Verdict: The cheapest 1kW PSU ever made, and efficient and reliable too.
Guardian is a fairly boring word, and an odd choice for this type of product. Surely KillaPower would be cooler, or NinjaWatt? The coolest reference that we can manage is that The Guardian was the red-faced villain in Origin's long-running Ultima RPG series. But what's this? SilverPower has added an X to the word to add coolness. Yep, job done boys.
The GuardianX, which is manufactured by Enhance, has a combined output of 1kW. This is provided by the usual combination of 3.3V, 5V, -12V and 5VSB rails, plus six 12V rails. Most of these (12V1, 12V2, 12V5, 12V6) are rated at 18A each, while 12V3 and 12V4 are each rated at 28A. The 12V1 rail powers the first 6-pin PCI-E connector, 12V2 the S-ATA, Molex and FDD connections, 12V3 the motherboard and first 6+2-pin PCI-E connector, and 12V4 the 4-pin ATX12V and second 6+2-pin PCI-E connectors. The 12V5 rail powers the second 6-pin PCI-E connector, and 12V6 the 8-pin EPS12V connector. This is a sensible arrangement, as the most power-hungry components (CPUs and graphics cards) are powered by separate rails. All the cables are hardwired into the PSU but, as they're braided, they're easy to arrange neatly. The interior is kept cool by a temperature-controlled 80mm fan. While the GuardianX isn't annoyingly loud, it's hardly quiet either. It proved to be stable at full load, and a friend of the green party, measuring 83 per cent efficient by drawing 1,195W from the mains to produce 1,000W.
Conclusion
Although the GuardianX lacks modular cables and isn't as quiet as it could be, it's efficient, with rock-solid outputs. Given that it's the cheapest 1kW PSU we've seen so far, the GuardianX is excellent value for money - especially as it's fundamentally very similar to the more expensive Cooler Master Real Power M1000.
