A Closer Look
The BFG Tech 1kW power supply enclosure is painted gloss black and uses two 80mm fans for cooling. The power supply is designed to operate in ambient temperatures (internal case temperature) up to 50ºC, which is typical for most high-quality units. It incorporates Active PFC and universal AC input so there is no voltage selector switch on the back panel — just a power receptacle, On-Off switch and 80mm exhaust fan (Globe Fan B0801512H).
A second 80mm fan is mounted on the front of the power supply enclosure (SanyoDenki San Cooler 80 9A0812H401). Both fans are considered high-speed fans and use ball bearings. During operation, the speed of the fans is controlled based on the load and internal temperature.
The BFG 1kW power supply has four 12V outputs (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4). The following table shows the capacity and what connectors are supplied by each output. The maximum combined +12V load is 75A.
This appears to be a very good distribution of the +12V outputs and should provide a pair of power hungry video cards with over 200W each.
The BFG Tech 1kW power supply has a full assortment of hard-wired cables and connectors including four PCI-E connectors (ready for dual 8800’s 🙂 The wiring harnesses measure approximately 20′ long to the first connector and all of the cables are covered with black plastic mesh sleeving.
- Main power connector (20/4-pin)
- (2) ATX 12V (4-pin)
- EPS 12V (8-pin)
- (4) PCI Express (6-pin)
- (8) Peripheral Optical/HDD (4-pin)
- (2) Peripheral FDD (4-pin)
- (8) Serial ATA (15-pin)
The included AC power cord is unique in that it comes with gold-plated terminals and a ferrite EMI collar — very nice!
Here are a few pictures showing the layout and components inside the BFG Tech 1kW power supply. The two black, mushroom shaped heatsinks provide extra surface area at the top and guide the air flowing thru the power supply from front to back.
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The BFG Tech 1kW power supply appears to be manufactured by Topower and is very similar to the Tagan Turbojet U95 series power supplies.
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One interesting discovery I made while looking around inside the power supply is the use of three separate remote voltage sense circuits for +3.3V, +5V and +12V. It has been common practice for years to use remote sense on the +3.3V rail but rarely have I seen all three of the main rails monitored. Remote sense is implemented by running a small gauge wire to the 24-pin power connector, which ‘senses’ the actual voltage at the connector and allows the PSU to compensate for changes in voltage as the load changes. It’s a little hard to see but the following picture shows the +5V and +12V sense wires terminating on the power supply’s printed circuit board. This bodes well for good load regulation.
The only documentation provided with the power supply is a very brief Installation sheet that tells how to unscrew your old power supply and insert the new one. I suspect most power users already know how to swap out a power supply and are more interested in the technical details of power distribution, operating temperature limits, holdup times, etc. Unfortunately very little of this type of information is provided, nor could I find it on BFG Tech’s website. However, our contact at BFG Tech quickly responded to my questions so I could include them in this review.
