Gigabyte P1000GM Review - Mixed Feelings

Introduction

A few months ago, our writer Leo decided to send me a late gift for my birthday. He didn’t tell me anything until one day a package showed up at my house. Surprisingly, the very PSU I’m reviewing was in the box. I couldn’t stop laughing, as he’s very familiar with the coverage we did around this line of PSUs. The P1000GM gave me some challenges, but it’s time to cover it. Welcome to the review about a unit that I’ve never felt so mixed about.

General Specifications

Brand	Gigabyte
Model	P-GM
Wattage	1000w
Introduction year	2021
Modularity	Full
Warranty	10 years

Power Specifications

3.3V	5V	12V	5VSB	-12V
25A	25A	83.3A	3A	0.3A

Cables

Cable type	Cable Quantity	Connector Per Cable
ATX 20+4 pin	1	1
EPS12v 4+4 pin	2	1
PCIe 6+2 pin	3	2
SATA	2	4
4-pin Peripheral	1	3
4-pin Floppy	1	1

The PSU comes with everything we should expect… looking terribly similar to what we saw with Silverstone’s SX1000. It has sufficient EPS and PCIe cables to support a high-end system, as should be expected of a 1000w PSU. This will give me the same complaint and agreement I had with said unit, the PCIe cables. As useful as daisy chaining connectors can be at times for cable management, it’s much more ideal to have individual cables leading to the GPU. With single connector cables this becomes much easier, but gives as downside that you’re limited to a total of three connectors.

External

The P1000GM is very compact at 140mm depth, especially considering the high wattage this unit promises us. This part of Gigabyte’s marketing is absolutely true as most 1000w units are physically much larger. However, most cases that can support high end hardware also have sufficient room for the PSU.

With that out of the way, the P1000GM doesn’t look all that special, but doesn’t look unnecessarily restricted either. The exhaust is what I like to see, and the cables are clearly labeled. Nothing to complain about so far.

Parts Breakdown+Internal

OEM	MEIC
Platform	Unknown
Input Voltage	100-240VAC
Primary Converter	APFC Half Bridge LLC
Rectifier	Synchronous Rectification
Regulator	DC-DC
Fan	Jamicon KF1225H1H-A (12v, 0.35a)
Bearing	HTLS bearing
PCB Type	Double Sided*
Bulk Capacitor(s)	1x Nippon Chemicon KMW (400V, 1000UF, 105C)
APFC MOSFETs	2x NCE NCE65TF099F
APFC Boost Diode	1x ST STPSC10H065D
Resonant Controller	Champion CM6901X*
Main Switches	2x NCE Unknown
12v MOSFETs	6x NCE P40T15GU
DC-DC Converters	6x Unknown
DC-DC Controller	2x uPI-Semi uP9303B*
Supervisor IC	Grenergy GR8313*
Standby PWM Controller	PR8109T*

* = Based off other reviews

Normally, we would see protection routing before this. However, I had a hard time confirming the DC-DC controllers due to the modular PCB being too close. A similar issue is caused by the AC plug PCB, as it’s in the way of viewing the bottom and the front of the modular PCB. I chose to leave this aside for now and note my educated guesses using other reviews of the P1000GM and P750/850GM. I was also unable to see the main FETs properly due to the bulk cap being in the way, but was able to get a glimpse of an NCE logo. These are different from the 750w version, which used FETs from Jilin Sino.

Now on to components that are better visible. It uses a single massive bulk cap by Nippon-Chemicon, featuring an insane 1000 µF rating. Normally we see two smaller capacitors at this capacity, but Gigabyte likely made this choice to use a similar, if not the same MEIC platform shared with the 750w and 850w units.

The rest of the capacitors used in the P1000GM are however not Japanese like Gigabyte seemingly claims in their marketing. For example, we can see a few capacitors around the unit made by Teapo, a Taiwanese company. This doesn’t make a difference since most capacitors for consumer-grade ATX units are produced in China either way and only have a Japanese board controlling production. This is not an issue, but worth pointing out considering Gigabyte’s claim.

The fan is claimed to be a “HTLS” bearing by Jamicon, according to them an improved HDB fan. This is a different fan from Aris’ review of the 750w unit over at Techpowerup, which used a Yate Loon fan. Something worth noting is that said fan was claimed to be a FDB/HDB fan by Gigabyte, but turned out to be a rifle bearing fan. This is sadly common practice in the industry and the only way to find this out would be to open and potentially destroy the fan. Regardless, a good rifle bearing fan would hold up to the 10-year warranty, but it’s worth pointing out.

While I was able to identify the main FETs to a limited degree, something that has been a concern with the lower wattage units to many, I’m unable to see if the same “fix” had to be applied with a change in layout due to the AC board being in the way. This still makes me feel a bit mixed about it.

Conclusion

I tried going into this review with an open mind, leaving out all the drama I’ve had with this series of PSUs. The unit has barely been covered with only one review from Exprereview, with the 750/850w having quite a bit more coverage. I’m unable to identify some of my concerns, with the rest of the unit looking mostly fine, but unimpressive compared to competition.

Especially considering Gigabyte and MEIC’s recent track record with everything from denying known issues, refusing to take units back without the bundled GPUs, somewhat misleading marketing and even when fixing the issues putting the blame on reviewers and lying about the solution they found for it, I have a hard time recommending the unit.

Making it even harder, Gigabyte recently released the UD1000GM, which looks very similar with the main difference being the inclusion of a 12VHPWR connector for next generation GPUs. With a ton of other options from more experienced manufacturers, I’m looking towards different units for now.