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The first series of ASUS power supplies in the Republic of Gamers (ROG) line includes two models certified for 80 PLUS Platinum energy efficiency with 850 and 1200 watts. We got the most powerful model for testing.
The new products have a fully modular cable system, an original appearance with support for RGB backlighting and a monochrome OLED screen, as well as a number of less noticeable differences from the «donor» in the electrical part — the almost flawless Seasonic PRIME Platinum platform.
⇡#Packaging, scope of delivery, appearance
The power supply comes in a large box, decorated in traditional red and black shades for ROG products.
Thick matte cardboard with glossy inserts and excellent printing quality, as well as a very solid weight, immediately command respect.
The box itself has a custom design too, with the ROG logo printed under the flip-top, and the contents arranged into two separate boxes with a glossy geometric pattern on a matte black background. One of them contains the power supply itself, the other — replaceable cables and other elements of the delivery set.
The back of the box describes the main features of the model: the presence of an OLED screen that shows the current load, support for Aura Sync RGB lighting and braided cables on the outside, improved ROG heatsinks and a Wing Blade fan inside. Also, of course, 80 PLUS Platinum certification is mentioned.
The power supply is initially placed in a transparent bag, and the glossy parts are additionally covered with a protective film.
The outlines of the case are completely original: a diagonal ventilation grill, a beveled corner with an illuminated nameplate of the Thor series, a ROG logo cutout on the sidewall (also backlit) and a discreet but quite appropriate decor of broken white lines.
In the photo above, you can see the “live” operation of the OLED screen, which shows the current load, and the backlight.
It is worth noting that the ventilation grille is a separate part, and not the usual part of the housing cover.
The second sidewall is simpler: the ROG logo is painted, there are no illuminated areas or a screen, and even the pattern of white lines is more modest.
We can conclude that the ROG Thor 1200W is intended primarily for installation in cases with a lower power supply (which, however, are now the vast majority among middle-class and higher models), and without a newfangled casing that hides the PSU. The unit must be installed with the fan up, otherwise it will not be possible to fully appreciate the external advantages of the model.
At the bottom of the case there is a large sticker with the electrical parameters of the unit, emblems of certificates of conformity and a serial number.
On the rear panel with a ventilation grill, you can see the power cord input, power switch and fan mode switch button (active or semi-passive), as well as a colorful Republic of Gamers label.
The connectors for connecting cables are made in such a way that it is impossible to connect them incorrectly: even if the shape of the contact keys is the same (as, for example, for connectors for Molex / SATA cables and the left side of both connectors for connecting the main power cable), the protruding lock will not allow inserting the cable incorrectly. Additionally, the connection is facilitated by quite visual signatures on the connectors.
The package includes not only detachable cables, but also a power cord, a set of fixing screws, well-designed instructions, several disposable and reusable cable ties, and a sticker with the series logo. In addition, there is a separate package of cable tie-down combs and a coupon for 20% off Cablemod products.
First of all, «combs» can be useful for tying cables with an individual braid of wires: this is the main cable with a 20 + 4-pin connector and two additional processor power cables with 4 + 4-pin connectors.
Other cables have a more traditional design. Power cables for PCI-E video cards received a common nylon braid up to the first connector, and cables with SATA and Molex power connectors are devoid of braid, but are made in a “flat” design.
All wires on the main cables are 18 AWG, which is typical and sufficient.
In addition, the kit includes a pair of cables for backlight control and synchronization. It is possible to connect both to the RGB backlight connector on the motherboard, and via the daisy chain scheme to LED strips with addressable backlighting.
⇡#Specifications
The 12V line — and it is usually the lion’s share of the load in modern systems — can be transferred to the entire output power of the block.
The permissible total load on the 3.3 V and 5 V lines is 125 W, which significantly exceeds the needs of modern systems for these voltages.
