Kingwin Mach 1 600 Watt Modular Power Supply Review

The install:

     I installed the Kingwin Mach 1 into my XION Gamer II case.  The build is based on my ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard and includes an Athlon 64 3000+, 2x 1gig OCZ Gold Edition XTC DDR, the HDA X-Plosion and a Gigabyte X1800 XL.  The supported drives for this build are two 30 Gig Western Digital drives, a Lite-on DVD Burner, a Seagate SATA 750 GB drive and a Plextor SATA DVD Burner.  The Mach 1 also powers three fans and a total of 5 cathode lights and even the drive lines are running EL wire accents.  For a gaming rig, this is one of the more power hungry boxes in the lab.

     First I installed the power supply and ran power to the motherboard.  The ASUS A8n-SLI Deluxe uses the 4 pin power lead and can also use an extra 12 V run for SLI installations.  With the single X1800 card the MB 12 V is not used in this install.

     Next I installed the drive lines and ran power for the accessories.  Sadly the lack of a second SATA run forced me to skip the Plextor for this example.  I will have to shift the drives around and try to make the single run work if this power supply is to stay in the system!  Thanks to the ample length of each power run, only a couple cable ties were needed to keep every thing looking fairly clean.

     With the power on, the Mach 1 comes to life immediately.  Each of the active power leads has an accent light and the nickel surface reflects the green lighting brightly.

     Even the back lights up brightly.  The normal green lighting is in sharp contrast to the brilliant blue glow of the Mach 1.  Clearly the Mack 1 looks awesome.  But lets see how it performs..

The Test:

     To test the Mach 1, I first ran the system at idle over night.  Then using the ASUS PC Probe utility I captured these numbers.  As you can see, every rail is nicely represented.

     I double checked the idle numbers in the BIOS with a 15 minute run.  There is a slight variance we can expect from running a minimal system but everything looks great.

     Next I ran the system for over 30 minutes using Passmark's Burnin Test 5.1.  This runs the system at peak load to really stress the components.  The above screen shot shows the rails during the last portion of the test.  There is absolutely no variation to be seen except for the brief dip in the 3.3 V rail.  To confirm the readings were accurate, I also monitored the load with my trusty voltmeter.  The stability on the rails is rock solid.  Outstanding!  I have seen high end 750 Watt systems with less stability in this system.

Conclusion:

     King win has surpassed my expectations with the Mach 1.  This is without a doubt the coolest looking power supply I have ever reviewed.  Reading of the list of features is like checking off your wish list for both a high-end power supply and a modders dream all in one.  I am only baffled by the "missing" SATA cable.  The Rails are strong and held rock solid through our load testing and the light show is better in person.  I am pretty sure you can see I am thrilled to see this level of performance in a power supply that looks this good.  Too bad it only comes in blue.  There may be a stronger power supply out there, but I have yet to see a power supply that delivers on so many levels.