Introduction

Every now and then, something big comes along. You know it's big just by looking at the box. The sheer size and heft of the package in your hands dictates respect. It is a contender, a challenger and determined to be king.

This is exactly what we have for you today as we take a look at the latest offering from Lepa. For those unfamiliar with the brand, you'll be pleased to know that Lepa is simply a re-branded Enermax brand power supply. It really is that simple and knowing that, it should be no shock to you that we are taking a look at the only power supply to compete with the king of wattage, the Ultra X4 1600W.

For the first time in over two years, we finally have a power supply that is capable of challenging the power offered by the Ultra X4 1600W. Lepa has launched the G1600, capable of 1600 watts itself. It has full modular cabling and supports up to five GPUs, but that is just about where the similarities stop. Lepa promises an efficient, quiet and lightweight behemoth at an "affordable" price. Both Lepa and Enermax have shown us in the past that they mean business and they must uphold their reputation if they are to pull this off. If they don't, you could quite literally find yourself burning down the house. OK, maybe not that far, but you get the idea.

This unit also comes at a time when massive PSUs are needed for some enthusiasts. EVGA just released their new SR-X, a dual Xeon flagship workstation motherboard and an ASUS model will soon follow. I'm working as hard as I can to get both in my lab as the processors provided by AVADirect are already sitting on my shelf.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

There's been quite a push over the past few years towards a single 12V rail power design, but that just isn't going to cut it here with the Lepa G1600. Combined 12V amperage offered by this unit is 133 amps and that would simply be insane.

Lepa breaks things down to a total of six 12V rails that put out a combined 1596 watts. Both of the minor rails are rated for 25A each with a combined total output of 140 watts or enough to power a mainstream computer. This is a bit lower than we expected out of this unit, though. It does come with a larger than usual 5VSB rail and is rated for 4A.

Almost everything you could want in a power supply is here. Full modularity, full sleeving, full protection... Lepa doesn't miss a beat until you get to the 50C power rating. Unfortunately, the Lepa G1600 is only rated for 100% continuous output at 40C and thus gets a red mark. Our experience with Enermax / Lepa units shows that they are more than capable of handling the 50C mark, but we just can't give it the check based upon past experiences.

Lepa takes a huge swing at the crown with an MSRP of $329 which is about $50 less than what you can find the Ultra X4 1600W for. Not too many e-tailers are carrying the unit yet, but it is readily available by searching Google. Those that do have it aren't budging from the MSRP and the cheapest you'll be able to get your hands on the G1600-MA is $335.98 after shipping from Newegg.

Lepa backs the unit with a rather short three year warranty, something that caught us by surprise given the quality of PSU, the cost and other high wattage units available today that ship with a five year warranty.