XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU Review

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

XPG's Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU is a solid all rounder and a decent buy for the money, and it performed on par with its gold ratings from 80 PLUS and Cybenetics.

Pros

• + 10-year warranty
• + 1200 watts for demanding gaming rigs
• + 80 PLUS and Cybenetics Gold ratings
• + Good value

Cons

• - None

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon

Buy at Newegg

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Another XPG product has returned to us for testing. This time, we revisit the XPG Core Reactor II ATX 3.0 PSU line with the 1200-watt model. The previous 850w model scored well in our testing with a 97% Editor's Choice Award, so will the 1200-watt model be any better?

Priced at $199.99, this 1200-watt ATX 3.0 PSU offers up to an 80 PLUS Gold rating and the same 10-year warranty. Let's find out if this PSU deserves your hard-earned money.

XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$177.79	$177.79	$187.99	$209.99	Buy
	$252.99	$252.99	$266.99	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 2/18/2024 at 10:31 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Packaging

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XPG has packaged the Core Reactor II 1200-watt PSU in virtually the same packaging as the 850-watt unit, a red package with Mera, the company's mascot, on the outside. Certifications for 80 PLUS Gold, Cybenetics Gold, 12VHPWR, and ATX 3.0 are listed on the top right.

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Again, XPG has placed all the need-to-know information on the back of the packaging; specifications, dimensions, and cable information are here.

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This side shows where the end-user can download a digital manual and the SKU and serial number.

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This side of the box shows the power supply curve and efficiency.

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XPG wants you to be aware of some key points: things like a 135mm FDB Silent fan, Premium 100% Japanese capacitors, and other protections built into the Core Reactor II 1200-watt PSU.

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XPG has included a few stickers of Mera, the company mascot, and the great packaging. "Game to the Xtreme" is the company's motto.

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The bag all the cabling comes in is a nice place to keep the cables you don't use in your current build. You might need them later.

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XPG has included a power cable, 24-pin motherboard cable, two 8-pin EPS/CPU cables, a 600-watt 12VHPWR to 12VHPWR cable, 12VHPWR cable to a dual 6+2 PCIe pin cable, three PCIe 6+2 to 6+2 pin (8 connections) cables, and three SATA (9 connections) and MOLEX (3 connections) cables.

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XPG and many other PSU manufacturers are now including a 12VHPWR to dual 6+2 PCIe pin cable in many of the newer PSUs. Since the 12VHPWR connection provides up to 450 watts worth of juice, using that same plug for other GPUs than the latest NVIDIA GPUs that use the older PCIe plugs makes sense. The different 12VHPWR cable is rated for up to 600 watts worth of power, has the full 12+4 configuration, and is the only cable with a full sleeve.

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The PSU itself has been packaged with protection in mind, with two black foam pieces protecting the PSU while in transit. A plastic bag is wrapped around the Core Reactor II for added protection.

Outside the XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU

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Removing all the packing materials from the Core Reactor II 1200w PSU shows a very understated design with core design elements just like the 850w unit; however, it is slightly larger with dimensions of 160x150x85mm. The fan size has also increased from 120mm to 135mm.

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The XPG Core Reactor II 1200-watt ATX 3.0 PSU has a massive 100 amps available on the single 12V rail. This configuration is great for overclocking and system stability when the system is under extreme loads.

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The input side of the Core Reactor II 1200w PSU has two connections for the 24-pin motherboard cable, an 18-pin, and a 10-pin. Next is the 12VHPWR connection in a 12+4 pin configuration. In the far right and lower right corners are the five CPU and VGA 8-pin connections. Lastly, the SATA and MOLEX connections connect via 6-pin and have three total inputs.

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The rear of the Core Reactor II 1200w PSU is simple, with a single power rocker switch and the power input. A hexagonal ventilation pattern fills the rest of the space.

Inside the XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU

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Inside the Core Reactor II 1200 ATX 3.0 PSU, we find a Hong Hua HA13525H12SF-Z 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan spins at 2300 RPM at .5 amps on a 12V DC.

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Going to some of the main components of the Core Reactor 1200w are two 100% Japanese capacitors from Rubycon. The larger capacitor is rated at 400v with 820µF, while the second smaller one is rated at 400v with 560µF. Both capacitors are rated up to 105 C in temperature.

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The 5BSB card helps regulate the 5V rail.

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Two additional capacitors, again from Rubycon, are rated at 3300µF at 16V - these help condition on the output side.

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Here are the 12V FETs, or field effect transistors, that control the current flow in a semiconductor.

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The main transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy to another circuit or multiple circuits.

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Here is an overview of the entire internal layout of the XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU. The OEM platform is from CWT, Channel Well Technology, which is the same platform as DeepCool's PX1200G.

Ryan's Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO (INTEL Z690) - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: Intel Core i5 12600K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 - Buy from Amazon
• Memory: Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-5600 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3090 Founders Edition - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Corsair MP600 PRO XT Gen4 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon
• Case: XPG Battlecruiser II
• Software: AIDA64 Engineer 6.32.5600, and CPU-z 1.94.0 x64
• Power Supply: XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Build 22621 - Buy from Amazon
• Software: AIDA64 Engineer 6.8.6300, and CPU-z 2.03.0 x64

Testing & Final Thoughts

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In testing the XPG Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU, we used an Intel Core i5-12600K CPU on a Z690 AORUS Pro motherboard, cooled by the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 CPU cooler. Two 16GB DDR5-5600 Patriot Viper Venom sticks were installed for memory. Storage was rounded out by the Corsair MP600 Pro XT 2TB NVME M.2 SSD. Lastly, the GPU was the old standby - the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 FE.

When testing, we brought the CPU and GPU up to full load to try and get as close to 600 watts as possible for a 50% load test. The XPG Core Reactor 1200w pulled 540 watts from the wall in total. In comparison, the KillaWatt P3 reported 600 watts consistently, making the XPG Core Reactor 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU just about to squeak by being 90% efficient at a 50% load, meeting its 80 PLUS and Cybernetic Gold ratings.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version 6.92.6600 for 18+ hours; the ambient temperature was 21C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v7.62-5200, TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.55.0, and CPU-Z 2.07.0.x64.

Inherently, everything is fine with the Core Reactor II 1200w ATX 3.0 PSU from XPG. Performing on par with its ratings, the 1200w version of the Core Reactor II will power many systems throughout its lifetime, backed by a 10-year warranty. Currently priced at $185 on Amazon and Newegg, the Core Reactor II 1200w is a decent buy compared to others in the same wattage and price category.