When it comes to PC system building, the one area that rarely gets more thought than matching its color to the rest of the build’s theme is the venerable “Power Supply Unit”, which is a shame. A good AC to DC with multiple (but precise) DC voltage outputs will help keep your system running in tiptop shape (at the hardware level) for years to come. A bad PSU will eventually kill components, and if ignored, will kill the entire system out of sheer ineptitude. Thankfully, over the years, the number of truly bad PSUs on the market has gotten… limited to say the least. So much so that these days, most buyers should be focusing their attention on budget optimization and buying a ‘good enough’ PSU for their given budget, rather than overkill. In this vein, we will be putting the newly released MSI MPG A1000GS PCIE 5 1000 watt power supply unit to the test today… and we are very excited to do so.
On the surface, a ‘Gold’ rated PSU does not sound all that exciting. They pretty much are the ‘new Bronze’ of the marketplace. With every company and their dog having at least two of these rated PSUs in their lineup… and for good reason. ‘Gold’ has replaced ‘Bronze’ and (the mostly ignored) ‘Silver’ efficiency rating as the de facto ‘good enough’ standard for system builders and experienced consumers. Put simply, ‘Gold’ means it is “up to” ~90 percent efficient and going above this is rarely worth it outside of premium custom builds where one is either pushing the limits of their mains 20A 120v circuit breaker… or the build does not have a budget perse and a ‘why not’ attitude is in full effect. On the other hand, an 80Plus ‘Gold’ rating with a GOLD rating from Cybenetics… now that is interesting, as the latter is a much higher standard to meet.
On the surface, a 1000-watt rating does not sound all that exciting. While that is at the upper edge of the efficiency ‘sweet spot’ for most builds, it is at the upper end of the spectrum of realistic peak power draw, too. The fact of the matter is, few mainstream, even upper mainstream, builds will ever routinely pull 1000’ish watts. These days, most will not even routinely demand 500W and get that ‘Gold’ efficiency rating in the real world. With that said, if you are building a system to last longer than your shoes… instead of an 800-watt range PSU, a 1000-watt range PSU will last longer. As all experienced builders and troubleshooters know, “an old capacitor is an angry, spiteful, capricious capacitor”, and what is perfectly fine for the first few years may not be in year 5 (let alone 8 or 10). Thus, a bit bigger rating up front can mean getting multiple system upgrades out of a PSU. This is what you will want to do when dealing with a ten-year warranty-backed PSU like the MSI MPG A1000GS 1000W power supply unit.
On the surface, a fully modular PSU does not sound all that exciting. Sure, if you reallllllly try, you can still get a good non-modular (or at least partially modular) PSU; but outside of niche corners of the marketplace, fully modular is the de facto standard. With that said, the quality of the modular cables can vary… wildly from PSU model to PSU model (let alone manufacturer to manufacturer). Here, MSI has paid attention to feedback and gotten rid of their dog sh… err… “old school”… less than optimal, flat ribbon cables. In their stead are oh so premium feeling, oh so premium looking, individual sleeved looking cables. Just without the hassle factor of individual cloth sleeving. Instead, they are all coated in a light-absorbing, uber ‘grippy’ secondary polymer coating that makes them look like an after-market sleeving kit was used, without the long-term discoloration (and reliability… and safety) of said kits. Better still, this new PSU comes with not one but two 12V-2×6 cables. Both of which, pardon the pun, come with a trick up their sleeves in the form of color-coded safety “go/no-go” headers. Meaning Team Green engineers can’t blame any problem on this PSU.
Finally, it does all the above (plus a little bonus feature like zero RPM fan mode) and yet has a rather reasonable MSRP of $190(USD) and an online average retail asking price of about $260 CAD. Which is also right in the sweet spot for most mainstream and upper-mainstream builds. Just like the whole ‘MPG’ lineup is supposed to be. With that said, that last statement remains to be proven correct or not. The MPG lineup does come with some rather impressive inferences and high expectations associated with it. So high that the last gen A1000G really did not meet our personal cut for what an “MPG” is supposed to be, and rather was arguably a MAG model in MPG’s clothing. So, let us take a closer look, do a tear down (as far as necessary), and test this new model to see if MSI has indeed improved upon the already decent value MA… err… MPG A1000G is enough to hit true MPG standards.
