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Many of our readers will already be aware of Montech – they have made quite an impact in 2024 with some of their clever and well received case designs. Recently they spoke to us about taking a look at some of their new power supplies and the first one we have on review today is the Titan PLA 1000W. This fully modular power supply is Platinum efficiency rated and has a full 10 year warranty.
While it might be a surprise for many to see Montech entering into the PSU market, the creation of these new units is due to a collaboration with leading brand Seasonic. This unit is certified Platinum rated by both 80 Plus standards and the more modern and reliable Cybenetics platform.
Montech have released 750W, 850W and 1200W units in this series, as well as the 1000W unit we are testing today. Montech claim these power supplies ‘deliver top tier performance, unmatched efficiency and rock solid reliability. We will find that out in the review today.
Montech ship the Titan PLA 1000W in a black box with a high resolution image of the power supply on the left.
The rear of the box highlights the efficiency, the cables, and some key selling points such as the fully modular design, fluid dynamic bearing fan and adoption of Japanese capacitors.
The inside of the box is split into two sections – with the accessories on the left. Montech include some felt and plastic cable ties, along with mounting screws and a user manual.
Montech include a bunch of individually wrapped cable connectors and some combs to tidy up the final build.
Montech call these embossed cables ‘offering a luxurious texture and unmatched flexibility. They rate them as 63% softer and 0.6mm thinner than standard cables with 39% higher density. They do look nice to me.
In similar fashion to recent Seasonic power supplies we have tested in the same class, there are plenty of cables supplied with this unit. The cables are well made and have a 16-18 AWG Gauge.
The Montech Titan PLA 1000W PSU is very attractive with the logo being engraved in an almost silver colour – this works in a very subtle way against the white paintwork. Build quality on the outside is very good. The unit measures 160 x 150 x 86 (L x B x H).
A large white fan can be seen behind a very heavily vented panel on the top – we will take a look at this fan when we open the unit, but we can already guess it will be a Hong Hua Fluid Dynamic Bearing model. This is Seasonics favourite fan to use.
One side of the power supply is home to the modular bay – split into three rows, clearly labelled for ease of use during the build phase.
The other side of the power supply is home to the power panel – comprising a switch, connector and hybrid fan control. We have obviously seen this on many Seasonic power supplies in the past – this enables the semi active mode – meaning the fan will be disabled at lower power demands and will only activate when the power load ramps up. Usually the fan will remain off until at least 20% is demanded.
The power supply can deliver 83A via the +12V rail. 25A can be delivered across the +3.3V and +5V rails for a total of 25A per rail. Identical to the Seasonic Focus GX1000 V4 we reviewed back in September 2024.
As we guessed before we opened the power supply, this unit incorporates a Hong Hua HA13525H12F-Z fan rated 0.50A 12VDC. This fan has been used in a lot of Seasonic power supplies we have reviewed in the last 24 months – such as the Seasonic Focus GX-1000 V4 reviewed in September. We have seen this fan way back to even 2018 and it even featured in Antec units with Seasonic as the OEM (HCG Extreme Series 1000W). It is a firm favourite which seems to have no fear of being replaced anytime soon.
If you pay close attention you can see a small strip of clear plastic along one side. This is there intentionally to direct airflow to specific sections of the power supply below.
As mentioned earlier in the review, this is a Seasonic OEM part – and their power supplies have featured in many companies products such as (but not limited to ) Antec, Phanteks and ASUS. Montech are the latest companies to join the Seasonic group.
The primary stage sports two 105C rated Japanese capacitors from Nippon Chemi Con, rated 420V 560uF and 420V 330uF for a total of 890uF. These capacitors are high grade from the KMR family. This unit offers OPP, OVP, UVP, OCP, OTP and SCP protections. As mentioned earlier there is a 10 year warranty with this power supply. This is pretty good, although it is 2 less than the higher cost PRIME and VERTEX units in Seasonics range.
Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 Watt DC load.
We test ambient temperatures at 35c in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.
We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA
We test in a single +12V configuration.
|
DC Output Load Regulation
|
||||||||||
|
Combined DC Load |
+3.3V
|
+5V
|
+12V
|
+5VSB
|
-12V | |||||
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A | V | |
|
100W
|
0.90
|
3.32
|
0.90
|
5.00
|
7.35
|
12.18
|
0.50
|
5.00
|
0.20
|
-12.05
|
|
200W
|
1.60
|
3.32
|
1.64
|
5.00
|
15.13
|
12.18
|
1.00
|
5.00
|
0.20
|
-12.03
|
|
500W
|
3.21
|
3.32
|
3.24
|
5.00
|
38.60
|
12.16
|
1.50
|
5.00
|
0.20
|
-12.03
|
| 750W |
4.03
|
3.32
|
4.17
|
5.00
|
58.53
|
12.14
|
2.00
|
5.01
|
0.30
|
-12.02
|
|
1000W
|
5.45
|
3.32
|
5.51
|
5.00
|
78.13
|
12.10
|
2.50
|
5.00
|
0.30
|
-12.02
|
The load regulation of this power supply is very good across the board.
Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.
The power supply had no problems sustaining at constant 1000W load.
| Cross Load Testing | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB | |||||
| A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | |
| 885W | 2.0 | 3.32 | 2.0 | 5.00 | 72.0 | 12.12 | 0.2 | -12.02 | 0.50 | 5.01 |
| 240W | 20.0 | 3.31 | 23.0 | 5.00 | 2.0 | 12.18 | 0.2 | -12.03 | 0.50 | 5.01 |
The Montech Titan PLA 1000W performed very well in the cross load test exhibiting no real issues.
We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.
|
ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
|
|
|
Output
|
Ripple (mV p-p)
|
|
+3.3V
|
50
|
|
+5V
|
50
|
|
+12V1
|
120
|
|
+12V2
|
120
|
|
-12V
|
120
|
|
+5VSB
|
50
|
Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs, the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.
| AC Ripple (mV p-p) | ||||
| DC Load | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | 5VSB |
| 100W | 16 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| 250W | 18 | 15 | 18 | 18 |
| 500W | 20 | 18 | 22 | 19 |
| 750W | 22 | 18 | 25 | 21 |
| 1000W | 22 | 18 | 29 | 24 |
Ripple noise suppression is very good, with the primary +12V rail peaking at 29mV at full load. Secondary +3.3V and +5V rails both peak at 22mV and 18mV respectively. These are not the best results we have seen this year, but they are respectable and well within industry rated tolerances for safety.
|
Efficiency (%)
|
|
|
100W
|
88.7
|
|
250W
|
91.8
|
|
500W
|
93.7
|
|
750W
|
93.1
|
|
1000W
|
91.2
|
The efficiency results are very good, peaking at 93.7% at around 50% load. This drops to around 91.2% efficiency at full load.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
|
Noise (dBA)
|
|
|
100W
|
<28.0
|
|
250W
|
<28.0
|
|
500W
|
30.7
|
|
750W
|
33.8
|
| 1000W | 37.2 |
These fans are really good products and at lower loads it is silent or close to silent. When the demand ramps up, the fan spins faster, becoming audible and at 1000W load it is clearly audible. That said if you need 1000 Watt demand on a regular basis you really do need to start looking at buying a 1500W+ power supply to increase efficiency and to reduce strain on the capacitors.
|
Temperature (c)
|
||
|
Intake
|
Exhaust
|
|
|
100W
|
37
|
41
|
|
250W
|
38
|
43
|
|
500W
|
40
|
50
|
|
750W
|
45
|
53
|
|
1000W
|
46
|
56
|
Temperatures inside the chassis remain at really good levels throughout the load range.
The Montech Titan PLA 1000W power supply has proven to be an excellent all round power supply in our testing over the last week. The audience looking to build an all-white high end gaming system will find both the appearance and performance of this unit to tick all the boxes.
On a technical level, the power supply delivers solid load regulation and handled the cross load test without any issues. Ripple suppression, while not class leading, falls well within industry rated tolerances for safety and the unit runs pretty cool and quiet due to the adoption of the high quality Hong Hua fluid dynamic bearing fan and several rows of large heatsinks across the main PCB.
The design adopts 105C rated Japanese Nippon Chemi Con capacitors in the primary stage, which immediately is a sign of quality and attention to detail. As Seasonic is the OEM for these units, the overall build quality is excellent and Montech back this unit up with a full 10 year warranty which offers peace of mind. Anyone looking at building a new high end gaming system will find optimum efficiency levels from this unit when the system demands around 450-600 watts of power under load. This is ideal for people with a high end graphics card such as the 4080 or 4090.
You can buy the Montech Titan PLA 1000W from SCAN in the UK for £179.99 inc. VAT HERE.
Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.
Pros:
- 10 Year warranty.
- Fully modular.
- Quiet under load.
- Cable quality is high.
- 105c Japanese capacitors.
- Great build quality.
- It is white – we all love white components, right?
- Load regulation is good.
- High levels of efficiency.
- Long life fluid dynamic bearing fan.
Cons:
- Quality doesn't come cheap.
KitGuru says: The Montech Titan PLA 1000W is a formidable power supply deserving of inclusion in a high end gaming build. The clean white aesthetic, excellent technical performance – all backed up with a 10 year warranty, means this is a very safe purchase for a new system.
