Enermax Platimax 750W - 80 Plus Platinum Arrives
by Martin Kaffei on February 10, 2012 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- 80Plus
- 750W
- Enermax
- 80Plus Platinum
Conclusion
The Enermax Platimax 750W is a very efficient and expensive power supply. There are no significant disadvantages with the design and technology, though you'll have to pay for the privilege. The connector configuration is very good, and both the choice of components and the power supply case are very high quality. Enthusiasts looking for great performance will find this power supply a suitable solution.
Internally, Enermax uses a modified Modu87+ design with better semiconductors. The PCB material and the electrolytic capacitors in this PSU are top quality parts. The output side of the resonant converter is complemented by full-wave synchronous rectification (with MOSFETs), minimizing switching losses and the voltage drop the Schottky diodes usually have. There are a few other smaller changes as well, such as the buck converter for -12V and the "improved" EMI filtering with fewer components. We mentioned the low power output on the +3.3V and +5V rails, but this is not necessarily a disadvantage. As always, the required power depends on the system.
A modern PC pulls the majority of the current from the +12V output(s), so it's not so much the quantity but the quality of the smaller outputs that is important. Some sensitive logic gates on the motherboard need a stable 3.3V output but only low currents. The voltage drop under high load is negligible and is simply a reflection on the sizing of the converters. A low output ripple and noise is more decisive. During the load test +3.3V drops to a minimum of -3.63% below the reference value while +5V drops by as much as -2.4% to -2.60% during overload.
Even at 10% load the Platimax 750W reaches 86.93% efficiency, a remarkable value. The power factor is also very high. Low ripple and noise on most output voltages is advantageous as well. With 0.9% ripple (1% is allowed) +3.3V is the worst output. We would like to see better results here, since this is a high-end product. Apart from that the Platimax hardly blinks when confronted with our crossload tests. The voltages are always very close to their ideal value. If you don't put too many amps on +5V and +3.3V, you might even say Enermax shows flawless results.
In any case the noise of the fan is impeccable. Enermax has promised to use a low speed regulation for the Twister fan, which is true. Apart from the audible noise under full load the PSU is always nearly silent. There's also no noise from the electronics (not that we would expect anything less from a high-end PSU).
Enermax delivers an adequate cable configuration, similar to what other manufacturers offer. Four 6/8-pin PEG and 16 peripheral connectors are fairly average in this performance class, as are the 4+4-pin and 8-pin connectors for CPU power. The colorful sleeving can be described as high-grade (even if gold and red is the "wrong" color for this PSU) , and the contents of the package are satisfying. For the larger Platimax models you can even get a case fan for free. Enermax offers everything you might want from a PSU, with a few extras just for good measure.
The Platimax series includes 600W, 750W, 850W, 1000W, and 1200W models—and several of the lower wattage models have mail-in rebates available, if you're interested. The 750W we're reviewing can currently be had for $200, with a $30 MIR bringing the cost down to just $170. The largest competition for the 750W Platimax might just be Enermax's own Modu87+ 700W, which has a lower base price of $180 but no MIR. According to our research that model is not fundamentally different and is sometimes (depending on rebates) cheaper. However, when we are talking about power supplies, even small details make the difference.
Note that the only direct 80 Plus Platinum alternative comes from SuperFlower/Kingwin. The Kingwin LZP-750 (made by SuperFlower) is just as expensive as the Enermax Platimax 750W (slightly more, actually), and it's missing some features such as OCP, a MOV, and similar protections. Beyond that the LZP-750 (or SuperFlower Golden King Platinum—which is even worse than Platimax as far as names go!) offers fewer connectors. For that reason we would recommend the Platimax 750W, but only for those who demand every ounce of efficiency. If you're more of a mainstream user and can live with 1-2% less efficiency, you can certainly save some money, but it's clear that Enermax is a leading company for high-quality products.
