Cooler Master has been unusually quiet on the power supply front of late. The GX series hasn’t had a refresh in a while, and the Extreme Power family is fast becoming overwhelmed by budget contenders from Gigabyte, Antec, Corsair and Be Quiet!
Cooler Master has announced its intention to take back the high-end market, starting with the V-series PSU family – and we have the SA recommended pricing.
The V-series is a completely new line that will accommodate builders looking for a PSU from the mainstream to the extreme price points. The family comes certified for the 80 Plus Gold rating, modular cables and PWN-controlled 135mm fans.
All three PSUs in the lineup – the V700, V850 and V1000 – are reportedly based on Seasonic design and the OEM does have fully modular designs very similar to this one. The bonus to this is better performance and quieter operation, as Cooler Master previously used FSP designs for the same ranges the V-series is covering today.
| Cooler Master PSU |
V700 | V850 | V1000 |
| Price (RRP) | R2349 | R2799 | R3099 |
| Wattage | 700W | 850W | 1000W |
| 80 Plus rating | Gold | Gold | Gold |
| SATA connectors | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 6+2-pin GPU connector | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Molex connector | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| EPS 12v 8-pin connector | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| +12v Max load | 696W | 840W | 1000W |
Its nice to see a single rail design on units like these. Single-rail designs don’t require you to spread out load like you’re have to on cheaper PSUs that use poor quality components. You can add on hardware without worrying about if you’re overloading a particular rail.
It also looks like Cooler Master has plotted out where it thinks these PSUs fit according to how many GPU connectors they’re throwing in. The V700 is for SLI or Crossfire configurations, the V850 is there for triple-GPU rigs and the V1,000 is there for quad-SLI and Crossfire. You might be stretching it a bit if you add in four GTX Titans, but the option is there.
In spite of their capability, however, at the current exchange rate (R10.16 to the US $ at the time of writing) the RRPs for the V-series throws them into a mosh pit with Antec’s HCP series and Be Quiet’s Dark Pro family. Corsair already makes and sells a Platinum-rated, fully modular 860W PSU for the same price as the V700. Locally the V-series may not do so well unless some price drops bring things down to more reasonable levels.
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