When it comes to actually installing the Mach 1 into your system,  it's mostly going to depend on your enclosure as to how difficult the task is. While most enclosures mount the power supply on the top, we are starting to see more adaptations being developed that mount the power supply on the bottom. The Mach 1 is surely larger than most OEM power supplies, but it isn't as large as some other 1000 units we've reviewed either. In short, you should have no space issues, even with the modular cable systems fairly large connectors.

    As we've seen with a lot of modular power supplies in the past, the main ATX power connector and two separate +12 volt auxiliary power connectors are permanently attached. This particular pin-out arrangement is also becoming quite standard with power supplies and since the plugs can only be installed one way and on their respective connectors, actually installing the power supply will be very easy.

     One of the last steps that some DIY system builders skip is cable management. Sure, it's not required for a system to be operational, but it does make for easy post-install maintenance. Not to mention, a tidy cable arrangement can also help airflow within the enclosure. To help with both tasks, the Mach 1 has nylon lacing around each and every wire harness. The lacing terminates into a heat-shrink collar at the connector that will keep the lacing held together for the life of the power supply.

     A1,000 watt power supply would be overkill for the average web-surfing PC. So we're going to install the Mach 1 ABT-1000 into a gaming PC.

     Even with two power-hogging 8800GTX graphics cards, this system should be an easy chore for The Mach 1 ABT-1000. Once we're all hooked up and running, a real world test is to load up the system with tasks that increase power consumption. Pretty much, if it stresses the CPU, it demands more energy. So, with that in mind I'm going to basically bog the system down with every task I can throw at it. Let's try and run a 3D Benchmark while burning a DVD and at the same time start a hard drive defrag. And if that's not enough, we'll have Orthos running in the background to take away any free time the CPU may find itself with.  All of this while the CPU itself is overclocked to 3.6Ghz.

    Before we begin, let's take a look at the voltage levels:

     The horizontal lines on the chart represent voltage with the sampling time shown along the bottom. . Data from the Red and Blue line was collected with a Digital Multi-Meter (DMM) at a Molex connector. The green line data was collected using the log features of Speed Fan.

    We can see a slight fluctuation of the voltage at the +5 volt Molex at the 1:15, 2:45, and 4:15 mark. The recorded voltage moved from 5.03 to 5.02 at these times. Other than that, values at the other two sample points did not move. 

     The voltage drop of .01 I recorded with the digital multi-meter on the +5 volt rail is very insignificant and poses no threat to components. In fact, up to a  +/- .75 voltage fluctuation would hardly effect most components accepted tolerances. Just look at the amount of vDROOP our processors deal with during high-end overclocking.....

     Conclusion..... 

      The efficiency of a power supply is largely dependant upon the quality of components inside.  Power supplies that are not meant for heavy duty applications can be built with lesser quality parts and still perform as expected for a very long time. Likewise, you will find that lower quality units will not make very efficient use of utility power and can cost you more in the long-run, especially as energy bills continue to rise.  

     The quality of the power supply also directly relates to how well the power supply can keep up with demand. Poorly filtered AC utility power can enter the PC as a very dirty DC signal. Instead of being a solid DC voltage, it will resemble more of a positive pulsing square wave which can be seen very easily with an oscilloscope.  Much more noticeable during periods of high demand would be a voltage drop. This is caused when the power supply is basically, maxed out. As in, the demand for Amperage is more than it is physically capable of doing. This results in the filtering circuits using all of their reserved energy to try and maintain the line voltage, but simply not being able to keep up with demand.

     So why is all of this important? Building a high performance PC is not cheap. You're going to put a lot of effort and money into building the system you want. Plain and simple, a poorly built power supply can damage that hardware. Making sure you have a quality energy source for your PC is just as important as the rest of the components you choose. Probably even more so because the power supply, literally, touches each and every component in your PC.

     When judging the Aesthetics of a power supply, what exactly do you look for?  LED fans can certainly add a nice touch to a PC with a window in the side panel. A polished paint-job can further add to the accent by putting a sparkling touch to that corner of the case. However, a lot of enclosures have very confined spaces for power supplies, so the paint needs to be very scratch resistant, and Kingwin has chosen their paint well. Remember though, all paint can scratch if you rough-house the component when installing it.

Note: Club Overclocker is now using a new rating system based on a score of 1 to 5.
Please go to our rating system page for more information.

Performance:	5 out of 5
Innovation:	4 out of 5
Quality:	5 out of 5
Stability:	N/A
Aesthetics:	4 out of 5
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Overclocking:	N/A
Value:	4 out of 5
Project Skill Level (5 being most difficult)	2 out of 5