BFGTech BFGR1000WPSU Review @ [H]

[Night_Hawk-19]

Enermax has rippling effect on the rails.

 

[Digitalcaveman]

Your review isn't all that good. My system rocks, this power supply performs great, excellent package, manual and everything about it. I'm running just about the highest performance equipment on the market and it's doing a great job. Would recommend this with blazing colors to anyone.

DC

 

[FrgMstr]

Your review isn't all that good. My system rocks, this power supply performs great, excellent package, manual and everything about it. I'm running just about the highest performance equipment on the market and it's doing a great job. Would recommend this with blazing colors to anyone.

DC

Your post here exactly points out just how good the review is. I would suggest that you are running well within the limitations we have pointed out. However, should you ever need 1000 watts of peak power out of the unit as advertised, you would be sorely disappointed.

Given you have supplied us with system specifications, I am very confident of my remarks here. And yes, I have run systems even a bit more robust than yours here on my test bench and closely monitored wattage usage.

And just to be a bit more clear. We did not recommend the BFG 1000w PSU not because it was a bad PSU, but rather because it promises the enthusaist 1000 usable watts but does not come close to delivering that.

From the conclusion:

Not recommending this unit is somewhat difficult as what BFG has here is a unit that if it was rated at 800w would indeed be a good PSU as it exhibited good efficiency, had almost non-existent ripple, and decent DC output. We do, however, hope to see a revised, or better replacement model from BFG at some point in the future and we would gladly revisit that unit should the chance arise. Talking with BFGTech about this unit, they did explain that the 1000w power rating is at 25c. At 50c, the unit is rated at 800w. While the unit still did not perform up to that specification, it came very close while doing a very good job of delivering clean power.

 

[GabooN]

Your review isn't all that good. My system rocks, this power supply performs great, excellent package, manual and everything about it. I'm running just about the highest performance equipment on the market and it's doing a great job. Would recommend this with blazing colors to anyone.

DC

Without even looking at your hardware I bet that you’re not using the full 1000Watts, if you were your system COULD fail according to the review done @ [H]. With that said be a little more constructive and tell us why the article isn’t all that good, other then with “my system rocks”.

One of the points of the review was to test the PSU at its rated wattage which it fails, why recommend something that doesn’t meet its advertised rating?

 

[WarMace]

if it was rated at 800w would indeed be a good PSU as it exhibited good efficiency, had almost non-existent ripple, and decent DC output.

I would love if this statement became a standard part of the conclusion. By stating what it really is shows buyers looking for a 800w PSU that this is a good model consider.



Also it was stated in the intro that you can look up the UL number on the UL site to get some history on this model. Which is the UL number? I couldn't find it.

 

[mket]

Your review isn't all that good. My system rocks, this power supply performs great, excellent package, manual and everything about it. I'm running just about the highest performance equipment on the market and it's doing a great job. Would recommend this with blazing colors to anyone.

DC

Interesting. Are you saying you did recieve a manual for the UPS? Did [H] review an OEM unit by chance (although the boxing looks retailish)?

 

[OCC_Yoda]

The review was fair and accurate and well done for a first time review!!!

What I found interesting about comments was that most people did not read the entire review....a !!!!!! will defend what they believe is best to there deasth, with out realizing what was actual said.

For example you didn`t say the PSU was a crappy PSU. What you said was that it will NOT ever if pushed to the extreme limits put out 1,000 watts. I see nothing wrong with that statement!!
Other than that those who have this PSU should not be offended by your frank and honest review of that product!!

It needs to be noted however that possibly listing this as a good 800 watt PSU which ewas suggested would have been more truthdul advertising.


Still all in all a very nice first review!!

Keep up the good work!!

 

[Rock&Roll]

Right now, my only suggestion for improvement of the review would be to zoom your scope graphs a bit more. I can barely see that tiny wave form, let alone tell if it is erratic or not. There should be a way to adjust this on your scope.

 

[FrgMstr]

I would love if this statement became a standard part of the conclusion. By stating what it really is shows buyers looking for a 800w PSU that this is a good model consider.

Also it was stated in the intro that you can look up the UL number on the UL site to get some history on this model. Which is the UL number? I couldn't find it.

