The Gigabyte UD1000GM PG5 1000W PSU Review: Prelude to ATX 3.0

GIGABYTE is an organization famend for its intensive vary of motherboards and graphics playing cards, myriads of which handed by way of our testing labs. Regardless, the huge volumes at which GIGABYTE is producing motherboards and graphics playing cards has not hold the corporate from making diversification efforts in direction of nearly each section of the PC market, starting from laptops and mini PCs to gaming keyboards and chairs.

GIGABYTE isn’t a stranger within the energy and cooling enterprise, shyly advertising and marketing their first few PC PSUs over fifteen years in the past. The corporate’s PSU releases have been few and much between, with GIGABYTE grabbing a little bit piece of the market share however by no means making a big effort to overwhelm the competitors.

In immediately’s evaluate, we’re taking a look on the GIGABYTE UD1000GM PG5, a robust 80Plus Gold licensed PC PSU. What makes the UD1000GM PG5 stand out from the gang is the brand new 12+4 pin connector (12VHPWR connector), which is required by the ATX 3.0 customary. GIGABYTE doesn’t declare that the UD1000GM PG5 is ATX 3.0 compliant, however having the 12VHPWR connector permits for partial compatibility – and conceivably future-proofs the PSU in opposition to upcoming graphics card releases.

Packaging and Bundle

GIGABYTE provides the UD1000GM PG5 in an aesthetically fascinating however comparatively small cardboard field, hinting on the compact dimensions of the PSU in relation to its energy output. Contained in the field, the PSU is encased inside skinny packaging foam that gives partial safety from delivery injury.

There are nearly no gadgets bundled alongside with the UD1000GM PG5, with GIGABYTE sticking to absolutely the fundamentals. Solely 4 typical mounting screws and an AC energy cable could be discovered contained in the packaging.

The GIGABYTE UD1000GM PG5 1000W PSU is a completely modular design, permitting for the removing of each DC energy cable, together with the 24-pin ATX connector. A lot of the cables are naked, ribbon-like, with black wires and black connectors. The one exception is the brand new PCIe 5.0 cable that’s product of black wires and has black connectors but additionally has black sleeving protecting it.

The brand new PCIe 5.0 cable is the spotlight of this PSU. This connector is required by the brand new ATX 3.0 customary for any PC PSU that has an output larger than 450 Watts. After all, the connector alone doesn’t make the UD1000GM PG5 ATX 3.0 compliant, as the brand new customary brings quite a few and vital modifications to the market. Nevertheless, it will assist the UD1000GM PG5 to last more.

Bodily, these 16-pin connectors are usually not considerably bigger than legacy 6/8-pin PCIe connectors, however they function twelve pins plus 4 sensing pins. Out of the 4 sensing pins, two are necessary and two are non-obligatory. The necessary pins sign to the PCIe card the utmost energy that the connector can deal with, permitting the cardboard to manage its energy draw. That makes using adapters on older PSUs difficult, as there isn’t any approach for the PSU to sign the cardboard and their cables can’t deal with a excessive present draw, so the preset output can’t be anyplace close to 600 Watts. The one window for safely utilizing adapters limits a passive adapter’s output to the minimal allowed by the brand new customary (150 Watts) or would require lively adapters with a number of legacy connector inputs.

These new 12VHPWR connectors can ship as much as 600 Watts every. Relying on the PSU’s functionality, the utmost wattage that it could actually present is printed on the connector itself. The connector of the UD1000GM PG5 states that it could actually deal with 600 Watts steady, which is the utmost dictated by the ATX 3.0 customary.

The GIGABYTE UD1000GM PG5 1000W PSU

Exterior Look

The GIGABYTE UD1000GM PG5 PSU could be very compact for a 1 kW unit. Measuring simply 86 mm × 150 mm × 140 mm (H × W × D), the UD1000GM PG5 manages to completely adjust to ATX customary dimensional specs, making it appropriate with nearly any ATX-compliant case. The metal chassis is sprayed with a satin black paint and several other elements of it have been embossed to create a futuristic design. The fan’s finger guard is also a part of the chassis itself.

GIGABYTE moved the sticker with the unit’s certifications and specs on the prime of the chassis, leaving the edges to function a creative design. The sticker is going through sideways, with the designer clearly pondering that this orientation would make studying it from a windowed aspect panel simpler.

A typical on/off change could be seen on the rear aspect of the unit, beside the ability connector. There may be proof {that a} sticker was (or ought to have been) proper beneath the ability connector however we discovered nothing there. A lot of the entrance aspect is roofed by the connectors for the modular cables, with GIGABYTE strongly insisting that customers ought to use solely the supplied cables for this PSU.

Inner Design

GIGABYTE entrusted the cooling of the UD1200GM PG5 to Jamicon, a sister firm of the better-known Teapo. The Taiwanese fan producer isn’t standard amongst PSU designers however their merchandise are thought of to be of above-average high quality. The KF1225H1H 120 mm fan contained in the UD1200GM PG5 is a reasonably primary mannequin, with a rifle-bearing engine. This fan looks like an odd alternative for a PSU with a 10-year lengthy guarantee and may incite lots of RMA requests after that a few years.

Each the OEM and the platform of the GIGABYTE UD1200GM PG5 are utterly new to us. GIGABYTE entrusted the manufacturing of this PSU to Xiamen Metrotec Digital Business Co (or MEIC), a Chinese language OEM whose merchandise we’ve not seen earlier than. Having been round since 2007, MEIC isn’t a brand new firm however they’ve been principally lively with producing smaller merchandise, comparable to chargers and energy banks.

The filtering stage of the GIGABYTE UD1200GM PG5 is textbook, with a complete of 4 Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors resulting in a twin enter rectifying bridge configuration. The bridges are positioned on a large heatsink. The passive APFC elements are a colossal 400V/1000μF APFC capacitor made by Nippon Chemi-Con and an equally huge filtering coil. The inrush present of this configuration will likely be horrendous and may result in circuit breaker tripping if Sort B MCBs or low-rating MCBs are in use. The lively APFC elements are on an extended heatsink proper throughout the sting of the PCB.

Two transistors type a typical half-bridge inversion topology on the major aspect of the unit, whereas six MOSFETs generate the 12V line on the secondary aspect of the transformer. The three.3V and 5V strains are generated through the DC-to-DC conversion circuits. It is a very typical configuration for an 80Plus Gold licensed unit. All the secondary capacitors, electrolytic and polymer alike, are supplied by Teapo and Lelon, each Taiwanese producers. Teapo is a producer we continuously see the merchandise of in mid-tier merchandise. Lelon isn’t as often called Teapo however their merchandise are of about equal high quality. Regardless, fans would in all probability hope to search out one thing higher inside a high-tier PSU with such an extended guarantee.