Published: August 23, 2022 | Source: ASUS | Author: Tom Logan

ASUS ROG Thor 1000W Platinum II Review

Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Thor 1000W Platinum II is one of those products where the performance is almost secondary to the flash and flair.

Many hardware items under the Republic of Gamers branding tend to justify their hefty price points with insane amounts of features and high end components, as well as some elements unique to their product arm. Graphics cards have beefed up cooling, RGB lighting, and hefty overclocks. Motherboards usually have all the features available to them as well as some custom ASUS items like the LiveDash or other fancy lighting options. How willing you are to spend that extra money comes down to a combination of brand loyalty and a desire for the extras that other manufacturers don’t provide.

The Thor has a design entirely in keeping with that ROG ethos. A huge mirrored side panel dominates the looks, behind which is a display that shows the current loading of the PSU. On the right you have a huge ROG Eye logo to ensure nobody taking a casual glance in your rig wouldn’t know who made your PSU, whilst above that is a tiny Thor logo that has RGB functionality. None of these things are ones you strictly need, and all of them push that price higher, but if the Thor didn’t have them would it be a ROG product at all? Such is the fickle nature of the media that we’d be as likely to bemoan them not being there and thus not feeling like it belongs in the Republic of Gamers lineage as we are to bemoan the price hike their inclusion has. Never satisfied eh.

However, beyond the external “shiny” bits, the Thor Platinum II has plenty to keep you interested. The components themselves are, as befit a high end PSU, of the best quality being 100% Japanese capacitors. All of this is kept cool with ROG heatsinks and a 135mm Axial fan, ensuring the coolest, quietest running. With 80 Plus Platinum certification you can be sure that all that power is as efficient as possible. We feel the real key showpiece of the Thor is the inclusion of a 12 pin GPU power cable. Should you have got the latest graphics cards – and if you’re spending this much on a PSU that’s a given – then you’ll appreciate being able to power it without having to resort to adaptors that make your system look untidy.

Occasionally ASUS release a ROG product which seems to barely scrape into the category of products that earn that ROG Eye logo. The Thor 1000W Platinum II, on the other hand, is one that makes you appreciate why the Republic of Gamers branding has earnt and kept such a huge reputation amongst the cognoscenti. Sure you can’t customise the display as we might wish to, but it’s everything a power supply could be, albeit with the usual hefty ROG price point for all the extra flash and flair, and wins our OC3D Enthusiast Award.