I think that a statement of that nature should be included as well as it points to the truth in how the product is marketed.

Paul should be able to get you the UL number when he has time.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

My system rocks, this power supply performs great, excellent package, manual and everything about it. I'm running just about the highest performance equipment on the market and it's doing a great job. Would recommend this with blazing colors to anyone.

You're right, it does make a good 500W PSU

 

[Digitalcaveman]

Kyle and Guys,

I stand corrected and retract the comment regarding a bad review. On contrary you are right. I would be curious to find what other 1KW PSU's there are out there that would beat the BFG. I still think it is a great unit not only for the power but how easy it works with an SLi setup.

Thanks again, and sorry for the negotive comment on your review. Hope you can forgive the DC

 

[Suicide King]

Good first review guys, glad to see [H]ardOCP handling PSU's, meaning you guys keep edging closer to my definitive hardware review resource. I too had noticed that a lot of people were putting up reviews concluding with "well, we didn't have the equipment to stress this 1000w any higher than 600w, but that's plenty good enough, so hey it's recommended!."

I guess I have a request though, If you guys could take a look at the Enermax Galaxy 1000w DXX I'd definitely give it a read. I've already got the psu, but hey, it's always nice to have one's choice validated (Or trashed).

 

[JOESKURTU]

Kyle and Guys,

I stand corrected and retract the comment regarding a bad review. On contrary you are right. I would be curious to find what other 1KW PSU's there are out there that would beat the BFG. I still think it is a great unit not only for the power but how easy it works with an SLi setup.

Thanks again, and sorry for the negotive comment on your review. Hope you can forgive the DC

How quiet is this PSU?

I enjoyed the review Paul. Keep up the good work [H]!

 

[jonnyGURU]

Without even looking at your hardware I bet that you’re not using the full 1000Watts, if you were your system COULD fail according to the review done @ [H]. With that said be a little more constructive and tell us why the article isn’t all that good, other then with “my system rocks”.

One of the points of the review was to test the PSU at its rated wattage which it fails, why recommend something that doesn’t meet its advertised rating?

Looking at the specs in his sig, I can tell you that he's pulling a maximum of 600W from the wall. Even at 80% efficiency, that's 480W of DC power.

Also it was stated in the intro that you can look up the UL number on the UL site to get some history on this model. Which is the UL number? I couldn't find it.

It's the U with the backwards R. It stands for "Underwriters Recognized." Components that are used to build other things as opposed to components that are "stand alone" electronics use the UR logo as opposed to the UL logo. A toaster will be UL listed with a UL logo. A power cord or a spool of 14g wire would be "Underwriters Recognized."

That said, you'll see under the UR logo there is a E130843. If you look that up in the UL database, you'll see that belongs to Topower: http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073787374&sequence=1

 

[[Spectre]]

Interesting. Are you saying you did recieve a manual for the UPS? Did [H] review an OEM unit by chance (although the boxing looks retailish)?

Both units we tested were shrink wrapped retail products. The manual consisted of a single page on how to connect the unit.

 

[[Spectre]]

How quiet is this PSU?

I enjoyed the review Paul. Keep up the good work [H]!

It is hard to give a number exactly but it was not quiet at full load.

 

[phide]

Excellent review, and precisely the degree of depth I want to see in a [H] review (and the kind of depth I'd like to see in cooling system reviews, quite frankly).

Might I suggest, though, that you accompany the more unknown acronyms with their full terms on each page? There are some that are pretty tuned in to these terms, but I must admit that I had to look up "OCP", as I'm not familiar with the term.

I don't think we need the acronyms or terms defined in the article (though a small index of terms would be fantastic), but it's useful to have the full terms so that viewers can Google 'em up if they don't understand the concepts.

And yeah, HTML charts and tables would be preferable to images if they can possibly fit within the frame, and I'd like to see beyond-YouTube-quality video (if other reviews have video, that is), but no big deal.

 

[JOESKURTU]

It is hard to give a number exactly but it was not quiet at full load.

I understand that the test equipment prevents an accurate assessment of noise level, that is why I am asking someone who runs a rig with one on a daily basis.

And I do realize that his view on the noise may be "subjective".

Thanks for the response Paul.

