Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W Power Supply Review

Conclusion

There is a lot to say about the Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W but one line which sums things up perfectly: “Viva la Revolution!”. Aside from conjuring up images of a certain famous Che Guevara photo, that one line speaks volumes about what we think about this product. We expected great things from Enermax’s new line and let me tell you, it met most of those expectations while blowing the rest straight out of the water.

From the second you take the Revolution 85+ out of its box, you know that you are holding something special in your hands. Its durable exterior finish is quality personified considering it was nigh-on impossible to scratch and fingerprints disappear like they weren’t even there. Indeed, those red accents on the case really serve to add a certain “je ne sais quoi” to the whole exterior design. When it comes to cables and connectors, we really couldn’t ask for any more with the cables we all use on a daily basis being more than long enough to reach every part of most large cases.

Before this review we had been using the Corsair HX1000 as our gold standard to which we measured all other 1000W power supplies against but the Revolution changed all of that. When it comes to performance, other than a small slip in the +12V readings to the 8-pin PCI-E connector, Enermax’s poster child eclipsed the Corsair flagship again and again. However, we have to remember that our Corsair sample has seen over 1000 hours of use while the Revolution had run less than a tenth of that before the benchmarks were run. Could this have influenced the charts? Only time will tell as we stack both PSUs up against more competition in the months to come.

It is almost a shame that we have to interject some criticism into this love ballad but even Einstein needed to use an eraser to cover up a mistake every now and then. We feel that Enermax needs to take a serious look at their half-assed cable sleeving job and do it in a way that befits a power supply that retails for nearly $300. Having the multicolored mess of partially sleeved cables in an otherwise clean build will drive even the best of us to distraction. We would also like to see the warranty increased to reflect the growing trend among several of Enermax’s competitors to offer 5-year warranties. Three years is an awfully long time when it comes to computer components but for us; the longer the warranty the better. On the other hand, you know that when cable sleeving and a 3-year warranty are the only things our picky brains can find to bitch about, the company in question did one hell of a job.

Even though our new power supply reviews are still in their infancy, we can safely say that the Revolution 85+ 1050W is a giant among men. Granted, it did have a few very minor issues, but these were squashed under the landslide of positive aspects that this unit brings to the table. As such, it wins our Dam Good Award.


Pros:

- Excellent performance
- Quiet
- Stunning exterior design
- Good cable lengths and number of connectors
- Brilliant rail layout


Cons:

- Partially sleeved cables
- Price
- 3-year warranty