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
Introducing the Enermax Platimax 750W
Since the introduction of the 80 Plus certifications, we've seen a slow but steady trickle down effect where labels that were once reserved for the highest of the high-end (e.g. 80 Plus Gold) have eventually reached mainstream price points. Manufacturers including FSP, Rosewill, Sparkle, and SuperFlower now sell affordable 80 Plus Gold power supplies for less than $100. But if mainstream users are now able to get 80 Plus Gold, what should the high-end market offer? Enter 80 Plus Platinum:
Those looking for maximum efficiency can now set their sights on 80 Plus Platinum PSUs, which will be new halo market for high-end—and high cost—power supplies. To reach the necessary efficiency levels (90% at 20% load, 92% at 50% load, and 89% at 100% load), some improvements are necessary that can change some of the core characteristics of a power. Improved resonant topologies, new MOSFETs for synchronous rectifying, higher switching frequencies, better drivers, and low-resistance conduction paths are just some of the things we'll see with 80 Plus Platinum. We're naturally eager to see what the new models can bring to the table, and Enermax sent us their Platimax 750W model, which uses an optimized Modu87+ design. Read on to find out if Enermax is the new efficiency king, and how it performs in other metrics.
Let's take a first look at the near future of switching power supplies. The Platimax 750W might be relatively close to the Modu87+ series (and is definitely in the running for the worst product name award, or perhaps least creative name award), but there are some interesting new details that we will cover on the following pages. It is very important to improve efficiency without impairing electromagnetic compatibility, something faster switching might impair. So let's find out if Enermax's new components and design are enough to provide the desired high efficiency, low ripple and noise, and decent voltage regulation.
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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.