 

[lazuhrus]

I think it would be helpful if you could have some type of decible levels for the units. I know that it would be harder to do since you're already adding noise pollution with the incubator, but perhaps doing an 80% load or something outside the incubator would at least give a ballpark framework (this one is louder than that one.)

I say this as my current PSU is an OCZ 700 and it's the loudest component in my computer now (unless the Raptors are being defragged! )

 

[qdemn7]

It is hard to give a number exactly but it was not quiet at full load.

Paul, the noise level is obviously something that is people are concerned about. Since you are going to keep getting questioned on this aspect of each review, I think it would behoove you to start thinking about some methodology to measure the noise level for future reviews.

 

[spine]

Solid review, but as others have kinda hinted, I think there needs to be a much larger focus on assessing noise levels.

A 1000w power supply, even if it could deliver, would be worthless if it couldn't do it relatively quietly imho. Other than power output delivery (which can be assessed relatively easily and straight forwardly) I'd say giving an indication of noise levels is one of the most important things in a PSU review. It's the thing that concerns me the most when buying a new PSU. If I find a new PSU I've just bought can't deliver the power it's supposed to I can take it back, but I can't really do that if I think it's noisy, so it's nice to know beforehand

Ok, so assessing noise levels on full load is hard because of the test equipment; well, fair enough, but that doesn't mean you can't test it in a normal PC and assess noise with various load levels there. Some decibel readings would be nice as well since one man's quiet is another's noisy.

Also, you could be the first to do what I've always longed to see in PSU reviews; put it in a top end power hungry quad core whatever PC that's been over-volted. And I mean seriously volt modded that it needs to be watercooled else it'd die kind of thing. Both CPU(s) and GPU(s); no pussy footing around! This is so rarely (if ever) done in PSU reviews. Sure a top end PSU can handle a top end PC, but can it handle an over-volted and overclocked PC?


Just some of my thoughts there

 

[jonnyGURU]

I think it would be helpful if you could have some type of decible levels for the units.

Paul, the noise level is obviously something that is people are concerned about.

Solid review, but as others have kinda hinted, I think there needs to be a much larger focus on assessing noise levels.

The issue is a bleeding, unrecognizable pulp that used to be a horse.

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1030696441&postcount=14

If you guys can figure out how to accurately load test the PSU in these conditions AND isolate the sound of the PSU so it can be accurately measured, I'll nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The expectation is unreasonable. Let it die.

 

[swatbat]

Also i don't remember reading any mention of the length of the cables, this would be a nice thing to point out with a lot of modders with full tower cases, and some reversing the HDD for cable management. I understand the main intent is measuring performance.
[/IMG]

The cable comment is a good one. While long cables are nice short cables can come in handy.

If you guys can figure out how to accurately load test the PSU in these conditions AND isolate the sound of the PSU so it can be accurately measured, I'll nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The expectation is unreasonable.

Only thing I could think of would be like using extensions and having the psu tester in another room but yea I agree it is not something that easy to do.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Only thing I could think of would be like using extensions and having the psu tester in another room but yea I agree it is not something that easy to do.

Not easy to do and wouldn't work well because the added length to the wires would result in resistance that would cause a drop in voltage that would cause inaccurate results.

Next....

 

[mket]

does the test equip noise level increase with load also? if not, perhaps this is too simplistic, measure 'ambient' noise with no PSU to establish baseline, then add PSU then load, measuring at appropriate steps.

paul, on page 2 of the review you state "... thing is without any documentation ..." yet in a reply to me you say it had a one page sheet. Perhaps more acuratly, it has piss poor documentation or substandard. What was expected and is usual in most other top teir products?

 

[[Spectre]]

paul, on page 2 of the review you state "... thing is without any documentation ..." yet in a reply to me you say it had a one page sheet. Perhaps more acuratly, it has piss poor documentation or substandard. What was expected and is usual in most other top teir products?

A sheet that says turn off system, remove old power supply, insert new power supply, flip switch, turn on system isn't documentation IMO.

 

[swatbat]

Not easy to do and wouldn't work well because the added length to the wires would result in resistance that would cause a drop in voltage that would cause inaccurate results.

Next....

As I said it is not easy to do.