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Galcobar - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
Power supplies are like rims on cars -- we don't see the effect easily, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.Nobody's claiming a good PSU will make your system faster. It will make it cheaper to run, and last longer. A cheap PSU can and will kill your components with unstable current (that would be the ripple mentioned in the article) or out-of-spec current (running 4V into a 3.3V component). Then you have to pay to replace those components. A cheap PSU will also fail sooner, meaning you have to replace it, spending yet more money.
As for quality rims, actually, those do make your car faster. A simple cast rim is weaker and will weigh significantly more than a forged rim. The high unsprung, rotating mass requires more energy to accelerate and maintain speed (and the effect is greater than an equivalent mass in the body of the car), meaning you lose performance and fuel economy. It also degrades handling for the same reason.
Of course, lots of rims are purely cosmetic and have no performance value,and that holds true of some PSUs. Good quality costs money initially, but will either pay for itself or provide a measureable benefit. The point of a review such as this is to separate out the ones that just look good from the ones that actually do good.
Sabresiberian - Sunday, February 12, 2012 - link
Troll.faster - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
With the move to SSD from mechanical drives and die shrinks from componenent manufacturers (CPU, video card, chipset, ect.) the power requirements of systems are going up not down right? Wrong! Power requirements of modern computers are going down.If power saupply manufacturers are going to impress me into spending $230, they should put a battery in their power supply that protects against brown outs, power outages, and power surges. Now that would be something worth $200+ dollars. Otherwise the Gold standard is literally, the Gold standard.
Death666Angel - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
That's what surge protection extension leads and UPS are for. Putting that in a PSU would just add size, cost a lot of people don't need and decrease durability since batteries don't life forever.Sabresiberian - Sunday, February 12, 2012 - link
Why do people read a review of a 750W PSU and start bashing it because it is a 750W PSU? Is your self esteem really so low you can't stand it if someone has a different purpose or standard than you? (Notice I didn't say "better' standard.)Guess what bubba, not every product made in the world is intended to impress you.
You are correct in saying the power requirements for the CPU and storage (SSD) are going down, but as far as video cards - you have no clue. An overclocked GTX 580 has been shown that it can pull as much as 300W. Just one. Yes, the power required for these things will go down too, eventually, but we aren't there yet and not everyone runs on-board graphics and uses smaller screens or are perfectly satisfied with low resolutions and frame rates.
;)
Ph0b0s - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
The disappointing thing with the latest bunch of Enermax PSU's, is the omission of a fan signal cable from the PSU. All the way up to the Revolution 85+ PSU's, Enermax used to have a signal cable from the Fan inside the PSU that you could connect to your motherboard and monitor the PSU fan speed. This was unique to Enermax. It is a very useful diagnostic tool, by which you could tell the fan was working properly or if the PSU was getting to hot due to the thermal design of your case.Now they no longer do this Enermax have lost some of their prestige to me. Would have been nice if this change had been mentioned in the review.
MrSpadge - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
These high efficiency PSUs could do for quite a while without the fan. Personally, that fan monitoring never really helped me.. but then my fans didn't fail either ;)MrSpadge - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
.. please!MT SOL - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
There is a typo in the second sentence of the first paragraph. I think you mean "turn-on" instead of "tun-on" :).As you can see, typos are a turn-on for me :).
On a side note, it would be interesting if AnandTech crunched some numbers to show how much a 80+ Platinum PSU could save over other 80+ PSUs (Bronze, Gold, etc.). That would be of great practical value :D.
cbag - Sunday, February 12, 2012 - link
Its fairly easy to calculate. I crunched numbers based on an 80 Plus as the baseline. Assuming 750w power supplies, computer on 24 hours a day for 365 days @ 50% load. A 90 Plus Platinum PSU would save you $64.27 dollars @ 12 cents per KWH. And that is the savings over an 80 Plus!So it does add up and would be well worth it in a computer that you leave on overnight to crunch rendering or folding, etc.