Xigmatek Centauro 1000-watt Power Supply Review

Xigmatek is back for some more torture testing on the PSU test bench. Check out how well the new Centauro 1000W performs from start to finish.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Xigmatek
5 minutes & 55 seconds read time

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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By now, most of our readers should be familiar with Xigmatek and what they have to offer. For those who don't, Xigmatek is a relatively new company that began by offering excellent thermal management products to enthusiasts. Xigmatek was launched as a branch of parent company Micro Technology in 2005 and they quickly expanded to offer more solutions for the DIY market such as computer cases and power supplies. Xigmatek's company philosophy is simple; ICE. This stands for Impressive, Creative and Essential.

The last time we took a look at a power supply, it was the NRP-MC1002 1000W power supply. It did rather well till the last test when it barely fell outside of ATX specifications for DC output quality. Xigmatek tells us that their new modular power supply offers quiet and efficient performance with increased voltage regulation and DC output quality, which is certainly something we will be watching.

We've got high hopes this time around as we take a deep look into the new Centauro 1000W power supply.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Xigmatek's new Centauro power supply utilizes a single 12V rail capable of 75A. This means the Centauro 1000W power supply is rated for 900W of 12V power and can deliver 90% of the power supply's capacity on the 12V rail. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rather strong. The 3.3V rail is rated for 28A while the 5V rail is rated for 30A. Combined total output for the two rails is 180W. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Total combined output of the unit is 1000W.

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Xigmatek delivers when it comes to features on the Centauro 1000W unit. Voltage, power, circuit and temperature protections are all present and accounted for. The unit is rated for 80Plus Bronze efficiency. All cables are fully sleeved on the Centauro power supply, both native and modular. Xigmatek also included an ATX 4+4 connector and EPS12V on the Centauro 1000W unit. Finally, Xigmatek rates the Centauro 1000W for 100% continuous output at 50C which is very nice to see.

Pricing for the Xigmatek Centauro 1000W is a bit vague at the moment, but there are numerous places selling it Europe and Germany between the equivalent of roughly $170 and $200 USD. This puts the unit squarely in the middle of the road on pricing for 1000W units. Warranty for the Centauro series is a rather short two years.

Packaging

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Xigmatek does a great job on the front of the box with a shot of the unit, wattage, 80Plus certification and a pictorial list of features.

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The back expands on the unit a tad bit more with more features and the I/O specifications for the entire Centauro series of power supplies.

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One side gives us another shot of the unit and the modular connectors.

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Over on the other side, we find barcode and serial number information for the unit.

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Moving to the top of the box, we find a list of connectors available on the unit sans cable length.

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The bottom has nothing for than the URL for Xigmatek's website.

Inside the Box

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This is just how we found the unit packed inside the box. There was no foam protecting the top half of the PSU. It simply sits in a cradle of foam for the bottom inch of the unit.

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The top of the unit gives us a great shot at the matte black finish used on the power supply. The only information here is the serial number and the QA stickers.

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The I/O specification label can be found on one side of the unit for the Centauro 1000W unit.

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The other side simply has the Centauro series logo plastered on it.

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Turning the unit a bit more, we find the standard honeycomb mesh grill with AC input and on/off rocker switch present.

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Spinning it some more brings us to the front which shows us the modular connections. The pin out for all of the connectors is labeled here.

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Flipping things over reveals the 140mm fan that actively cools the Centauro 1000W power supply.

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All modular cables are fully sleeved with nylon mesh.

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Package contents also include the AC power cable, user manual, zip ties and mounting screws.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

[Heading]Cabling Arrangement
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Cable selection for the Centauro 1000W is relatively good.

Dual EPS12V connectors are present and should always been included with a 1000W unit. There are a total of six PCI-E 8-pin connectors bundled with the unit, two of which are natively wired. Peripheral connections are handled by the eight SATA, six Molex and two FDD connectors via four more modular cables.

Also available are two 3-pin fan connectors directly wired to the power supply. Cable length was a tad bit short on the unit, especially for the motherboard and PCI-E connectors.

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Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail.

A Look Inside

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Passive cooling is provided by three heatsinks that run almost the entire length of the power supply.

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A single Rubycon capacitor sits on the primary side of the power supply.

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Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors can be found on the secondary side of the PSU.

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Xigmatek uses the Globe Fan RL4ZB1352512HH run to provide the active cooling for the Centauro 1000W power supply.

Test Results and 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 equal to that of the Xigmatek Centauro 1000W PSU, we can test it to the maximum.

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The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different and actual loads can vary greatly even with similar hardware.

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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 3% regulation from with a total drop of .312V from start to finish. The 5V rail also stayed within 3% voltage regulation and displayed a total drop of .19V. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was again within 3% with a total voltage drop of .12V.

DC output quality was excellent from start to finish. Starting out, we were able to see a ripple on the scope during Test 1 where we measured noise at a low 19mV 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 29mV. Under Test 6, we saw that the noise on the 12V rail had crept up to 48mV.

The Xigmatek Centauro 1000W PSU is rated for 80Plus Bronze efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 82%/85%/82% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the Centauro 1000W power supply had no trouble achieving this while on our test bench.

Final Thoughts

After our last review of a Xigmatek power supply, we were a bit concerned that there would be some performance issues with the Centauro 1000W as well and we kept a very keen eye on it throughout testing just to see what we could find. When all was said and done, we were very pleased with the Centauro 1000W power supply and it did rather well throughout all of our tests.

Voltage regulation stayed at a flat 3% around the board for the Centauro 1000W unit we tested. DC output quality was vastly improved over what we saw from the last Xigmatek unit and the Centauro 1000W is well within specification limits this time around. Efficiency was right where it should have been for the 80Plus Bronze rating.

All of that being said, Xigmatek's Centauro 1000W power supply is a good unit. It performs well, is priced somewhat competitively and has a decent list of features to go along with it. Unfortunately the unit lacks anything to really set it apart from the crowd and make it stand out in a market full of choices.

If you're in the market for a good power supply that won't break the bank, but drive those dual GPU's that you just spent all your money on, you'll definitely want to give the Xigmatek Centauro 1000W unit a strong look.

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