XPG Fusion Titanium 1600 Power Supply Review

The recess of crypto mining and underlying improvement of electronics components has also meant that high-power PSU designs have reverted, in a sense, to a more balanced portfolio. PSU vendors are finally making some fresh investments in high-end, high-efficiency designs – PSUs that crypto miners would have never paid the premium for. Especially with the launch of the new ATX 3.0/3.1 design guides and the 12+4 pin graphics card connectors, there’s an opportunity for a new generation of PSUs to make their mark while powering the latest video cards.

There are few power supplies that make this more apparent than XPG’s new Fusion Titanium 1600. The sole member of its class thus far, the Fusion is a true flagship-grade PSU with the electronics quality to match. Built by Delta Electronics, the XPG Fusion makes liberal use of Gallium Nitride MOSFETs to deliver a monstrous 1600 Watts of power at 80 Plus Titanium levels of efficiency. All the while, this will also be one of the first high-powered ATX 3.0 power supplies, offering two 12+4 pin connectors – making it suitable to drive two high-end video cards – which is no small feat given the power excursion requirements that come with the ATX 3.0 specification.

We are exploring everything that makes the XPG Fusion stand out from the crowd. From oversized chassis to its almost absurd voltage regulation quality, it is a power supply that few customers will ever need. It certainly makes its mark across the PSU design ecosystem.

Specifications and Design

In the Box

We received the XPG Fusion in a large cardboard box that instantly hints at the dimensions of the sizable PSU. The artwork is relatively basic, but the striking red color does not go unnoticed. Basic performance and compliance information is printed on the sides and rear of the box. Inside the box, the PSU is protected by thick packaging foam.

XPG, for those unfamiliar with the company, is the gaming brand of ADATA Technology, one of the industry's major PC parts suppliers. That gaming lineage (and anime mascot) makes for something of an odd pairing for this specific PSU, since these days multi-GPU systems are almost always professional graphics and AI systems – the death of SLI means there's no need to pair up GPUs for gaming systems. Still, as ADATA's gaming brand, XPG has earned a reputation for delivering higher quality products than the ADATA brand itself, so it makes a lot of sense to use it to sell this premium power supply. And reading things slightly more cynically, it doesn't hurt that for deep-pocketed gamers who can afford to build a system that spares no expense, the Fusion gives XPG something to upsell those customers on.

Bundled alongside the XPG Fusion, we found six cable straps, four mounting screws, and an AC power cable. The bundle is very frugal for a product of this price range, but attention needs to be given to the AC power cable, which has an IEC C19 connector instead of the common IEC C13 connector. XPG was forced to use the C19 connector as the input current of the PSU can surpass the rated current capacity of the C13 connector.

Expectedly, the XPG Fusion is a fully modular design, allowing for the removal of every DC power cable, including the 24-pin ATX connector. All of the cables are completely black, with ribbon-like black wires and black connectors. Only the 24-pin ATX cable differs, which is sleeved. The Fusion Titanium 1600 comes with two 12+4 pin connectors.

At this point, we should also mention the presence of a small “OC Link” cable. That cable can be used to daisy chain multiple XPG Fusion units together, allowing them to operate simultaneously. This obviously is not a feature most users will be concerned with but something to draw the attention of users building rendering and/or mining farms.

External Appearance

In an era where every manufacturer aims to design the smallest PSU possible, the XPG Fusion Titanium 1600 is practically profane. The monstrous chassis is 210 mm long and users will definitely have to double-check the clearances of their case to ensure compatibility. Regardless of the size of the case, typical ATX units are 60-70 mm shorter, so there may be an obstruction that prevents the installation of such a long PSU.

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The chassis of the Fusion Titanium 1600 is entirely custom. It is sprayed with a satin black paint that is very smooth and beautiful but also prone to fingerprint marks. The fan finger guard is a part of the chassis itself. Embossed geometrical shapes and patterns can be found on both the bottom and sides of the chassis. Decorative stickers cover half of each side and the sticker with the unit’s electrical certifications and specifications covers part of its top side.

A typical on/off switch can be seen at the rear side of the unit, beside the power connector. The power connector is an IEC C20 instead of the commonly found IEC C14. The front side of the unit is littered with the connectors for the modular cables. There was not much room left for a legend, so XPG painted basic headers directly on the chassis and next to each group of connectors.

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Internal Design

The fan responsible for the cooling of the XPG Fusion Titanium is the Hong Hua HA13525H12SB-Z. Hong Hua is an established manufacturer of quality fans, but we found no information online about this particular model. Nonetheless, we established that it has a maximum speed of about 2450 RPM, and it features a dual ball bearing design. These designs are not the quietest, but they are the most reliable, and XPG could not take risks after backing up the unit with a 12-year warranty.

