As far back as i can recall I've always considered the power supply as one of the most important hardware components of a system. True i never thought about it to be just as important as the mainboard or the graphics card but i always knew that in order for these two to work flawlessly a good PSU providing stable power is a must. Of course back when i started testing power supply units they didn't have the many 80 Plus certifications that we have now nor did they have the features they do now but the entire concept was the same. Nowadays however things are quite easier so in a way the various 80 Plus certifications also provide a quick way for people to know what a specific power supply is capable off without digging deeper (for example we have yet to test an 80 Plus Gold or Platinum PSU that didn't have excellent performance). On one hand however not everyone can afford to purchase a high output Gold/Platinum 80 Plus Certified PSU while on the other there are several bronze and silver certified ones with excellent performance as well. Now as you all know recently we gave away a Power Zone 1000W 80 Plus Bronze Certified PSU by be quiet! and since we always like to know exactly what it is that we are giving away one such PSU ended up in our test bench.