Asus brings the lightning with hammer-shaped Mjolnir UPS, innovative Thor PSUs

Mjolnir UPS
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Who doesn't love the god of thunder? Asus has long maintained a line of premium power supplies called Thor and now, at Computex 2024, the company is not only rolling out third-generation Thor PSUs but adding a Mjolnir-shaped UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for good measure. We had a chance to see both an ROG Thor 1600W Titanium III PSU and the UPS at the Asus booth and both seemed truly impressive.

While uninterruptible power supplies can be useful -- keeping your PC and devices going during power outages or brownouts -- they're pretty boring and a lot of people just don't think about them. Asus's Mjolnir is designed to get people excited about UPSes while also delivering a ton of features. 

Mjolnir looks just like Thor's hammer turned upside down. The "handle" is actually just a flashlight that wirelessly charges when its on top of the base and can be useful if you're looking around a dark house during a power outage.

The base of the hammer has four 3-prong outlets, two 10-watt USB Type-A ports and two USB-C power delivery ports that an output at 100W or 65W respectively. A digital display shows how much of the massive 768 Wh full charge remains on the internal battery, along with other information about how much power your devices are drawing. There's an RGB logo on the front and Qi-capable devices such as phones can charge just by sitting on top of the base. 

Asus first teased this device in April, where some thought it might be an April Fool's joke, but now there's a working model and no one is laughing at its potential.

ROG Thor Titanium III Power Supply sports removable screen

Thor Titanium III PSU

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Designed to compete with the best PSUs on the market at any price, the Thor 1600W Titanium III ATX 3.1 power supply comes with a screen on the side which shows your system's current power draw. At Asus's booth, the demo model's display only showed about 40 watts of power usage, because it wasn't actually connected to a PC and was lighting up its own RGB logo. 

What's really neat about the Thor is that the screen is magnetically attached to the side so you can pop it off and then place it on the opposite side of the PSU. So, no matter whether you have your PSU facing the front, the back, the top, or the bottom, you'll be able to see that screen.

Thor Titanium III PSU's screen pops off

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The Thor 1600W Titanium III also has dual 12V connectors so you can power more than one GPU. The GPU power cables also have an extra, two-pin purple connector on the PSU side that the Thor uses to monitor how much voltage your graphics card is requesting and adjust its output accordingly. Like its predecessor, the Titanium II, this model uses GaN transistors for maximum efficiency.

Thor Titanium III monitoring pins

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The PSU also comes with a really nice set of cables. Where many power supplies either give you incredibly-stiff sleeved cables or flexible but ugly rubber cables, the Thor Titanium's cables are both sleeved and very flexible. I held the cable in my hand for a second and noticed that it was really pliable.

Thor Titanium III cables

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Though Asus has only announced the 1600W Titanium III, an Asus rep said the company will come out with other capacities starting at 1,000 watts, but those may be Platinum rather than Titanium efficiency (as they are in Thor Gen 2 products).

We don't have exact pricing or availability dates for either the Mjolnir or the Thor PSU, but we know that neither will come cheap. The current-gen, Thor 1600W Titanium II currently usually costs between $600 and $700. So expect to pay the same or more.

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Avram Piltch
Avram Piltch is Tom's Hardware's editor-in-chief. When he's not playing with the latest gadgets at work or putting on VR helmets at trade shows, you'll find him rooting his phone, taking apart his PC or coding plugins. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram developed many real-world benchmarks, including our laptop battery test.
  • LabRat 891
    No 220-240VAC 50/60hz on the Mjolnir is immensely disappointing.

    Absolutely nothing special over any APC or CyberPower UPS.

    I'll keep eyeing HP and APC 'server' IEC-based units, Instead...
    Reply
  • Krieger-San
    Doesn't summon thunderstorms? Psssh... trash. /s
    Reply
  • 8086
    LabRat 891 said:
    No 220-240VAC 50/60hz on the Mjolnir is immensely disappointing.

    Absolutely nothing special over any APC or CyberPower UPS.

    I'll keep eyeing HP and APC 'server' IEC-based units, Instead...
    No need to worry. The competition has a lot more experience and product offerings in this arena. Tripplite makes a fantastic unit in just about every voltage, capacity, and frequency you might ever need. On the budget side of things, Cyberpower isn't a bad choice. Just make sure what ever UPS you buy that its a pure sine wave model.
    Reply
  • Notton
    I'm just wondering, why would a NA plug UPS need 220-240VAC 50/60Hz?
    It's not like you can carry that on an airplane and take it overseas, right?
    Reply
  • 8086
    Notton said:
    I'm just wondering, why would a NA plug UPS need 220-240VAC 50/60Hz?
    It's not like you can carry that on an airplane and take it overseas, right?
    This is most likely needed for high wattage cases. Commonly these UPS units can output 120v 20a. And a lot, if not most modern power supplies can operate on a wide variety of voltages from 100-240v. I Know my older PC Power and Cooling TurboCool 1300w can operate on both 120 and 220-240.
    Reply
  • LabRat 891
    Notton said:
    I'm just wondering, why would a NA plug UPS need 220-240VAC 50/60Hz?
    It's not like you can carry that on an airplane and take it overseas, right?
    Because, the US and Canada are 220-240VAC 60hz countries.
    (Beyond the receptacle for an electric clothes dryer, any room with in-built heating typically can (easily) retrofit a 2-pole 220-240VAC receptacle.)

    The 50hz addition, is just a nice plus to make it saleable worldwide.
    Reply
  • 8086
    The plug can also easily be fixed with a pair of wire cutters, a screw driver, and a Marinco or Hubbell replacement plug.
    https://www.grainger.com/category/electrical/electrical-connectors-wiring-devices/plugs-receptacles-wiring-devices?brandName=HUBBELL&shopItemsBy=Country+of+Origin:+US&filters=brandName,shopItemsBy
    https://www.marinco.com/
    Reply