XPG openly advertises that the XPG Fusion Titanium is the outcome of their collaboration with Delta Electronics, a highly reputable OEM with decades of experience in power electronics. Although we rarely see their designs in consumer-grade PC PSUs, Delta Electronics has been around for over 50 years and they currently are one of the largest companies in the field, with R&D offices and factories worldwide.

A mere glance at the insides of the XPG Fusion Titanium 1600 PSU is enough for anyone with a basic grasp of how typical PC PSUs are designed to realize that this unit is vastly different. Much like every other PC PSU, we start with a filtering stage that consists of six Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors and leads to a dual input rectifying bridge configuration. The rectifying bridges are not the typical versions that we usually find attached to a heatsink but rather two Infineon IPDQ60R010S7, which are substantially more efficient than typical bridge rectifiers. They are placed on a vertical board without a heatsink at all, simply because their losses are so low there is no need for a heatsink.

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The APFC circuit is also different than what we usually encounter. Instead of two MOSFETs and a diode, there are four MOSFETs and no diode (Totem Pole topology). Two huge 450V/820μF capacitors from Rubycon and two large encased coils form the passive components of the APFC. The active APFC components are on a second vertical daughterboard next to the edge of the unit with an aluminum heatsink attached directly to them. The heatsink is literally touching the side of the unit so the airflow will be extremely limited but we suspect that the APFC MOSFETs (Gallium Nitride, Infineon IGT60R070D1) hardly need any cooling at all.

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Moving ahead, the design gets ever more unique. The primary inversion side is a relatively typical LLC resonant circuit, with the major difference being the use of four extremely high-efficiency Gallium Nitride FETs. These feed the highlight of this platform, the planar transformer. We will not be seeing planar transformers used on other platforms anytime soon as they are patented by Delta Electronics. Their primary advantage over traditional transformers is the extremely high power density, as planar transformers can handle the same output within less than a quarter of the space required by typical transformers. This could be very handy if Delta Electronics decides to develop very high-density units, but it arguably was not much of an advantage here, as the Fusion Titanium 1600 came out extremely long anyway.

After the planar transformers, typical power MOSFETs generate the 12V line. There is only one major output, with the multiple 12V lines being the product of multiple OCP protections. The current limit per line can be set via software, or individual OCP protections can be disabled in favor of a single massive 12V rail. As expected, the secondary 3.3V and 5V lines are generated via DC-to-DC circuits. Large bars transfer the power from the main PCB to the PCB, holding all of the connectors. All of the secondary side capacitors are solid-state and are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con.

Cold Test Results

Cold Test Results (25°C Ambient)

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.

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Most manufacturers target their designs to meet the 80Plus certification requirements with an input voltage of 115 VAC due to the lower standard requirements. The XPG Fusion 1600 does meet the 80Plus Titanium requirements with an input voltage of 115 VAC, reaching a top efficiency of 94.7% and an average nominal load range (20% to 100% of the unit's capacity) efficiency of 93.5%. Switching the input voltage to 230 VAC does increase its average efficiency to 94.1%, but the improvement is not substantial enough to meet the 80Plus Titanium standard thresholds. Nonetheless, the XPG Fusion 1600 undoubtedly is highly efficient, especially when the load is very low, which is crucial with a product with that high a power output.

The stock cooling profile of the XPG Fusion 1600 is well-balanced between performance and acoustics, albeit a bit aggressive at higher loads. We can see that the fan turns on and spins slowly, practically inaudibly, as long as the load is low. It is very impressive that the fan hardly speeds up at all while the load is below 50% and that, in this case, is an output of 800 Watts. Any typical gaming PC would not be capable of forcing the XPG Fusion Titanium to substantially increase its fan speed. When the load is higher than 800 Watts, the losses are enough to warrant a faster fan speed, with the control circuit speeding up the fan as the load increases. The profile is programmed to shoot the fan at maximum speed, even though the temperature readings do not warrant that. Users can also adjust the cooling profile via the software.

Hot Test Results

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

Typical PSU designs take an overall performance hit when they operate in hot ambient temperatures. The XPG Fusion 1600 almost was an exception to that rule, with the unit almost entirely unfazed by the >25C temperature increase. The average efficiency drop is less than 0.15% across the nominal load range, suggesting that the components were hardly affected at all by the higher ambient and operating temperatures. There is practically no effect even when the unit is loaded to 100% capacity.

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The main component temperatures of the XPG Fusion Titanium initially seem to align with typical high-performance PSU designs, but one needs to decipher these graphs closely. Comparisons need to be made at the same level of power output and the maximum output of this unit is 1600 Watts. With an output of 800-1000 Watts and its large chassis and extremely high efficiency giving it a gigantic advantage, the XPG Fusion Titanium foreseeably maintains very low operating temperatures, significantly lower than most 800-1000 Watt PSUs. The temperature can climb to over 100 degrees Celsius when the unit operates at maximum load without any palpable consequence.

