Fractal Design ION+ 860P Power Supply Review: Whisper Quiet

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Protection Features, DC Power Sequencing, Cross-Load Tests and Infrared Images

Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.

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Protection Features
OCP12V: 99.8A (139.39%), 11.896V 5V: 30.6A (139.09%), 4.966V 3.3V: 30.6A (139.09%), 3.250V 5VSB: 5.1A (170%), 4.866V
OPP1210.9W (140.8%)
OTP✓ (131°C @ 12V heat sink)
SCP12V: ✓ 5V: ✓ 3.3V: ✓ 5VSB: ✓ -12V: ✓
PWR_OKOperates properly
NLO
SIPSurge: MOV Inrush: NTC Thermistor & Bypass Relay

The OCP triggering points are high on every rail. Normally we'd want them to be within 130% on the +12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails, and a bit higher at 5VSB.

DC Power Sequencing

According to Intel’s most recent Power Supply Design Guide (revision 1.4), the +12V and 5V outputs must be equal to or greater than the 3.3V rail at all times. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't mention why it is so important to always keep the 3.3V rail's voltage lower than the levels of the other two outputs.

The 3.3V rail is always at a lower voltage level than the other two rails.

Cross Load Tests

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails. The deviations in each of the charts below are calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12V, 5V, and 3.3V) as point zero. The ambient temperature during testing was between 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Load Regulation Charts

Efficiency Chart

The ION+ 860P's efficiency goes above 92% for quite a large region of this chart.

Ripple Charts

The lower a power supply's ripple, the more stable your system will be and the less stress is applied to its components.

Infrared Images

We apply a half-load for 10 minutes with the PSU's top cover and cooling fan removed before taking photos with a modified FLIR E4 camera able to deliver an IR resolution of 320x240 (76,800 pixels).

Because we apply a demanding load to the 5V and 3.3V rails, the DC-DC converter's board heats up the most.

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Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.