The Fractal Design Ion+ 760P 80Plus Platinum PSU Review: A High-End PSU For the Mainstream Builder
by E. Fylladitakis on August 6, 2019 9:00 AM ESTCold Test Results
For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs - 2014 Pipeline post.
The energy conversion efficiency of the new Ion+ 760P at room temperature is excellent, even for an 80Plus Platinum certified product. Considering the 80Plus Platinum certification requirements for either 230 VAC or 115 VAC input, the Ion+ 760P significantly surpasses the minimum required efficiency at any given load. It reaches up to 94.4% efficiency at 50% load with an input voltage of 230 VAC, which drops to 92.6% if the input voltage is 115 VAC. The average nominal load (20%-100%) efficiency is 93.1% and 91.3% with an input voltage of 230 VAC and 115 VAC respectively. Considering that 80Plus certification testing takes place at temperatures lower than the current ambient temperature of our testing environment (room temperature is defined as 25 °C and that is used for 80Plus certification tests, while our room temperature was over 27 °C at the time of our testing), the efficiency of the Ion+ 760P is well above the minimum 80Plus Platinum requirements.
We tested the Ion+ 760P with the semi-fanless mode activated, where the fan is programmed not to start until necessary. Despite the relatively high room temperature, the fan of the PSU did not start before the load exceeded 300 Watts, which is comparatively speaking a very high tripping point for semi-fanless designs. After that point, the fan started and continued to increase its speed alongside with the load and yet barely reached up to 40% of its maximum speed at full load, with our instruments reading 38 dB(A). The operating temperature of the Ion+ 760P is very low for a unit with this kind of output, barely reaching over 55 °C under maximum load.
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Jane_JJ - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
I thought people on this site were better than that -"I am surprised how narrow minded most Americans are about globalization," that could be said about almost any other country on the planet. Brexit being the comically obvious example. We just have the largest English speaking population and trashing on "americas" is like trashing on one age demographic for the media. While not necessarily wrong there just doing it for the clicks/views. Also while globalization is very much increasing make no mistake we are still about a quarter of the GLOBAL GDP. Almost any product on the market at any reasonable scale is made for the US market and adapted for other countries. (I’m not saying this is a or bad thing) Do some research into standards body and that will become apparent.fist003 - Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - link
thisSkeptical123 - Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - link
Zepi your point "Over 95% of world population doesn't live in US" is "irrelevant" in this case. As the US makes up ~24% of GLOBAL GDP. Ie we are the worlds largest consumers and while counties like China are close as I'm sure you know they play by a different rule book over there. So laws that are very applicable in the "western world" are not a factor (at least yet). So these stickers are very much for the US market even if they only are applicable in say Germany or the UK.evernessince - Tuesday, August 6, 2019 - link
No, it wouldn't pass muster in court. The law doesn't make exceptions of non-user serviceable parts. If it did then every manufacturer would simply declare their products "non-serviceable". FYI power supplies ARE user serviceable if you discharge the capacitors, it's just not recommended for amateurs. To a certain degree all parts are serviceable assuming you have enough skill. The law isn't going to start guessing which are and which aren't.If companies want to void warranties they are going to have to prove the customer damaged the item, not because of some arbitrary definition of what is and isn't serviceable or some silly sticker.
Peichen - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Another Asian product with an European label for premiumAlyxSharkBite - Saturday, August 17, 2019 - link
They’re not illegal they are unenforceable in the US (regardless of what some people say about the user serviceable) but these are sold in the North America (content not region of the US) that includes markets such as Canada where it might be enforceable (I don’t know Canadian laws). It’s not a US Exclusive product. That’s why they are on there.YB1064 - Tuesday, August 6, 2019 - link
I haven't seen this in any PSU review till date, but in addition to quoting ripple (rms?), it would be useful to show a voltage power spectrum (V^2/Hz vs Hz). This will clearly show noise at various frequencies. You could also integrate this PSD to get cumulative noise (should be equivalent to RMS).I would not suggest this to any other run of the mill review site, but you guys seem to do a good job of providing technical analysis and details.
PS: I can post a MATLAB script to do this if you want.
umano - Tuesday, August 6, 2019 - link
That sounds good, upvote!Chaitanya - Tuesday, August 6, 2019 - link
Compared to seasonic how good are the sirfa units?kyuu - Tuesday, August 6, 2019 - link
While I can't speak from experience, the article itself seems to answer your question. Sirfa units, by themselves, are generally not high quality. However, Fractal's modifications to the platform has resulted in a product that is top-tier, and appears to beat other brand's products, even Seasonic, in most every measure.