The standby power supply supports a load of up to 3 A, which is quite a typical indicator for high-power power supply models.
| Manufacturer | ASUS |
| Model | ROG Thor 1200W Platinum |
| Connecting cables | Fully modular |
| Maximum load power, W | 1200 |
| 80 Plus Certified | Platinum |
| ATX Version | ATX12V 2.4 |
| Mains parameters | 100-240V, 15A, 50-60Hz |
| efficiency | >92% |
| PFC | Active |
| Load protection | OVP (Over Voltage Protection) |
| OPP (over power protection) | |
| SCP (short circuit protection) | |
| OCP (Over Current Protection) | |
| OTP (Over Temperature Protection) | |
| Dimensions, mm | 150×86×190 |
| Weight, kg | ND |
| Time between failures (MTBF), h | >100,000 |
| Warranty period, years | 10 (for PSU components), 3 (for RGB backlight and OLED screen) |
| Estimated cost | $90 |
The length of the block is 190 mm, which is not only more than the standard 140 mm, but also exceeds 170 mm for the «donor» of the platform — Seasonic PRIME Platinum power supplies. However, it is unlikely that a system for which an output power of more than a kilowatt will be required will be assembled in a small-sized case, limited by the space allocated for the power supply.
The manufacturer’s warranty is 10 years (which is 2 years less than that of the related Seasonic, but still a very worthy indicator) and at the same time it has limitations: the serviceability of the OLED screen and RGB backlight is guaranteed only for three years.
⇡#Cables
We have already described the design of the cables in the section on the appearance of the device. Now it’s time to evaluate the range and usability of connectors.
In general, the cable system does not raise questions regarding the range of connectors: they are quite enough for the declared 1200 W of output power.
Power connector set:
- 1 × 20+4 contacts;
- 2 × EPS12V (4+4 pins) — CPU power;
- 8 × 6+2 pins — additional power supply for PCIe cards;
- 12 x SATA;
- 4 × Molex;
- adapter from 1 × Molex to 1 × Floppy;
- adapter from 1 × Molex to 2 × SATA.
The cables are long enough to fit in the vast majority of cases: 57 cm for the main ATX power connector and 65 cm for the additional processor power connector.
Of the six power cables for PCI-E video cards, two have two power connectors each and four have one each (all are 65 cm long to the first connector). There are three SATA connectors on four cables (40 cm to the first connector). There are Molex connectors on two cables of different configurations: «long» with three connectors (45 cm to the first connector) and «short» — with two (35 cm to the first connector).
Such a set of loops allows you to very flexibly adapt to the system configuration.
Construction, internal arrangement
The internal components are cooled by a Power Logic PLA13525B12M 135mm double ball bearing fan. According to ASUS, with the noise (24.9 dBA) and airflow (50 CFM) parameters equal to the “normal fan”, it provides a significantly higher static pressure (1.14 mm of water column versus 0.87 mm).
Obviously, this is the merit of the shape of the impeller blades, which differs from the standard for Power Logic fans and is similar to other ASUS Wing-blade solutions (for example, used on video cards).
The original manufacturer of the platform of the power supply in question, as already mentioned, is Seasonic. A different color scheme and enlarged cooling radiators are not able to disguise a representative of the PRIME Platinum line.
However, in the presentation dedicated to the ASUS power supply, they do not try to hide this: in the guise of a “regular power supply” compared with the ROG Thor 1200W, Seasonic PRIME is easily recognized – and the location of the components leaves no doubt about their relationship.
There is only one obvious difference in the internal device, except for the size and shape of the heatsinks: two large daughter boards along the “illuminated” sidewall of the ASUS power supply instead of one smaller one from Seasonic.
The clue to this design difference is quite obvious: Seasonic units do not have an RGB backlight or an OLED screen, which require additional components to operate.
The input of the power cord is shielded by a metal casing.
From the input filter elements located on the main board, we can consider two large common mode chokes, at least two CX capacitors and four CY capacitors.
In front of the modular jack panel is a daughter board with DC-DC converters that convert 12V DC to 5V and 3.3V.
A small daughter board located close to the DC/DC converters contains an SRC/LLC+SR Champion Micro CM6901 controller chip. Like most modern high-efficiency power supplies, the ROG Thor 1200W uses a resonant half-bridge topology.
