Installation

As this PSU was destined for our test bench PC, there was no installation step needed. If you were to mount this in your rig, then you won’t have any more problems than when compared to a standard sized PSU thanks to the Everest’s compact size.

Weight-wise, this PSU is surprisingly light in comparison to the other two 1000+W power supplies in this test, and doesn’t give you that same confidence in its performance. On the plus side, the light-weight ‘feature’ will mean that the four screws that mount any PSU will be more than capable of keeping the Everest locked into place.

Testing

Methodology

As we’ve yet to come up with an expandable, real-world, repeatable test for analysing power supplies it should be noted that these results can only be compared to the models listed below and not with any of our other reviews.

For this test, we’ll be using the below configuration.

Processor	Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo @ stock
Motherboard	XFX 780i Tri-SLI
RAM	4 x 512MB OCZ DDR2
Drives	Western Digital Protégé IDE HDD SATA DVD drive
Graphics card	XFX 8800 Ultra XFX 8800 Ultra

While we have the ability to test tri-SLI, none of the power supplies had the required connectors in order to feed the three cards (four PCI-e, not six); hence this is the current maximum GPU load these units will ever see.

To test, we run full screen (1600x1200) RTHDRIBL which is a primarily graphics stress program, although it uses 50% of the CPU too. This is run for half an hour and the voltages are taken, along with the PF reading, and the wattage pulled from the mains. The idle testing is done with nothing running and the PF value and wattage are read again. The system is tested with a run-through of 3Dmark06 to make sure that the units are stable, and to test the noise output.

Results

Click to enlarge

From these results, the power supply was at about 40% load (400W peak, 1010W unit) for the load readings, and about 27% load for the idle readings.

Power supply	PF idle	PF load	Watt idle	Watt load	Watt standby	Cost (24/7 idle @ 7p kWh)
FSP Everest 1010W	0.92	0.94	273W	400W	2W	~£167
Jeantech Absolute 1000W	0.94	0.96	277W	406W	3W	~£170
Tuniq Ensemble 1200W	0.88	0.91	274W	403W	2W	~£168

The Everest sits slap bang in the middle between the other two units for both PF readings. PF refers to how efficient the device is at converting AC to DC, read more here.

During the testing, the Everest pulled less than the other two units in both idle and load situations, but it’s a difference of a few watts, and this equates to a tiny amount of saved money on your electricity bill. The unit also pulled the least amount of power during standby, getting joint first with the Tuniq PSU. The equates to a lower cost of ownership in comparison to the other units.

As you can see from the above results, none of the power supplies tested broke the 5% tolerance levels that the ATX specs set out. The Everest manages to keep most faithfully to the ideal scenario, but does vary the most in comparison to the other units under test. That said the variation is still closer to the actual values required.

The Everest is quiet, not quite as quiet as the larger Ensemble from Tuniq, but still below the annoyance threshold. This unit doesn’t make the annoying electrical whirring sound that I witnessed with the Jeantech unit which is another plus point.