huge, weighing in at 3kg, with a depth of 224mm, so you'll need to make sure your case has enough room to accommodate it. The 1600 P2 is a large, dark grey slab, with an enclosure that looks like it's made from corruqated metal. On one side, it has a regular on-off switch, while the other side hosts the modular ports and a tiny switch to select semi-passive or Eco operation, affecting tne fan mode.
We also opened up the SuperNOVA 1600 P2 lo take a peek ir ibide. Tf le internals are chock-full of top-quality components, with the high-quality Nippon Chemicon capacitors being particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile, the 140mm fan is a Globe Fan B1402512EH model.
Amazingly, there are nine connectors for PCI-E graphics cables and nine 6/8-pin cables included, plus five 6-pin cables making for a totalof 14. The PCI-E cables measure 900mm - long enough for any case. There are also two connectors for 760mm 8-pin CPU cables, five ports for 900mm SATA cables and of course, the motherboard ATX cable. All the cables are black and sleeved in the same colour, which looks neat.
Performance
We ran the SuperNOVA 1600 P2 through our usual barricade of tests. We started with operating efficiency at low loads, where the results weren’t great at 22,5W(58,5 per cent), hundrum at 50W (73,8 per cent) and decent at 100W (84 per cent). You don't buy such a powerful PSU for handling low power loads, though, and with loads between 200W and 1600W, it averaged 90.72 per cent, which is very good indeed. Likewise, the 12 V stability was superb, never dropping below 12V, even at 1,600W load. Another indicator of the 1600 P2's stability is found in the ripple scores, where we measured a maximum of 12.2mVtt. Anything below 50 is good, but this result is downright fantastic.
As this is a semi-passive PSU, there's no fan noise before it hits 500W; we did measure some electrical noise generated by the components, although you wouldn't hear it over your other components. As long as your environment doesn't get too warm, the fan won't be audible until the PSU hits 1000W loads. However, once the fan does kick in (or once you set it to Eco mode, where it spins up much quicker), you will most definitely hear it - we measured a maximum of 54.1dB(A), which is far from quiet.
Conclusion
The SuperNOVA 1600 P2 is one of the mostpowerfull PC PSUs you can buy. The performance is unrivalled, and the design has few flaws too. We can quibble over the noise production, but frankly, you’re not going to hear the PSU over the sound of four overclocked high-end graphics cards. There's just one tiny niggle: EVGA's very own SuperNOVA 1600 G2 costs over £60 less and will deliver performance that’s nearly as good. Yes, the Platinum version is better in every respect, but getting the best will cost you. Then again, if you own four graphics cards costing over £450 each, you're not going to lose any sleep over £60, are you?
VERDICT
The best PSU we've tested, although it's enormous and more expensive than its Gold-rated, equally powerful sibling.