Montech CENTURY II 1050W PSU Review

1. Introduction2. Bundle & Cabling3. External4. Internal5. Testing Methodology and Results6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

While Montech are best known for their range of PC cases, today we take a look at one of their new power supplies in their ‘Gold' range – the Century II 1050W. This unit is very competitively priced at around £100 in the UK and around $110 in the USA. This power supply offers ATX 3.1 support and is 80 Plus Gold / Cybenetics Platinum Certified. 

The Century 1050W power supply has full support for ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 standards and operates with Smart Zero Fan Technology utilising a Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan (FDB). Montech also claim the unit is packed with high specification Japanese Capacitors and we will take a closer look at that later in the review. Safety features incorporate OCP, OVP, UVP, SCP, OTP and OPP. All of the three units in this range (850W, 1050W and 1200W) ship with 10 Year Warranty protection.

Features:

• 80 Plus Gold Certified
• Cybenetic Platinum Certified
• 135mm FDB Fan. Smart Zero Mode.
• PCIe 5.1/ATX 3.1 supported
• Full Modular Design
• 100% Japanese Capacitors
• Enlarged Air Intake Area
• 10 Years warranty.

The first box we received from Montech had received some damage in transit, but the second one they shipped held up better. Montech have some information on the front of the box, including certifications and warranty terms.

The rear of the box showcases more details of the PSU, including the capacitors, FDB fan, modular bay and the cabling. Montech seem keen to reinforce the Cybenetics certification again as the logo makes a reappearance on the back.

Inside the box, we see accessories on the right side along with literature, a power cable and two kinds of cable ties. Packaging is pretty good overall.

All of the included cables are the flat ribbon style to make routing of the system build as straightforward as possible. There are plenty of cables included, as would be expected from a 1050W PSU. None of the cables have in cable capacitors. Spacing between the cable connectors is 150mm. Cable gauge is mostly 18AWG. There are a total of 12 SATA cable connectors included.

The Montech Century II 1050W Power Supply is finished in a way that makes it stand out a little from the normal power supplies we see. This is a relatively compact unit for the capacity, measuring 150x85x140mm and weighing around 1.5kg.

The venting for the fan inside takes over the whole top of the chassis and looks to offer pretty good airflow by the design pattern. We will take a closer look at the fan when we open the unit up shortly.

The power side of the unit is home to the power switch, cable connector and smart zero fan button.

The modular bay side is simply laid out over 2 rows of connectors, all labelled for clarity during the build phase.

The power supply is able to deliver 87.5A via the +12V rail. 20A are available to the secondary +3.3V and +5V rails. Total power output is 1050 watts.

Montech have decided to opt for a Hong Hua 135mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan (FDB). Model is HA13525H12F-Z.

These are quality fans we often see inside Seasonic power supplies. The fan is rated 12V 0.50A.

Max noise levels are said to be around 41dBa at around 2,300 rpm. There is a small strip of plastic running along the top of the fan to forcibly direct air flow to specific components underneath.

Montech are using XWY as their OEM partner for this power supply. Initially we thought it was Great Wall, but Montech confirmed XWY as the OEM. Internally the design incorporates a lot of Japanese capacitors.

Montech are using Nippon Chemi Con in the primary stage – with two 105C rated capacitors outputting 470uF (KMZ) and 570uF (KHE) for a combined 1040uF.

Soldering quality of the main PCB is very good throughout and the modular bay is also nicely finished. Several daughter-cards are mounted vertically to help reduce physical space inside.

The unit ships with OCP, OVP, UVP, SCP, OTP and OPP protections in place.

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	3.33	0.90	5.03	7.35	12.05	0.50	5.00	0.20	-12.01
200W	1.60	3.33	1.64	5.03	15.13	12.05	1.00	5.01	0.20	-12.01
500W	3.21	3.33	3.24	5.03	38.60	12.03	1.50	5.00	0.20	-12.01
750W	4.03	3.33	4.17	5.03	58.53	12.01	2.00	5.01	0.30	-12.00
1050W	5.55	3.33	5.61	5.02	79.13	11.98	2.50	5.01	0.30	-12.01

The load regulation of this power supply is pretty 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.

Cross Load Testing	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		-12V		+5VSB
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
885W	2.0	3.33	2.0	5.03	72.0	11.98	0.2	-12.01	0.50	5.01
240W	20.0	3.30	23.0	4.98	2.0	12.04	0.2	-12.00	0.50	5.00

The power supply handled our cross load test very well, holding stable results across the range.

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	5	4	8	6
250W	7	6	13	9
500W	9	9	18	12
750W	12	11	21	15
1050W	14	13	26	17

Ripple noise suppression is excellent on all rails, falling well within industry rated parameters.

Efficiency (%)
100W	90.6
250W	92.2
500W	94.1
750W	93.5
1050W	92.2

The efficiency results are excellent, peaking at just over 94% at around 50% load. This drops to around 92% 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	29.8
750W	32.3
1050W	38.2

The fan only enabled at around a 400 watt load spinning very slowly until it reached around a 800 watt load, spinning up quickly to compensate for rising temperatures. In the majority of system builds demanding around 500-600 watts load this is a very quiet system overall. This is obviously helped greatly by the reduced sound signature output of the high quality FDB fan inside.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
100W	37	41
250W	38	44
500W	40	51
750W	45	56
1050W	46	61

Temperatures are well maintained across the range of load, with good airflow across the components. The large vents also help.

Pushing the PSU well above its rated limits generates an efficiency of around 89%. Not really practical, but interesting nonetheless.

The Montech Century II 1050W power supply has performed well in our testing over the last few weeks. We had to get a second sample from Montech as our first arrived with some damage but the second unit performed very well overall. Delivering stable power with good stability across the load range.

We like the appearance of the Montech Century II 1050W power supply. The colouring will prove appealing to an audience building a white PC and while many of the newest case designs hide the power supply completely from view, it is reassuring having a complete system that colour matches well. On a more technical level, the large vents assist airflow as well, which is always good to see.

The Century II performed well in regards to load regulation and the cross load test, stable and quite tight across the board. Ripple suppression was also very strong, with all the rails holding well within industry rated specifications.

The adoption of the Hong Hua quality fluid dynamic bearing fan was a good move from Montech – even at full load, while audible, the system remains relatively quiet. At lower loads, the fan will either be passive, or spinning at very slow speeds. Taking a load of 500 watts for example – the fan was just spinning very slowly to ensure some airflow was present. The fan profile seems set up very well overall.

Pricing in the UK is very respectable, as we would expect from Montech, with the power supply being sold by SCAN for around £100 HERE. You can buy this unit from Amazon in the USA HERE for $110. Montech are backing this unit with a very respectable 10 year warranty and overall it is good to see Montech entering this sector with such a respectable offering for the mainstream enthusiast gamer.

Pros:

• 105C rated Nippon Chemi Con Japanese Capacitors.
• Quality Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan.
• Nice white design.
• Good airflow.
• Quiet under load.
• competitive pricing.
• Highly efficient.
• Fully modular.
• ripple suppression is excellent.
• 10 year warranty.

Cons:

• Not widely available.
• Stiff competition in this price zone.

Kitguru says: This new release from Montech should sell well. Its a reasonably priced PSU around £100 which delivers solid technical performance. It looks well, and passed all our stress tests without issue. The adoption of quality 105c rated Japanese capacitors, modular design and 10 year warranty means it is really a no brainer.

Become a Patron!