XFX ProSeries 1250W Power Supply Review

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Earlier this month we took a look at the new 1000W ProSeries power supply from XFX. The new unit sported lots of power, Platinum efficiency and a ton of connectors, but it came at a hefty price. XFX also added a few more power supplies to their lineup and today we are going to be taking a look at the highest wattage unit that they offer.

This is the 1250W ProSeries power supply. It doesn't offer Platinum efficiency, but it offers the same set of features and an extra set of PCI-E connectors with very little additional cost and a mild drop in efficiency. Keep reading on to find out how well the ProSeries 1250W performs and if it is worth your hard earned money.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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XFX kept the single 12V rail on the ProSeries 1250W power supply and upped the amperage to 104A of power. That is quite a lot of power to be pushing through a single rail, but it has been many times without issue. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 25A each with a combined max output of 150W. We feel this is a tad on the low side for a 1250W power supply. It would be nicer to see the minor rails rated for about 30A each with a combined total output of 175W or more.

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XFX's ProSeries 1250W power supply has nearly a full set of features and almost gets a green check across the board. All of the protections are there, including the Over Temperature Protection. The unit has an 80Plus Gold certification but isn't rated for 100% continuous output at 50C. This should be a must in a power supply of this caliber as it is almost certainly going to be put under extreme loads for extended periods of time. All of the cables are modular and fully sleeved on the unit.

We were able to find the new ProSeries 1250W power supply readily available at a very wide variety of places and the power supply has an MSRP of $269.99. We couldn't find anyone that could beat Newegg's price on the unit, coming in at $269.99 with free shipping. XFX backs the ProSeries 1250W with a five year warranty.

The Packaging

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XFX uses the same packaging that we saw with the ProSeries 1000W and just changes the wattage and a few other items.

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More SolidLink and EasyRail Technology marketing. It is comical with what some of the marketing departments will come up with to rename old technology so that you feel you're getting something new and innovative.

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Yep, same stuff here.

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Moving to the bottom, we finally see the I/O specifications and the cable list.

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The other side finishes beating the horse on the EasyRail subject and lets you know that it is ready for quad GPU's.

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One side has some more information with bold text to highlight the important stuff.

Inside the Box

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Inside the box we find the user manual and box of modular cables sitting on top of the power supply.

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Once we remove that stuff, we find the power supply nestled in some foam and wrapped in bubble wrap. The cables you see there are for the PCI-E connections.

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On top of the unit we find the I/O specification label and serial number.

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On the side we can see that there is some extra venting and that the standard style case isn't used. It is identical to that of the 1000W version.

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The other side is the same with the exception of the label being inverted so that it can be installed in both the top and bottom of the case.

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On the back we find the same square mesh grill for venting the hot air that we saw with the 1000W unit. Also located back here are the AC input and on/off rocker switch.

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Checking the front, we can see all of the modular connections for the power supply. Also note that there is a switch to control the fan. This allows you to decide if you want to have the fan run all of the time or just let it be temperature controlled.

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XFX uses quite a different design for the fan grill. While this may not be optimum for airflow, it does add some flair that we don't normally see in a power supply.

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All of the cables are modular and the only difference between the 1250W and 1000W models is the extra PCI-E cable.

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Also included are the AC input cable, black thumb screws to mount the unit and the user manual.

Cabling Arrangement & A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

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As you can tell from the cable summary, the ProSeries 1250W unit is fully modular. XFX includes a very comprehensive list of cables and connectors to cover you in just about any situation that you could come across. The only real complaint is that all four of the PCI-E cables are of the same length and this was the same complaint that we had with the 1000W model. XFX was smart enough to take care of this with the SATA and Molex cables as they have several different lengths, but not with the PCI-E cables. A few inches of variance in them would have been nice.

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XFX keeps the rail distribution sweet and simple with a single 12V rail. This is the "EasyRail Technology" that they bombard you with on the front. It is just a marketing ploy to make you think it is something new when in reality it is something that we have been enjoying in high end power supplies for quite some time.

A Look Inside

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Once we open up the case, we find that it is built just like the 1000W model with the fan being mounted to a plate separate of the bottom of the power supply like we are accustomed to seeing. Once we pull the fan from the unit, we find that the unit looks like it is identical to the ProSeries 1000W.

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The same trio of capacitors adorns the primary side of the 1250W ProSeries power supply.

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Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors were present on the secondary side as well.

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Cooling the 1000W ProSeries power supply is the Protechnic Magic MGA13512YF-O25 135mm fan.

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 are lower than that of the XFX ProSeries 1000W, we will only be able to test it to 1000W.

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Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 2% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .25V throughout all the tests. The 5V rail didn't quite fair as well with 3% voltage regulation and a total drop of .18V. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation stays at 3% with a total voltage drop of .10V. This was an improvement all the way around from the 1000W model.

DC output quality was also marginally better from start to finish. Starting out, we measured noise at a low 11mV peak to peak. This steadily increased as the loads also increased. By the time we had reached around 50% load, the unit ripple had crept up to 37mV. Under Test 6 load, we saw that the noise on the 12V rail had crept up to 49mV. It would have been nice to see how much noise we were able to find under full load, but unfortunately our test equipment will not allow for higher loads.

The XFX ProSeries 1250W is rated for 80Plus Gold efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 97%/90%/87% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the XFX ProSeries 1250 managed to score a pass while on our test bench. Things were a little close right from the start, but quickly improved. There is no reason to suspect that the unit would have failed if we would have been able to fully load down the unit.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the XFX ProSeries 1250W power supply does very well in our testing. The unit has several improvements over what we saw with the 1000W unit. Voltage regulation is better and manages to keep everything within 3% of specification. DC output quality is better up to the 1000W mark too, but we can't say whether or not is better overall since we cannot test the unit to the full 1250W. The efficiency is right where it should be per the 80Plus Gold certification as well.

This unit also comes in at a steep price of $269.99, but when you start to factor in what you are getting, it becomes much more of a bargain. For only $20 more than the 1000W, you are getting an extra 250W of power and the capability to run an extra GPU. On top of that, you are getting marginally better performance with a minor drop in efficiency. Overall, it becomes a no-brainer that the better buy is the 1250W ProSeries unit for a number of reasons, unless the extra $20 really breaks the bank for you.