Riotoro Builders Edition 1200W Power Supply Review

A Closer Look

As this is a Riotoro product, the packaging carries the red and black branding well associated with them. In terms of the front, you get all the key information nice and clearly presented. You also get a large image of the power supply and well as them highlighting the gold efficiency ratings and the 7-year warranty.

In terms of information, the back of the box is fantastic. Not only are you given a product description and key features, you’re also told the power output ratings, the cables it comes with (with picture diagrams) and the fan and efficiency ratings charts. In terms of information, this is everything you could possibly want to know about a power supply. We must also credit Riotoro for including the efficiency rating chart. It’s something that many other manufacturers choose to shy from.

The exterior packaging is just a sleeve. When removed, you get the internal box work which is fantastic in terms of presentation. That bold red and white really sets this power supply apart. In fact, I think I prefer the internal box work to the exterior.

Whats In The Box?

When you open up the box, you find everything is exceptionally well presented. You have the power supply in foam casing to prevent any impact damage. In addition, you also have all the cables within a nice sturdy bag. The latter is a great option as it allows you to store away any cables you might not need for today’s build, but those that you might for tomorrows!

The bag itself also has the Riotoro branding on it. It’s a small touch, but one that adds to the high overall presentation this power supply has.

We’re not going to take pictures of all the cables, because frankly there are loads. The cables are, however, nice and flexible while all being appropriately labelled. It is again a small touch that adds a lot of quality.

The Power Supply

Power supplies are often not the most attractive feature in a PC. That being said though, Riotoro has made clear efforts here to add a little styling to this. Nothing, however, that makes you forget for one second that this power supply is all about business.

The branding to the PSU is rather understated, which is a little unusual. Aside from some stickers to the side and the branding to the centre of the fan, there is nothing gaudy or in your face.

The fan itself is well presented with an externally removable guard. The styling choice to set the casing around the fan is a nice decision and one of the small touches that you can make with a design that makes it look a little more special.

The rear of the power supply has nice large vents set in a honeycomb pattern. As this is not a hybrid power supply, the only things you will find is the on/off switch and the main power input.

The input bank for the modular cables is quite large. You do, after all, get a lot of cables with this and with 1200 watts of power, the chances are your system is going to have a lot of components. The cable inputs are a little stiff and in addition, the banks are set rather close together. That being said though, it is a nice tough that the different inputs have been itemised, which, along with the cables, should make installation easy.

As above, it is hard to make a power supply look pretty and while we’re certainly not saying that the Riotoro Builders Edition is a looker, some subtle design choices have clearly been made. Ones that we feel, overall, add just that little something extra special to it.

Interior

Internally, the Riotoro Builders Edition is very nicely presented. All the components are well spaces and the board itself is also very clean. We didn’t note a single blob of glue or sealant which speaks of a lot of care in terms of when they put this together.

A closer look internally again highlight the clean design. We would note that all of the heat sinks are located almost exclusively to one corner and immediately adjoining the main capacitors. Given their location it’s unlikely that the fan is going to be giving the best airflow and as such chances are that this power supply might run a little warm. Then again, for a 1200 watt PSU, it’s almost certainly going to have some strong temperature regulation.

One of the main key features of this product is the Japanese capacitors. While we can not confirm it for all, the 2 main bulk capacitors are produced by Nichicon who is indeed a Japanese company. With them rated to 105C, these are very good components and ones that we often see in the best power supplies.

In regards to the cooling fan, this is a rather standard design. We’ve seen this fan used in various power supplies from different manufacturers. While that might sound glib, it’s actually a rather positive factor. If so many are using it, it can’t be bad, can it?

Important – Please Read

To understand the results on the new few pages, please take the time to read our detailed testing methodology page. The next page of this review will help you understand what the results of our testing mean, and educate you on the various qualities we look for in a good PSU.