ASRock Steel Legend SL-1200G ATX 3.1 80 PLUS Gold PSU Review

TweakTown Rating: 90%

Our Verdict

ASRock's SL-1200G ATX 3.1 PSU is 80 PLUS Gold-rated and has a Cybenetics Platinum rating, but it doesn't really stand out from the competition.

Pros

• Great value for a 1200-watt unit
• 80 PLUS Gold and Cybenetics Platinum rated
• Compact form factor
• Dual 600w 12V-2x6 cables
• 10-year warranty and 100% Japanese capacitors

Cons

• $35 price premium over the 1000-watt model for only 200 additional watts
• No standout features over the competition

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $149.99 USD

Buy at Amazon for $232.05 CAD

Buy at Amazon for £168.23

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

ASRock sent over the bigger brother in the Steel Legend series, the SL-1200G, which is pretty much the same as the SL-1000G we already took a look at here. The SL-1000G received the Must Have Recommended Award with an overall rating of 91%. Not too shabby.

Like the lower-wattage model, the SL-1200G has many of the same attributes, but it adds 200 watts and a price tag of around $35, with an MSRP of $169.99. So why don't we take a closer look at the SL-1200G and see how it runs?

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Packaging

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We start by looking at the exterior of the packaging that the SL-1200G comes in, which shows a picture of the SL-1200G along with all the certifications, features, and warranty information.

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This side of the packaging remains unchanged, except for the model name, and tells the tale of what Steel Legend means.

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The backside of the SL-1200 G's packaging shows a lot of the same information as the SL-1000G that came before it.

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The internal packaging, again, is more of the same -being from the same product line, why wouldn't it be?

Further 80 PLUS Gold PSUs Reading – Our Latest Reviews

• Endorfy Supremo FM6 1000w 80 PLUS Gold ATX 3.1 PSU Review
• Corsair RM850x (2024) ATX 3.1 Cybenetics Gold PSU Review
• ASRock Steel Legend SL-1000G 80 PLUS Gold ATX 3.1 PSU Review

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ASRock has included a few accessories to help get things going for the initial install: velcro cable straps, PSU jumper, screws, zip ties, a C13 power cable, and, lastly, the quick installation guide.

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Lying out all of the included modular cables, we can see:

• Motherboard cable (24-pin)
• EPS 12V CPU connectors (4+4pin)
• EPS 12V CPU connectors (8pin)
• PCIe5.1 connectors(12+4pin) Dual Color - 2 with green tips to ensure cable connection
• PCIe connectors (6+2pin) - 2
• PCIe connectors (8pin)
• 4-pin Peripheral connectors - 3
• SATA 5-pin connectors - 9

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And wrapping up the last of the packaging, black open-cell foam flanks the SL-1200G on both sides to provide adequate protection against any damage. Also, protecting the SL-1200G from debris is a clear plastic bag.

Outside the ASRock SL-1200G ATX 3.1 PSU

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The external grill styling that ASRock has used for the SL-1200G is merely identical to that of the SL-1000G, with the fine mesh grill and the Steel Legend logo in the center.

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The back of the SL-1200G shows all the power information for AC input as well as DC output in 3.3V, 5V, +12V, -12V, and +5Vsb. Please note that to pull 1200W on the 12V rail, 100 amps will be drawn from the wall.

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ASRock has again used the same chassis for the SL-1200G, with the same styling as the other models in the lineup.

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Now, on the cable input side of the SL-1200G, there is a split motherboard input, two 12V-2x6 inputs, five CPU or PCIe inputs, and lastly, three SATA or PATA inputs.

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The rear power cable input is set off the left-hand side, along with a large power rocker switch. Another switch, labeled iCOOL, controls the fan speed based on temperature.

Inside the ASRock SL-1200G ATX 3.1 PSU

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The fan that ASRock has used here, model number RL4Z-S1352512EH-3M, in the SL-1200G is the same one used on the SL-1000G.

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The internals of the SL-1200G have an immaculate layout.

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The two capacitors are from Nippon Chemi-Con. The larger one is rated at 450V, 560uF, 2000h @ 105°C, while the smaller one is rated at 450V, 460uF, 2000h @ 105°C.

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The main transformer, with an ASRock sticker, is located between two black heatsinks and the two Japanese capacitors.

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The DC-to-DC converter section, which is nice and neat -again, just like the SL-1000 G.

Installation, Testing, Finished Product, and Final Thoughts

Ryan's Test System Specifications

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For this review, using the PSU test bench, the CPU, an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, was set to 1.35V vCore to keep the CPU cores above 5GHz. The 16-core, 32-threaded CPU maintained well over 5GHz throughout the test period, while the wattage peaked at 220.07 watts and averaged about 215.31 watts. The AM5 motherboard that was used here was the X870E AORUS Pro from GIGABYTE, while the test RAM was from Corsair, specifically, the Dominator Platinum that runs at DDR5-7200M/t.

The NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE test GPU was power-limited at 75% via the NVIDIA App to control the GPU wattage. On average, the NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE drew about 255.13 watts; it peaked at 261.45 watts, while the rest of the system used around 85 watts. The power drawn from the wall was measured using a Killawatt P3 digital electrical usage monitor, which showed a total system wattage of 596-605 watts during testing, with an average of 600 watts. The total of 555 watts from the 600 watts pulled from the wall equates to 92.5% efficiency at a 50% load, which falls completely within the 80 PLUS Gold certification requirements.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version v8.00.8000 for over 20 hours; the ambient temperature was 23 °C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v8.32-5840, TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.68.0, and CPU-Z 2.17.0.x64.

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So, wrapping things up with the ASRock SL-1200G, I can honestly say it performed just as I expected it to, which was just like the SL-1000G but with a tad bit more power at its disposal. Now, with pricing in mind, the SL-1200G is also more expensive than its 1000W counterpart, as we already expected. While kind of in the same market as the SL-1000G, the SL-1200G is priced at $169.99 currently on Newegg, which is $35 more for 200 watts.

At the end of the day, what you want is a solid PSU behind your expensive, not-so-replaceable hardware. What you don't like is something to happen - i.e., a power surge - and POOF, your PSU pops and takes out the rest of your rig, which is a terrible day. By getting a solid PSU with quality components, like the 100% Japanese capacitors in the ASRock SL-1200G, you are giving your gaming hardware the chance it deserves: as much good, clean power as it can take.