Tagan is a relatively new name in the market for desktop power supplies. Enter their new BZ series,a funky product line, meant for discerning users and gamers and offering some show to what is usually just go.The BZ series do things radically differnt as far as visuals go. They’re modular, with pipe-like connector cables complete with circular pin arrangement(called piperock by Tagan) that ensure incompatibility with any other power supply. Then there cool looking LED-lit circular strips around each modular socket on the PSU that illuminate when a cable is plugged in. The cables are color coded as per the LED color. This ensures no mistakes while plugging in cables. If you have a transparent side window, the ensuing lighting is definitely one to get the drool out as intended. Add to that a large cooling fan(135 mm) with blue LEDs and the BZ800 is definitely lit to kill! There is a pair of branded nylon gloves free publicity for Tagan if you should chose to wear them around. The outer body itself is reasonably well built, but the gauge of sheet used isn’t as good as the CoolerMusteredRealPower 1000W or the Corsair HX series.
On the technical front the BZ800 sports six 12 volt rails. There is a Turbo mode which disables the power limitations on the 12 V rails allowing them to overdraw power , in case you should need it. Four PCIe (two 6 pin and two 8 pin) power connectors mean SLI/Crossfire is possible with the latest cards. With a combined load capacity of 64 amps on the 12 V rail (768 W) the BZ800 is no different from other recent power supplies, which concentrate on beefing up the 12 V rail that typically powers CPUs,graphics cards, hard drives, optical drives and case fans.
We fired up our nuclear reactor of a rig,consisting of our Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 CPU, ASUS Striker Extreme, two WD Raptor 80 GB HDDs, a500 GB WD caviar HDD, two DVD RW drives and an x-Fi Elite Pro. Just to make things interesting, we took our quad core to 3.6 GHz,and ran a gamut of benchmarks. Not once did it seem that the BZ800 ran out of juice, and performed well right through.
At $200 the Tagan BZ isn’t cheap by any means, but for a high-end power supply (which it most certainly is), the price isn’t too bad. The only better option we’ve seen is the CoolerMaster Real Power 1000W Pro-which is much costlier. Incidentally, the fact that the BZ800 is 80+ certified means your power bills will be in check. If you’re looking for an extreme PC or a super duper gaming rig, and need a powerful PSU with loads of visual appeal, you can’t go wrong with this.
Specifications:
800 W continuous power, max power (12 V)-768 W (64 A), 8x SATA connectors, 2×6 pin PCIe connectors, 2×8 pin PCIe connectors, 6x peripheral connectors (4 pin).
