In a sea of names Gigabyte can now be added to the mix of manufacturers producing their own power supply series. However unlike most in the industry Gigabyte has gone out on a bit of a limb with their new GT series, including a few new and innovative features that are yet to be found on today’s power supplies. Clearly Gigabyte means business releasing an 800w version priced at $220 US right off the bat...
Over the past month we have looked at a lot of new power supplies that have been developed by companies that we do not always come across pushing power supply type products. First it was Ultra with their high-end “X3 1000w” power supply, and then PC Power & Cooling with the “Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition”, and most recently we tested the Corsair “VX450w” budget power supply. While PC Power & Cooling have made their mark in the power supply business, Corsair are better known for their memory products, while Ultra offers a wide range of computer hardware.
Another manufacturer of computer hardware that is known for producing a wide variety of products, but on a far greater scale is Gigabyte, and today we have a new product from them. Like just about everyone else Gigabyte is moving into the overly crowded power supply market with a range of their own products. While Gigabyte has done their best to make this look like an inside job, their new power supplies are actually produced by Channel Well Technology, though they have been designed by Gigabyte.
The Odin family was actually announced last year and Gigabyte says that it has taken a year to fully test these new power supplies. While testing Windows Vista was taken into account, so too was upcoming Intel processors and of course the Radeon HD 2900XT graphics cards. The Odin family consists of two series, being the Odin Pro and Odin GT, both of which offer 550, 680 and 800 watt power supplies. While the Pro series are more like your typical modular power supplies, the GT series is a little more special.
At first glance the Gigabyte Odin GT 800w does look like a fairly typical power supply, but after a closer inspection it is clear this is not a typical power supply. The Odin GT 800w features software management which is interfaced with the power supply using USB technology. This allows the user to manage the output voltages and load on each rail, power fan speed tweak, localized or preset temperature monitors, power supply lighting control, proximity warning bells and even preset user modes for performance, normal use or silent operation. However, there are other unique features that can be found, which we will get to shortly.
