Chieftec Polaris ATX

Chieftec hat seine Polaris-Serie kürzlich um ein neues Topmodell mit einer Leistung von 1.050 W erweitert, welches mit einem attraktiven Preis anzutreten scheint. Mit 80 PLUS Gold, einem voll-modularen Kabelmanagement und guten Anschlussmöglichkeiten bietet es die für ein Mittelklasse-Netzteil typischen Features. Das 750-W-Modell der Polaris-Serie hatte im Test einen insgesamt guten Eindruck hinterlassen, weswegen wir uns nun auch das neue 1.050-W-Modell näher anschauen wollten.

Chieftec followed a very aggressive pricing scheme for the Polaris 1050 W, lowering its price by at least €20, which currently puts it at €106 without VAT. This is an excellent price for such a strong power supply with decent overall performance and high efficiency levels, especially at light loads. The two-year warranty will probably be disappointing for many since other brands provide much longer warranties ranging from five to twelve years. I am not a fan of the Teapo SC caps Chieftec used in the secondary side. Still, the cooling fan is of good quality, and the fan-speed profile is aggressive enough to cool them down efficiently under all operating conditions. So if you don't expose this PSU to high voltage surges, it will easily outlive the provided warranty and last for much longer.

Auch die leistungsstärkeren Varianten des Chieftec Polaris kommen wieder in einer unscheinbaren Verpackung und Optik daher, auch wenn die Netzteile in der Größe etwas gewachsen sind. Chieftec konzentriert sich bislang darauf Netzteil "pur" anzubieten und verzichtet weitgehend auf optische Gimmicks. Beim Lieferumfang gibt es eine praktische Tasche für Kabel, die nicht benötigt werden dazu.

We get the distinct impression that the Chieftec Polaris series is being angled towards the high-end PC gamer. However, in terms of what it offers, it practically has everything the savvy PSU consumer should be looking for and, as clearly shown in our tests, it doesn’t just talk a good game, but it performs it too. When it comes to power supplies, one of the biggest features of practicality and functionality is seen in just how easy it will be to install and live with. This isn’t either on just one single build, but also the potential for it to continue usage through several systems to come. With its fully modular cable design, you only have to install what’s necessary, as well as the lengths being exceptionally generous; this offers everything you could want with the added perk that good cable management with this should be an absolute doddle.

Das Chieftec POLARIS 650 W ist für ca. 90 € im Handel erhältlich. Dafür bekommt man ein hocheffizientes, mit Gold zertifiziertes, vollmodulares Netzteil.

The Chieftec Polaris 750 W contends against tough competitors in units like the Corsair RM750x and Seasonic Focus Plus Gold of similar capacity. Given its current price, I cannot recommend the Chieftec offering over the models mentioned above because its performance is lower overall, and it only has a two-year warranty as opposed to the much longer warranty of the competition. However, I would also like to mention that I am not a supporter of the insanely long warranty periods of 7–10 years when it comes to power supplies because there are so many potential points of failure in a PSU.