At the input and output of the block, in full accordance with the promises of the manufacturer, high-quality Japanese capacitors manufactured by Hitachi and Nippon Chemi-Con, respectively, are installed. All capacitors are rated for an operating temperature of 105°C.
In general, the quality of construction, assembly and soldering does not raise the slightest question and can be considered a reference.
⇡#Test Methodology
The testing methodology adopted by 3DNews is described in a separate article, which is recommended for reading to understand the design of computer power supplies and their most important characteristics. Refer to it to find out why a particular component mentioned in the review is needed and how it works, and how to interpret the test results.
Test results
The capabilities of our test stand did not allow us to load the unit in full: measurements had to be stopped at 70% of the maximum power, since the load on the 12 V line is limited to 60 A. But even if the deviations increase slightly at higher loads, they are unlikely to » fail» so much as to cross out the almost ideal parameters obtained at the capacities available to our stand.
The wattmeter we use somewhat underestimates the consumption “from the outlet” at medium and high loads, and therefore the efficiency indicators are slightly overestimated relative to reality. However, they are quite consistent with the results of other 80 PLUS Platinum-certified PSUs we have tested.
According to our observations, the block’s own “electric meter” tends to slightly overestimate the load: for example, with a load of 840 W issued by the stand, the power supply screen showed “913W” — the error is clearly higher than possible for the stand components.
According to the 80 PLUS report, at capacities of 10/20/50/100%, the unit efficiency in a 115 V network is 89.67/92.39/92.87/89.78%, respectively. In a 230 V network, you can count on a slightly greater (by about 1-2%) efficiency.
Acoustic comfort at the loads available to our stand can be called ideal. The fan in semi-passive mode turned on only at 40% of the nominal power, and a slight increase in very low initial speeds began only at around 70% of the power. Going further was not allowed by the limited capabilities of the test bench in terms of load. In fact, the power supply will be absolutely silent in a computer with a 6-core processor and a top-end graphics card in almost any situation.
It is also worth mentioning that in terms of noise level, the unit received LAMBDA A + certification from CYBENETICS, which corresponds to a noise level under load from 15 to 20 dBA (and all three test samples were within the margin of the maximum tolerance).
Based on our own experience, we can note that ROG Thor 1200W is absolutely silent at low loads, and almost at medium loads. At maximum loads on all components in a high-performance PC, there are almost certainly more serious sources of noise than a power supply fan.
The cross-load characteristics of the unit up to 70% of its nameplate power look ideal: the deviations of the main voltages at any point on the graph do not exceed 1.5% of the nominal value.
12 V bus, high frequency ripple
12 V bus, low frequency ripple
5 V rail, high frequency ripple
5 V rail, low frequency ripple
There are practically no high-frequency ripples, and the amplitude of low-frequency ripples does not even reach 20 mV with a tolerance of 50 mV for 5 and 3.3 V lines or 120 mV for 12 V voltage. load stand limitations, we measured at a power of 70% of the nominal value), the ripple range may increase slightly, but there is no doubt that the result will fit within the tolerances of the standard with a solid margin.
⇡#findings
The ROG THOR 1200W PLATINUM power supply impresses with its build quality, electrical output and acoustic comfort. Ideal voltage stability, minimum ripple size, high efficiency, high-quality components and, of course, the most effective appearance for such a utilitarian device.
The only drawback of the model is a very high price: $270-300 retail. For comparison: the Seasonic PRIME Platinum 1300W power supply based on the same platform (the 1200-watt model was not on sale at the time of preparation of the material) is offered for $ 240-270 — with an extra two years of warranty and an additional 100 W of power.
However, it cannot be said that the overpayment for the ROG THOR 1200W PLATINUM is unreasonable: in the performance of ASUS, the power supply unit received a deliberately more structurally complex (and, accordingly, more expensive) case, significantly more massive heatsinks inside, support for RGB backlighting, an OLED screen with output current load and more aesthetic cable sheathing. Yes, these additions are not very relevant for those who are only interested in output electrical parameters (which both ASUS and Seasonic have are perfect). But gamers and modders will certainly appreciate the extra power of ROG THOR PLATINUM power supplies.
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