ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply

Find out how well ADATA's first entry into the PSU market does.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: ADATA USA
6 minutes & 16 seconds read time

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing


ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 01


Introduction

ADATA has always been a well known manufacturer of memory and storage products. In early 2010, the company announced that it was entering the power supply market with the introduction of the Horus series of power supplies. The HM series comes in five different flavors ranging from 500W all the way up to 1200W, providing something for just about everyone. Today we have their HM-1200 on the bench to see how their first entry into the power supply market performs.

The ADATA HM-1200 promises to provide you with just about all the power you could ever use, even with dual processors and multiple GPU's in a single system. The 1200W of power is split between a pair of 12V rails and some seriously beefy 5V and 3.3V rails. To make full use of the 1200W, ADATA offers up a hefty amount of cables and connectors that will make sure you can power systems where cases are packed to the max with drives, GPU's and more.


Specifications, Availability and Pricing

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 02


The ADATA HM-1200 utilizes dual 12V rails rated for 50A each which will provide the full 1200W the power supply offers by themselves. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are capable of 30A of power as well, which will keep power hungry and overclocked systems quite satisfied.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 03


As you would expect with ADATA's top of the line power supply, it has every feature that you could ask for. All voltage, current and power protections are present in the HM-1200. Both modular and native cables are fully sleeved and the power supply is rated for 100% continuous output at 50C.

ADATA has managed to achieve an 80Plus Bronze rating for the HM-1200, meaning the power supply should be at least 82% efficient throughout all of our testing. The HM-1200 also boasts SLI certification, but not labeled as CrossfireX Ready even though it is more than capable of supporting Crossfire.

Availability for the ADATA HM-1200 power supply is quite poor. The usual online stores such as Newegg and Tiger Direct don't stock the unit. A check on ADATA's website shows several other merchants that supposedly carry the power supply, but even searching on the listed sites will reveal nothing.

Turning to a quick Google search, you can find the power supply listed at a handful of places in Europe which can be had for as low as £149.99 excluding VAT. This works out to be about $239 USD which makes it competitively priced compared to other 1200W power supplies available on the market. ADATA backs up your purchase with a 3-year warranty for the HM-1200.

The Packaging




ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 04


As with most of ADATA's products, the front of the packaging is kept simplistic. Besides product and manufacturer identification, the only other markings on the front of the box are the 80Plus Bronze and SLI Certified logos.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 05


ADATA continues the simplistic trend on the back of the box with a clean list of the major features of the HM-1200 including dual 12V rails, 100% Japanese capacitor construction, and that the tri-color LED fan changes color to indicate the load on the power supply.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 06


ADATA makes sure to list cable length and connector availability on one side of the box.

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The other side of the box displays the I/O specifications of the power supply.

Inside the Box




ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 08


Packaging inside the box is simplest, efficient, and sufficient to protect the power supply during shipping. The power supply is entirely surrounded by dense foam and extra space in the box is taken up by the modular cables to hold everything in place very securely.

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The top of the HM-1200 houses the I/O specification label and serial number.

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ADATA has placed a sticker on the sides of the HM-1200 that displays the wattage, model, and SLI/80Plus certifications.

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On the bottom of the HM-1200 we can see the large 140mm Yate Loon tri-color LED fan that feeds the power supply fresh air and keeps it cool.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 12


Moving to the front, we can see the connections for the modular cabling. Notice the two sections separated by red and black. While it doesn't say on the power supply itself, this actually denotes 12V1 and 12V2.

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Moving to the back of the power supply, we find the AC input and on/off switch. We also get a glimpse that in the inside of the HM-1200 is quite crowded.

Cabling Arrangement & A Look Inside


Cabling Arrangement

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With a total of 15 different cables, ADATA serves up quite a bit of connectors in a wide variety to make sure that you can power anything and everything. Dual EPS12V connectors allow the power supply to function in high end systems with dual processors and server boards. There are a total of six modular PCI-E cables to provide power to triple GPU systems. If that isn't quite enough for you, ADATA includes a pair of dual Molex to PCI-E adapters that will let you power up a fourth GPU. In case your system is filled to the max with optical and storage drives, the HM-1200 has eight Molex, eight SATA, and one FDD connector.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 15


We did notice a discrepancy between the connector availability listed on the box and what was actually included. While the box lists two modular cables with 4+1 Molex+FDD and a single SATA cable with four connectors, the box we received had only one 4+1 Molex+FDD cable and two SATA cables with four connectors.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 16


The HM-1200 features dual 600W 12V rails. 12V1 is dedicated to the six PCIE connections available, while 12V2 is dedicated to everything else. As stated before, this is denoted by the red/black labeling surrounding the modular plugs on the front of the power supply. While this isn't stated anywhere on the power supply, box, or ADATA's website, it is denoted in the user manual.


A Look Inside

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Once we crack the HM-1200 open, we can see that ADATA has made sure to utilize as much area as possible for heatsinks in order to help dissipate the large amount of heat generated when the power supply is under full load.

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Both the primary and secondary of the HM-1200 feature Japanese capacitors. On the primary side we can see Hitachi HP3 caps.

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The secondary side is filled with Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors.

Test Results & Final Thoughts


Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits lower than that of the ADATA HM-1200, we can only test it to the 1000W.

ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 20


ADATA HM-1200 1200W Power Supply 21


Looking at the results above, we can see that ADATA has done quite well for their first entry into the power supply market. The voltages are quite stable, especially for such a high wattage power supply. The 3.3V and 5V rails barely change throughout the entire series of tests. As is usual, the 12V rails showed the largest change in voltage as the loads increased, but were still well within ATX specification.

Even though we were not able to load the HM-1200 to full capacity due to the limitations of our test equipment, it is relatively safe to say that even under full load our sample would have still been in specification due to the linear voltage degradation that is typically experienced in most PSU's.

Ripple on the 12V lines is a little higher than we like to see, reaching a maximum of 48mV peak to peak when loaded to ~83% capacity and still well within the ATX specifications. If we were to increase the load closer to the maximum capacity of the HM-1200, it would surely climb. However, the readings that were taken when fully loading our test equipment weren't anywhere close to the specification limits.


Final Thoughts

With the test results that were achieved with the HM-1200, ADATA has proven that they are serious about entering the power supply market. The HM-1200 exhibited solid voltages throughout all of our tests and didn't miss a beat. It boasts a ton of power and the heavy duty rail will handle almost anything you throw at it. Topping things off, ADATA has a perfect balance of cabling and connector availability to make sure that you can put all the power to good use. Add in the quality that the power supply shows inside and out, the three year warranty, and a price of $239 USD, and you can see that ADATA has produced one seriously solid PSU.

Unfortunately it would seem that producing one of the HM-1200 PSU's in your hand is one of its biggest downfalls. The HM-1200 just isn't available in the USA and can barely be found overseas. There is also an issue with the packaging as the cable and connector availability chart doesn't quite match the contents of the box we received. While this may appear as a minor discrepancy, it could easily be a huge problem if the HM-1200 was purchased because the connectors listed specifically matched the application in which it was needed, but weren't in the box.

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