NZXT presented its new C1500 Platinium power supply at Computex. This power supply is designed for large machines, offering everything you need to power two graphics cards with the 600 W port in particular, as well as a host of other solid, power-hungry components. Your electricity bill may take a hit, but your machine’s performance will be fully unleashed. What is this 1500 watt power supply really worth?
A clean, simple design
Aesthetically, this high-end power supply is dressed in simplicity. It’s a high-performance power supply, but there’s no need to make a big deal of it: NZXT knows how to offer sober yet aesthetically pleasing components.
On the sides, you’ll find the brand logo and the C1500 power supply reference, while the box indicates that this unit is certified 80 Plus Platinium. We’ll see what this means later in this test.
There’s nothing special about the upper part, but the lower part features a large-cell ventilation grille and a 140 mm fan – just what you need to provide the necessary cooling breeze.
On the inside of the power supply, you’ll find a large number of connectors, including those for the motherboard, of course, but also for PCI and CPU power supplies. At NZXT, both can be connected to the same type of port, SATA connectors are also present, as are two 600-watt PCIe 5 power supplies, very practical for housing a graphics card such as the RTX 4080 Super or RTX 4090, or even two in the case of the latter.
On the outside, you’ll find the connector for the mains cable, which is quite imposing here, as the power supply requires 1500 watts. It reminds me of the one on my Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1300 W. With this, the traditional On/Off button, as well as another push-button to switch off the fans. Be careful, however, not to overheat the power supply under heavy load, and I’ll personally leave the fan on according to the power supply’s needs.
Specifications of the NZXT C1500 Platinium
| Model | NZXT C1500 Platinium |
| Continuous power (W) | 1500 W |
| ATX 12V | Version 3.1 |
| Software | No |
| Voltage | 100 – 240 V |
| Frequency | 50 – 60 Hz |
| Fan speed | 2500 rpm (+/- 10%) |
High-flying performance
In order to test performance, I put the best I had into this configuration. To accommodate this, there’s nothing like the brand’s brand-new case, the NZXT H7 Flow RGB. Here’s the complete configuration on the bottom:
- Processor: Intel Core i9 14900K
- RAM: 4 x 16 GB Corsair Dominator Platinium 6400 MHz
- Motherboard: NZXT N7 Z790
- Watercooling: NZXT Kraken 360 RGB
- Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super
- SSD: Lexar NM790 + Crucial T705
- Case: NZXT H7 Flow RGB (2024)
It’s now possible to overclock components without worry, starting with the processor of course, but also the graphics card. However, if you want quality overclocking, you’ll need a motherboard that supports it, as this is essential for the stability of your configuration.
A quick note on the 80 Plus Platinium standard first and foremost and what it offers. It’s the second-best version of this standard, with excellent efficiency and very little room for energy loss.
| 20% load | 94% efficiency |
| 50% load | 93.8% efficiency |
| 100% load | 90.8% efficiency |
More precisely, here’s the reference efficiency table for all 80 Plus standards, showing that the Platinium version is very well positioned, with an ideal compromise between performance and price:
| 20% load | 50% load | 100% load | |
| 80 Plus | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| 80 Plus Bronze | 82% | 85% | 82% |
| 80 Plus Silver | 85% | 88% | 85% |
| 80 Plus Gold | 87% | 90% | 87% |
| 80 Plus Platinium | 90% | 92% | 89% |
| 80 Plus Titanium | 94% | 96% | 94% |
Here, I’ve installed Nvidia’s latest graphics card, which offers very good performance, but is also rather greedy. With this, a processor, the Core i9 14900K, that can be overclocked, so admittedly, all this will never consume 1500 watts. However, having more power means you can handle heavy loads with greater stability.
The processor also heats up quite a bit, reaching saturation even before the power supply starts to sweat, as this model heats up so quickly. I don’t have any liquid nitrogen at home to get it up to 8 GHz, so initially we’ll settle for normal performance, without touching the parameters.
On 1500 watts, in the worst case, we can consume 1362 W, with an efficiency of 89% of the 80 Plus Platinium standard. In the vast majority of configurations, this is still very good.
Here, as you can see, all components remain at full power with no worries, and the power supply doesn’t even have to raise an eyebrow. It does activate its fan when required, but this does little to reduce the PC’s overall noise levels. So there’s nothing to worry about – on the contrary, it’s very stable!
NZXT C1500 Platinium : Reviews
This power supply, on the market for over 300 euros, isn’t for everyone. If you want a simple Core i5 or i7 / Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 configuration, you won’t need it. Similarly, with an RTX 4070 Ti Super, there’s no need. However, if you want to connect two graphics cards or do advanced overclocking, then this is an excellent option.
