Conclusion
The 1STPlayer STEAMPUNK 850W is the second 1STPLAYER power supply we have seen at TheFPSReview (the first being the 1STPLAYER SFX 750W Platinum). One of those things that always makes these new entrants’ evaluations difficult is that they continue to decide to go into established markets.
So, things are not going to be easy today for 1STPLAYER as the take on the “middle of the market” with their STEAMPUNK 850W (also, can we finally address that there is literally nothing about this unit that is STEAMPUNK….I mean…I love me a good theme but this total crap in that regard). Honestly, it is like 1STPLAYER has no idea what STEAMPUNK is…..though given the great firewall of China that may be correct. Anyway, what we have today is another middle-of-the-market power supply that is supposed to tickle our taint. Will it? Or will this just be a crap show? Let’s see.
Build Quality
Today’s 1STPLAYER STEAMPUNK 850W starts things off with a build quality that is a bit like we saw from 1STPLAYER last time. So, overall, “okay” to “goodish”. The exterior is fairly standard fare for these times with a flat black finish and FlexForce-style cables. Moving to the interior we find what I would call a competently executed power supply from the looks. Yes, we again get some unknown capacitors and the Yate Loon fan chosen is not the best but the rest of the components are of higher quality, the integration looks good, and the topology is thoroughly modern. So, I guess I should take back what I said at the beginning of this paragraph. This unit is looking to be a good bit better than 1STPLAYER’s last attempt, for now.
Load Testing
Today’s 1STPLAYER STEAMPUNK 850W started off testing looking like it was going to do very well. Then it hit the fan. Boy, this sounds familiar. When looking at the regular load testing we saw voltage regulation of up to 0.18v on the 12v rail, 0.07v on the 5v rail, and 0.04v on the 3.3v rail. In addition to that, we saw efficiency that ranged from 86.44% to 88.89% efficient at 120v AC input and 84.63% to 89.90% efficient at 100v AC input. The unit also posted temperatures that peaked at 58C at 120v AC input, 62C at 100v AC input, and 65C during the Torture Test. This means that this unit trailed the SilverStone DA850 Gold, Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W, and MSI A850GF while being mixed (barely) with the lower-end DeepCool PQ850M.
And then crap went south. Like way south. Like farther south than the Devil went down to Georgia south (that is a reference for those of you who don’t know). The reason? Well, the STEAMPUNK 850W saw the loaded 12v rail post a peak change of ~1500mV! At this point, I really don’t think there is much else to say other than “Welcome to the Fail Boat Steampunk”. ~1500mV! Holy hell!
DC Output Quality
The DC Output Quality results for the 1STPLAYER STEAMPUNK 850W were very good. We saw peak ripple/noise values of peaked on the 12v rail at ~20mV followed by ~15mV on the 5v, and ~10mV on the 3.3v rail. These results are better than the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W, MSI A850GF, SilverStone DA850 Gold, and match the ASUS ROG THOR 850W. So, these values are very good in absolute and relative values.
Noise
Today’s 1STPLAYER STEAMPUNK 850W was quiet overall. This makes sense as the unit had a high level of efficiency, a large overhead fan, and a relatively open design. During load testing, the STEAMPUNK 850W started off with absolute silence. As testing increased the load the noise output of the unit did increase. However, it never got to the point where it was obvious in the load-testing environment. Thus, this is probably one of the better aspects of this unit.
Final Points
The 1STPLAYER STEAMPUNK 850W started off looking like it was going to be a good power supply and then reality hit. And hit it, it did. I mean like a Buick hitting a kid in a crosswalk at full speed. Sure, the build quality looks good(ish), yes the load testing results are fine, of course, the DC Output Quality is good, and so on and so forth. But, then we ran the Transient Load Tests and we saw that the results were the absolute worst we have ever seen (ever…and I mean ever). This unit failed this test in a way that in the 16 years I have been doing this I have never seen. I mean, it was obscenely bad.
Usually, at this point, I give some sort of explanation of why the unit has some sort of value and how to place it in the context of other units. However, today, that is not the case. This unit failed so badly in the Transient Load Tests that there is no reason for people to buy this unit. And, if you are tempted do this…….Do this instead.
Go to the ATM. Withdraw whatever amount of money this unit is selling for. Put it in a fireplace. Take a match. Strike it. And set that money on fire. There you go. You just got the same result as buying this unit.
1STPLAYER is now 0-2. <Slow clap>
