![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , May 21, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Google +1
Topower PowerBird 800W Power Supply
Not too big, not too small, just right. Topower attempts to master the 800 watt range in computer power supplies which while becoming more of a standard wattage in the industry, is not always easy to do well. Will it nest in your next chassis or flip you a power bird?
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Topower PowerBird 800W is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While none of these items is a real make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing and use more efficient.
The PowerBird 800W box is identical to the previous members of the PowerBird series and as such this section will be short. On the black background we find an 80Plus sticker and a Silence decal emblazoned in the upper left hand corner, a 3 year warranty in the upper right hand corner, and a HardOCP Editor’s Choice Gold Award in the lower left corner. Wait; a what? I am going to go ahead and guess that the reason the 800W label on the front of the packaging is a sticker, and not actually printed, is because this packaging is recycled from new 900W packaging and that is why it appears we have already given this unit an award, which obviously we have not at the time of testing. Moving on, the sides of the boxes carry some marketing points, the power table, and the cable count. The rear of the packaging is like the 900W and contains more marketing points, the efficiency curve, and various safety certifications. Once more a quick check of the SLIZone website and 80Plus websites make everything as clear as mud. When we look through the 80Plus website we find that the Topower PowerBird 800W was not listed as being 80Plus certified at the time of writing, unless this unit is one of the two other 800W Topower units that have been certified since 2006. As we said with the other PowerBird units, this continued omission is odd but it certainly is possible that Topower is just recycling these designs in shiny new packaging. On the SLI front we don't find the 800W PowerBird listed for any SLI certification yet, however the other PowerBird series members we have reviewed previously have finally made an appearance so I would predict that the 800W will be certified at some point in the future as well. Moving on, the packaging for the Topower PowerBird series previously did not list a warranty length, but the 800W packaging has been revised and now lists a warranty length of 3 years. The Topower website however, continues to list the warranty length as:
All Topower Products are under a one-year manufacturer warranty unless otherwise implied at the time of purchase.
Lastly, we previously commented on the 3 year warranty being short for an enthusiast class product and a few months time certainly hasn’t made that 3 year warranty look any better today.
The power label for the 800W PowerBird is very similar to the 900W unit with the only difference being what the combined OCP settings are for the 12v rails and the 100w lower total power. With the 62A 12v capacity representing a possible ~93% of the units total DC output capacity (when needed), the PowerBird 800W should be capable of running most modern high-end systems. To harness all this power it comes equipped with 6 PCI-Express connectors (3 modified 8 pin and 3 6 pin), 8 SATA connectors, and 6 Molex connectors. Once more the PCI-Express connectors are spread across three 12v rails giving them a possible 60A of capacity; however we notice something interesting here and that is the fact that 900W and 1100W units only shipped with 4 PCI-Express connectors not the 6 of the 800W. Why the lowest powered PowerBird has the most PCI-Express connectors is unknown but since the unit is fully modular it would seem possible that the higher powered units could easily be "upgraded" to the same connector count by Topower at any time by simply swapping out the cables that ship with the units.
Once we open the Topower PowerBird 800W we find the usual assortment of power supply items including the power supply itself, the power cord, mounting screws, manual, and since the unit is modular all the cables. As expected this is all identical to the previous members of the PowerBird series. The included manual is the same as the previous manual for this series but has been updated to include the 800W power label and now is 12 pages long. Those 12 pages cover the same power labels, installation instructions, pinouts, warranty information, basic troubleshooting, and some text describing the OCP/SCP conditions. Once more the manual is perfectly serviceable and fits into the middle of the road in regards to information available.