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
External Impressions and Cable Configuration
The rugged and very thick material is strongly reminiscent of the Revolution85+ series. The color is charcoal gray, with a platinum-like surface around the fan grille. The grille has an Enermax logo in the middle, with a Platimax logo and a picture of a crown on both sides of the power supply. Our personal preference is that more is less when it comes to logos and such, but others might appreciate the markings on the case.
The modular plugs protrude slightly at the front of the PSU. The PCIe plug sockets have a different color than the ones for the peripheral components. The cable sleeving is high-quality, but the gold and red stripes on the sleeves don't quite fit with the 80 Plus Platinum certification. While it's not likely important for many users, there will be some that dislike the Platimax aesthetic.
| Cables and Connectors | ||
|
|
Main | 24-pin 55cm fixed |
| ATX12V/EPS12V |
4+4-pin 60cm fixed 8-pin 60cm fixed |
|
| PCIe |
2x 6/8-pin (50cm) modular 2x 6/8-pin (50cm) modular |
|
| Peripheral |
4x SATA (ca. 45, 60, 75, 90cm) modular 4x SATA (ca. 45, 60, 75, 90cm) modular |
|
|
4x Molex (ca. 45, 60, 75, 90cm) modular 4x Molex, 1x FDD (ca. 45, 60, 75, 90, 105cm) modular |
||
The connector configuration is satisfying. Both CPU cables are very long at 60cm. Each of the two PCIe cables reach 50cm. Altogether the model has four PCIe connectors for graphics cards. The eight SATA connectors are not bad for a 750W power rating. The FDD plug, if you still need one, is at the end of one Molex cable harness. The 24-pin and CPU cables are permanently fixed. Enermax prefers a semi-modular connector system for lower wattages; it's only if you buy the 1000W+ models that you get modular mainboard cables. It's an odd distinction, really—are fully modular PSUs someone more for "enthusiasts" that other 80 Plus Platinum power supplies? Does anyone actually detach their CPU/mainboard cables? Regardless, that's how Enermax has chosen to configure this particular model.
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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.