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Tuniq Ensemble 1200 Watt PSU

Author:	Matthew Homan
Date:	2008.09.30
Topic:	PowerSupply
Provider:	Tuniq
Manufacturer:	Tuniq

Tuniq Ensemble 1200 Watt PSU

Introduction:

The power required by custom gaming systems today have reached levels of demand never seen before. High-end PC rigs with two and three video cards running in SLI are pulling two hundred to three hundred Watts or higher each. Also, those of you out there who are on top of things are overclocking processors and water cooling them, you can add another two hundred Watts of drain on the power supply. Of course if the rig is tweaked this much, then it is probably running a few hard drives in a RAID in order to get the best disk access times possible. Now, add on a few Watts for a DVD ROM(s) (under load) and case fans, your probably pushing your present power supply past its best efficiency output, resulting in a shorter life of the power supply and more heat. The engineers at Tuniq have a solution; their 1,200 WATT monster they call the Ensemble. So, lets take a look at what is has to offer.

Features:

Tuniq Ensemble 1200 Watt PSU

Specifications:

Click on pictures for larger view.

Above are two benchmarks where were done by Tuniq show the Tuniq Ensemble 1200Watt's fan and the noise level in db's. From the bench marks taken during the testing TWL's did, we can attest that even with the power supply running under 80% ~90% load which is where the power supply fan was running at its max speed, we still didn't hear it over the rest of the fans that were running on the graphics cards and case fans.

Gallery:

Sleek gun metal gloss finish	Large number of power cord options	1 X PCI 8 Pin to PCI 6 Pin 2 X 4Pin Y Cable 1X4Pin to SATA
Power Supply with the lid removed	Shot of the power table which is shown on the side of the power supply	Close up shot of the market leading capacitor

Tuniq Ensemble 1200 Watt PSU

Packaging:

The Tuniq Ensemble 1200W came to us still in its shrink wrap, so we were able to assure the power supply was packaged for shipment the way the consumer would receive it. The power supply unit (PSU) is packaged in standard white foam which is cut to fit the power supply exactly to eliminate the power supply from shifting around during shipping. Also the PSU was also inside a plastic bag to eliminate any of the foam from getting into the PSU components. The cables were neatly twisted-tied and put into an adjacent black box which was label with Tuniq's name. Last but not least there was a third box which held the power cord and Y-cables. The foam was designed very well and kept the power supply very still.

Claims and Impressions:

The Tuniq Ensemble 1200Watt states clearly on the box that it maintains an 87% efficiency rating. Which is one if not the only one TWL has reviewed with such a high rating. The web site also states that even under the greatest of loads, the lowest rating of efficiency is at 86%. That alone is a pretty strong statement and a task not easily obtained. Competitors to Tuniq will be working pretty hard to reach and surpass those claims. First impression about the Ensemble was the weight. This is probably not going to be the power supply that will be installed in your rig which will be transported much. The weight is not listed on the box, web site, or manual, but it is some where in the ball park of ten pounds. Also the size of the Ensemble is also much longer than the standard power supply with an added two inches in length, so your average mid tower case will probably not fit this inside. Since this PSU is designed for 1200Watts, it has more cables than any PSU this reviewer has seen before, which is great for those who are going to build a monster of a machine. Those of you who will not use all the cables, maybe even half will end up with a lot of left over cables which are twist-tied up and hidden out of the way, which if the case you installing the Ensemble in is tight already, you may have a hard time hiding a fist full of un-used power cables. The alternative is for Tuniq to release a Ensemble with cables which can be added as needed, though the drawback to that is the connectors to the PSU result in a resistance and a fraction for the power would be lost at each connection. Finally, for those of you who are looking to build the standard gaming system, you shouldn't need a PSU with 1200Watts. The average gaming system, even overclocked with a Liquid Cooling System, two hard drives, dual graphics cards in SLI and a few other peripherals, is 550Watts to 900Watts. If your running higher end equipment, obviously you will use more power, and this power supply will do just fine with plenty to spare for future upgrades.

Tuniq Ensemble 1200 Watt PSU

Testing

Test rig was setup with the standard peripherals such as a high end video card, SATA hard drive, Optical drive, 2 Gigs of RAM and an AMD processor.

The tolerences of the Tuniq were very close and didn't flux when voltage draw was changed from idle to load, which was pretty impressive as other PSU's we have reviewed did. Though for the cost of the Tuniq 1200W, and the extra wattage that wasn't being used, the meter shouldn't jump at all.

Conclusion

The Tuniq Ensemble is the largest power supply this reviewer has reviewed to date, and by far the most impressive. The Ensemble is not short on power, supplied cables connections, quite during heavy loads and is a super high on efficiency at 87%. With all the connections and Wattage, anyone could hook up every peripheral they own to this PSU and not only will the Ensemble be able to power it all, it will do it quietly, efficiently and not turn into a space heater while do so. This may not be the power supply for the masses due to its weight, cost, and physical size which limits the Ensemble to full size cases, but it is a PSU which if none of those items listed don't stop you, then you won't be let down by this PSU performance. This is one AWESOME piece of hardware!