Pretty much I was agreeing with you. Done right with short cables the resistance issue shouldn't really be there but you are talking about a lot of work to get the test enviroment setup.

 

[Seiuchi]

I have been reading [H] from the day of q2 and 3dfx 12mb sli. I have always had respect for Kyle and his up front attitude about things. That being said I almost never post in the forum.

Kyle/Paul good start!
1) Definately take a pic of all the connectors spread out on the floor so we can see what we are getting as far as connctors and length. That would be very helpful. I have found in the past that I have not chosen to get brand x psu because it didnt have enough of the connections I wanted. (I hate splitters and the bad conn they provide)

2)This isnt a video card, but, where is a real world test. OR What does what you said REALLY mean to me? In other words, What kind of rig would be required to max out a psu of this level. I can go to the store and look at vid cards and one mfg will recomend a psu with 100 more watts than another mfg for the same gpu. Is it really needed? Is this psu good for an average sli rig with 4 drive array. I mean you guys always talk about best bang for the buck on vid cards how bout with psus as well. Is a "1000" watt psu overkill? How much more draw does overclocking a system pull on a psu and how does it deal with it?

I hope you understand what I am trying to convey. I am not complaining or anything just spilling thoughts.
Thanks and looking forward to the next review
Will

 

[mket]

paul. /agree. Perhaps as guide to manufacturer, what would you like to have seen. Specs, saftey guides, wireups, installation guidelines, etc. Set the bar [H]igh.

 

[[Spectre]]

I have been reading [H] from the day of q2 and 3dfx 12mb sli. I have always had respect for Kyle and his up front attitude about things. That being said I almost never post in the forum.

Kyle/Paul good start!
1) Definately take a pic of all the connectors spread out on the floor so we can see what we are getting as far as connctors and length. That would be very helpful. I have found in the past that I have not chosen to get brand x psu because it didnt have enough of the connections I wanted. (I hate splitters and the bad conn they provide)

This should help http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3MTkyMDEwMGRXOGdldGpaOHVfMl82X2wuZ2lm

2)This isnt a video card, but, where is a real world test. OR What does what you said REALLY mean to me? In other words, What kind of rig would be required to max out a psu of this level. I can go to the store and look at vid cards and one mfg will recomend a psu with 100 more watts than another mfg for the same gpu. Is it really needed? Is this psu good for an average sli rig with 4 drive array. I mean you guys always talk about best bang for the buck on vid cards how bout with psus as well. Is a "1000" watt psu overkill?

The short answer is right now most users would be extremely hard pressed to use a 1000w PSU but 2 years ago we were saying the same about a 500-600w PSU.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Don't right with short cables the resistance issue shouldn't really be there....

Farb now the glimrod?

 

[Astral Abyss]

I really enjoyed this review. I've got a few thoughts that might enhance things a bit...

-- Make the charts bigger. This has already been said, but I just wanted to reiterate it's important. It's nice to be able to scroll through an article while reading and not have to click every single pic or chart just to be able to see it.

-- Cable pics would be great, along with their lengths and connector type. This was very important to me on my latest build, as I was trying to figure out how I'd power everything and if it would work due to my P180 case setup. I know you did mention cables and connectors in the review, but a picture in addition to the graph would make it 10x more valuable. A simple shot of the PSU with the cables stretched would be awesome, along with some mention of length numbers.

-- If there's any type of special cabling, sleeving, modular connector, or other material used, that would be worth taking a picture of also.

-- Honestly, I liked everything else. I'm just big on pictures as it makes things a lot easier to understand and visualize. All the data was there. You guys got that down, no problem. Just a bit of tweaking to present the data in the easiest to read format is all I can really say to make it perfect.

 

[Seiuchi]

This should help http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3MTkyMDEwMGRXOGdldGpaOHVfMl82X2wuZ2lm

.

That chart is nice but I like visual + chart. Sorry I am a both type of learner. Pictures always sink in better with words than just words alone.

 

[Seiuchi]

I would to see the enermax psu adversised on the news page reviewed it is the infinity 720w model.

If you click the banner it takes you to the enermax usa page where they claim 24/7 Full Load @40deg C That claim deserves to be put to the test Do it Paul /Kyle!!! *twisting arms*

 

[DDogbert]

Great review. I'm looking forward to more.

