Results: Enermax Platimax 600 W
Efficiency According to the 80 PLUS Specification
Efficiency by Output Power
In our labs, the Platimax 600 W yields 80 PLUS measurements that are spot-on with the Platinum spec’s minimum values. At very low loads, however, efficiency begins to suffer. At a mere 25 W load, the Platimax is down to 74 percent efficiency, increasing to just 83 percent at 50 W.
At just a tad over 16 ms, the hold-up time barely exceeds the minimum stated in the ATX specification. While the other values are in compliance as well, the ripple and noise measurements warrant a closer look. On the three most important DC rails, we see voltage spikes, which are a few nanoseconds long, and exceed the allowable maximums on the 3.3 V rail. However, there can be multiple reasons for this phenomenon, and since the voltages are otherwise very clean, we’re not going to call a foul here.
A Closer Look at the PCB
A peek at the interior shows that the power supply is based on the so-called Dynamic Hybrid Transformer Topology. It is similar to LLC resonant toplogy used in expensive, high-efficiency power supplies. Since the Enermax supply is also highly efficient, it is not surprising that a similar architecture is being implemented.
The input filter design is somewhat unusual, as there are four Y capacitors, but no X capacitors. However, two X capacitors are found behind the bridge rectifier, so everything is copacetic after all. The soldering and general mechanical quality of this power supply are excellent, which comes as no surprise since Enermax uses high-quality components from Japan.
