Segueing properly into the cables, there are no ifs; there are no ands; there certainly are not coconuts about it. These are some of the best cables we have seen come with a mainstream PSU in ages. One could even argue that they are as good or even better (depending on your POV on cloth sheathing) than what a lot of premium-priced PSUs come with. First. Each and every cable comes individually “sleeved”. Just as if you had paid for either an uber high-end PSU or a third-party kit.
For some, the lack of cloth covering will be a turn-off. For others, this will be a major boon. We fall firmly into the latter camp, as these are some nice-looking cables. Each looks individually sleeved in a matte black, with an almost ‘pebble’ type finish, that does not reflect light like cloth covering can sometimes do. Furthermore, this coating will not get as dirty or become “yellow” looking nearly as fast as cloth. Mix in the fact that many cloth coverings do nothing to help the heat resistance of said cables (and yet this secondary coating does), and we really, really like what MSI has done. When compared against its predecessor and its “flat” ribbon cables, for say the SATA cables… It’s not even close. The new A1000GS smokes the older A1000G in both the looks and ease of use department (as these new cables are as flexible as they are pretty). Just as any good successor should do to its predecessor.
Moving on. The major claim to fame of the GS is twofold. We will go over the other one when we get to the internals, but one of its major claims to fame is the dual 12v-2×6 cables and ports included. Some will consider the secondary 12v-2×6 header a “waste”… as even the mighty 5090Ti (rofl) only uses one of these 16-pin cables. The reality is, NVIDIA is going to be forced at some point in the (hopefully near) future to use two of these headers as one is a fire hazard. Even with all three pairs per cable active, trying to push 50A (plus random spikes) through just three pairs of 18AWG is borderline insane.
Thus, while it is possible that MSI was/is thinking about the dual GPU ‘hobby AI’ market (who can easily take advantage of two cards in one rig) it is more likely that MSI is not looking at the market as it stands today but what it will look like tomorrow. Which is a nice bonus for the hobby AI market in the short term, but a major selling feature for most buyers… as that secondary header will go from ‘meh’ to saving you the cost of a new PSU in the medium term. That is the theory behind it, and we like the factthat MSI is thinking about tomorrow and trying to help their customers get as long as they can out of a premium PSU before being forced to upgrade to a shiny new one. Especially if it is just because the standards changed again! Color us impressed.
Also firmly in the win category is the fact that each of these nice and long GPU cables has MSI’s go/no-go yellow color coding baked directly into each end. That yellow is bright, it is attention-getting… and if you can still see it on the PSU or GPU end when it’s “installed”… It. Is. Not. Installed. Properly. Rather, it is a fire hazard waiting to happen. This little attention to detail does separate MSI’s 12v-2×6 cables from most others. Especially when neither cable exhibited any “wiggle” on any of the pins. Which is another sign of having a premium product.
When you combine killer looks with ease of use and then add in a heaping helping of safety… well… you basically have zero good reasons to opt for an aftermarket cabling kit beyond wanting a specific color. If that is the case, then maybe spending the 100 CAD for a cable kit is worth it, but for the vast, vast majority of mainstream builds, this PSU will save you a good 50 to 100 USD/CAD easily. Which certainly helps on the overall value equation.
Before moving on to the PSU itself,we do feel the need to point out one glaring negative with this new PSU. There is only one PCIe 6+2 cable included. Why you may ask would MSI do something so short sighted given the fact that AMD’s top end GPU models need two (or more) of them? Welll… that is because this PSU only comes with three “8 Pin” headers and MSI has decided that a two EPS / CPU 8Pin headers with one 6+2 PCIe makes the most sense.
As you can see there is indeed room on the rear header area for a “fourth” 8Pin header, and thus MSI could have easily done 2 EPS + 2 PCIe 8 pin headers. They did not. Instead… they simply, blocked if off and ignored it. Most likely out of ‘fear’ that it would be too easy to overload the PSU. Which makes little sense as each of those 12v2x6 heaters can draw nearly 600 watts. Each. Thus this decision forces everyone to ask a question no one should be asking about a potential PSU: Why two + one instead of a more sensible 2+2? In the immortal words of the modern Scottish bard “Don’t Knoooooow” but certainly not “Yeah, it will be fine”… as even ironically this is not fine.
This design decision highly focuses this PSU towards Team Green and away from Team Red. No PSU manufacture should put their thumb on the scales this heavily. They should be “team” agnostic and cater to all camps and all buyers equally. As such, this reminds us of the bad old days when Intel and AMD motherboards darn near required different PSUs (as Intel needed two EPS and AMD only one… and many a “mainstream” PSU only came with one). Ugh. Sadly, we will be kicking this dead horse more once we crack this PSU open and see what is inside.
Moving on. On the positive side, the included fan is a big boi 135mm fan with some of the lowest static pressure “mesh” covering that we have seen in a long while. Consisting of long rectalular’ish cut outs this fan can suck in as much fresh air as it wants and will do so with almost no added static pressure to overcome. Which in turn will allow it to run slower and still provide enough cooling to keep the internals… cool.
Of course, as this is a Cybenetics’ Gold rated PSU for both efficiency and noise, it should come as no surprise that this is a PSU that can run entirely passively. Sure, you will have to install it so that the heat can rise up and out the fan cutout area (and into the internal of the PC case)… but in return you will get a dead silent PSU. In testing it will stay in silent mode until about 50’ish percent load is applied… or 40’ish in a moderately hot environment… or 30’ish in a hot environment. Whereas the non-silent mode will simply “blip” the fan for a couple seconds at under 50’ish percent load. Above this passive load level, both modes are basically equal and when going full out at 100 percent load, the fan is going to become noticeable.
It is what it is.
~90 percent efficiency still means 10 percent of the power is going to be transformed into waste heat, and 100 watts of heat (for example) is 100 watts of waste heat. Which does need to be pushed out the PSU as soon as possible.
We say that, even after taking into account that the main (~25 to 30 USD) Rubycon 420v MXE Japanese capacitor is ‘Server Grade’ and rated for 105°C, that… that is not the same as it being a good idea to have the MPG A1000GS running at 105°C!
Also in the win column is this is a decently sized (aka “short”) PSU for its rated wattage. Coming in at just a hair over 150mm in length, it will fit inside 99.9999 percent of cases that can accommodate “Full ATX” power supply units. While this is not unusual by modern “Gold” standards, it still is nice to see. 10 or more ‘extra’ millimeters of length in a tiny case may not sound like much but can make the difference between a good (and/or fun) build and one that quickly turns into a royal pain in the butt.