One thought I had for the oscilloscope graphs were to add the test information to the actual pic. When you're just flipping through all the images using the "Next Image" link its easy to lose track of what graph you are looking at.

 

[spine]

If you guys can figure out how to accurately load test the PSU in these conditions AND isolate the sound of the PSU so it can be accurately measured, I'll nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The expectation is unreasonable. Let it die.

If you present me with 2 PSU's, I'd be able to easily tell you which one is quieter under load and in idle. Dead easy.

If you can't isolate the sound enough for a totally objective sound assess, then keep it relative. Maybe just build up a simple ranking of PSU's in terms of quietness. In wouldn't be that hard. Just saying, "PSU x is quiet" means nothing because obviously what quiet means varies from one person to another. But saying "PSU x is roughly twice as loud as PSU y" immediately gives you some absolute information. Take it further and say "PSU x in idle is quieter than a retail AMD 3200+ heatsink fan and you start to give a very good impression of the noise levels without even mentioning a single number.


Hard seems to be heading towards real world no nonsense reviews on hardware so why not take such an approach on noise assessment?

 

[jonnyGURU]

If you present me with 2 PSU's, I'd be able to easily tell you which one is quieter under load and in idle. Dead easy.

If you can't isolate the sound enough for a totally objective sound assess, then keep it relative. Maybe just build up a simple ranking of PSU's in terms of quietness. In wouldn't be that hard. Just saying, "PSU x is quiet" means nothing because obviously what quiet means varies from one person to another. But saying "PSU x is roughly twice as loud as PSU y" immediately gives you some absolute information. Take it further and say "PSU x in idle is quieter than a retail AMD 3200+ heatsink fan and you start to give a very good impression of the noise levels without even mentioning a single number.


Hard seems to be heading towards real world no nonsense reviews on hardware so why not take such an approach on noise assessment?

Read the post I linked in the post you just quoted me from.

I'm sure most of us can tell which power supply is quieter than the next when placed side by side under the same load. I try to do this with my reviews by saying things like, "under the load of test 8, the power supply sounded like a leaf blower." but every single day I get the same question "how many decibles did you measure the exhaust fan at when it was putting out 623W with 47C intake air...."

Read what I said... the assessment would be subjective at best and closed up inside of an incubator would be very difficult.

 

[FrgMstr]

I would to see the enermax psu adversised on the news page reviewed it is the infinity 720w model.

If you click the banner it takes you to the enermax usa page where they claim 24/7 Full Load @40deg C That claim deserves to be put to the test Do it Paul /Kyle!!! *twisting arms*

I just got a unit in from today, not sure what is in the box yet. But I will say this, Maxpoint/Enermax has seemed very excited about our testing and been like, "Hell yeah, bring it on!" So I think they are hoping to have a lot of [H]'er fans soon. Interestingly enough, they contacted us about advertising just as this program was coming together. Guess folks were talking..... Which is a good thing.

 

[Spudsdude]

Great review!

I really like the methods your using to test the power supply's and the real results that you have found and more importantly reported back with.

Like others have mentioned, and more of your tests will show, marketing seems to win the battle and today's power supply's get labeled with a value that they can't handle outside of a test lab.

That part of power supply's has always made me cringe and want to stop building PC's at all. If something is rated for 1000watts of continuous power, it had better be able to handle 24/7 use at 1000watts of continuous load at the peak temp that systems can hit with standard cooling.

Don't forget about the cheap power supply's (i.e. inexpensive). I am sure alot of us that upgrade all the time pass down some of the hardware to other family members in new cases as gifts (or maybe i'm just a cheap bastard).
example : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189003

Keep up the great work and reviews!

 

[Polarhound]

Just one thought on the review.. Although thorough and well-written, I have to take the recommendation with a grain of salt until a baseline is established. The results would have meant a lot more had an initial baseline set with 3-4 supplies.

I would venture to say that practically NO power supply currently on the market will hit it's rated output as a continuous, or in most cases, peak, figure without failure. It is probably one of the most fudged numbers in all of computing, which I believe will be borne out after the first 15 different PSUs tested all fail to get a passing grade. We will end up with a list stating, "Every PSU on the market stinks because none of them can hit their marketed figure."