The very high efficiency of the XPG Fusion Titanium allows it to mostly maintain the same cooling profile, even in this adverse operating environment. There is little difference in the fan’s speed or noise when the load is up to 900 Watts, even though the ambient temperature is far greater than before. At high loads, where the temperature rises alarmingly high, the unit seems to be ignoring the stock cooling profile and shoots the fan at maximum speed a little sooner than before. The fan will be very loud in these conditions but no unit is efficient enough to operate silently inside a hotbox and still reliably output up to 1.6 kWs.

PSU Quality and Bottom Line

Power Supply Quality

The electrical performance of the XPG Fusion Titanium 1600 PSU is nothing short of stellar. The filtering is amazing, with the ripple hardly reaching 20 mV while the unit outputs 1600 Watts – a mere sixth of the recommended design limit, regardless of the monstrous power output. Regulation is outstanding, at 0.5% on the primary 12V line and 0.9% on the secondary 3.3V/5V lines. By default, the average output voltage for all lines is a little high, but there is a reason for that, as we will see in the software section of our review.

As part of our standard testing, we test the primary protections of all PSUs we review (Over Current, Over Voltage, Over Power, and Short Circuit). All of the protections of the XPG Fusion Titanium function normally. The OCP protection is a bit more complex, as the unit is by default programmed not to allow more than 50A per 12V virtual rail but up to 133.3A total. This is to protect single cables and connectors, as drawing 130A from a single cable would be ruinous. Trying to draw more than 52-53A from a single connector will instantly trigger an OCP shutdown. With the single-rail 12V mode, the OCP protection is a bit slack, as we reached about 120% output on the 12V rail before the OCP immediately triggered a shutdown.

Software

The XPG Fusion Titanium is one of the very few PSUs with a USB interface, allowing monitoring and customization via software. XPG integrated the Fusion Titanium within their Prime software package, which is used to control all compatible XPG devices (mainly keyboards and mice).

Once fired up, the XPG Prime will display some basic input and output electrical figures, such as the input voltage and output wattage. The input wattage does not appear but can be calculated by dividing the output wattage by the efficiency (i.e., 61 W / 0.7 = 87.1 W in this example). These readings are not terribly accurat,e but they are reasonably close to the actual figures.

From the Power tab, users have limited control over the output voltages and OCP protection limits. The output voltages are set to 12.2V, 5.1V, and 3.4V by default. Users can adjust the output voltage slightly, but the range is so small that it will not have any practical consequence on typical PCs. OCP figures can only be adjusted downwards, i.e., users cannot set OCP limits above the maximum ratings.

The Thermal tab allows users to choose one out of three cooling profiles, or even program their own. By default, the thermal profile unit is set to “performance” mode. Switching to “silent” mode will keep the fan disabled up to a load of 600 Watts. Users can program their own cooling profiles and even disable active cooling completely if they want to - in any case, the unit’s OTP protection will ignore the cooling profile if the temperatures get out of hand.

Finally, the History tab is a record of the unit’s basic electrical and thermal figures. Users can choose the sampling rate from minutes to days. “Days” is far too slow a sampling rate for electrical figures. Even “Minutes” is not useful for anything other than indicative records, as a rate of one record per minute cannot be used for any form of accurate measurements, let alone diagnostics. For the latter, the sampling rate would need to be at least in the milliseconds range.

Bottom Line

The XPG Fusion Titanium 1600 PSU undoubtedly is an exceptional product that lives up to the company’s extravagant marketing claims. It boasts excellent build quality, top-of-the-line components, and a clean design. Its OEM/ODM, Delta Electronics, is a renowned power electronics manufacturer that is known for producing top-quality products. XPG backs the unit up with a 12-year manufacturer warranty, which should be enough to dissolve any doubts regarding the quality level of the PSU.

The power supply's outstanding power quality is one of its key strengths, with great voltage filtering and very tight voltage regulation on every voltage rail. Filtering is astoundingly good for a unit with that high a power output. The electrical conversion efficiency is very high but not higher than expected for a unit that meets the 80Plus Titanium certification requirements. The unit also exhibits extreme resistance to thermal stress, operating unfazed regardless of the ambient temperature (within reasonable limits).

While noise figures depend on the selected/programmed cooling profile, the XPG Fusion Titanium can typically operate silently with loads up to 500-600 Watts. However, if pressed to operate at loads above 1200 Watts for prolonged periods, it will inevitably produce high levels of noise. Typical gaming PCs and workstations cannot maintain such a high continuous power draw but rendering stations and mining rigs will.

Overall, the XPG Fusion Titanium power supply is a halo product that is typically targeted towards hardcore enthusiasts and users who demand the very best, regardless of the price tag. And with a retail price of $600, it definitely is a very expensive product. However, for users who require extreme performance and reliability, this power supply is a solid investment that is worth every penny.

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