Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. There is no warranty seal anywhere that could put your 10-year warranty in jeopardy. If you do not know what you are doing, I do not recommend opening it yourself. Either way, for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open, so you do not need to. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W was straightforward with the removal of four screws. All of the screws are hex screws, which many people do not have a screwdriver for. Of course, we have all the tools here at APH Networks. Taking out the internal components from the enclosure requires the removal of more screws, which are a mix of hex and standard Philips head screws.
Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. Its OEM is Seasonic, which is one of the best manufacturers of power supplies in the world. This power supply is built on the same platform as the Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W. In fact, all the components are identical other than the fan. It features an LLC full bridge topology with DC-to-DC converters. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent. There are three small heatsinks inside. What is unique is the OptiSink design, which combines surface mounted heatsinks and components and airflow pattern-optimized component placement.
Pulling the enclosure apart and we got straight to the internal inspection. The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. Fractal Design, regardless of the OEM, has always done a great job to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements in the past, and the Ion 3 Gold 1000W is no exception. The Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W has one metal oxide varistor, two metalized polyester X-capacitors, four ceramic Y-capacitors, and two ferrite coils. This is two times the amount of X and Y capacitors than recommended.
The active PFC circuit featured on the Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W uses two SMC Diodes GBU1508 glass passivated bridge rectifiers on both sides of the unpainted aluminum heatsink closest to the transient filter stage. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity with heatsink is 15A each at 40c, so you can theoretically pull up to 3450W (15A * 2 diodes * 115V) from the bridge rectifier at 100% efficiency. Of course, this is limited by the fact that it is not 100% efficient, and also neglects the fact that not every component in the system is able to keep up.
Further down the line, on the pair of heatsinks next to the bulk capacitors, we can spot two Alpha & Omega AOB125A60L as APFC MOSFETs on the left side of the vertical PCB in the above photo. Each is certified for up to 18A at 100c. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 125 mΩ and typical resistance of 108 mΩ when turned on according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance.
An Infineon IDK08G65C5 boost diode is located to the left of the APFC MOSFETs. Four Alpha & Omega AOB190A60C MOFSETs on the right side of the add-in board are used as the main switchers on the Ion 3 Gold 1000W power supply. A Champion CM6500UNX active PFC controller is found nearby. Meanwhile, a Champion CU6901VPA resonant controller is placed on the main PCB between the primary side add-in board and the rear modular cable daughterboard.
On the primary side, we can see one Japanese brand Rubycon capacitor. Japanese brand capacitors are specified on the marketing material, so this is to be expected. Our 1000W version of Fractal Design's Ion 3 Gold series power supply incorporates one 820µF x 400V capacitor. It is rated at 105c, whereas more value-oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
On the secondary side, we can see more Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon capacitors rated at 105c. All rectifiers produce the +12V out, while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC-to-DC converter within as with modern high efficiency power supplies.
Six Nexperia PSMN1R4-40YLD MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +12V output, located on the main board between the transformer and the secondary stage add-in board. The PSMN1R4-40YLD's rated continuous drain current is 240A at 10V, 25c. It has an RDS(on) value of 1.4 mΩ maximum and 1.12 mΩ typical at 10V, 25c. A Nuvoton M031FB0AE fan controller is nearby.
Six Nexperia PSMN4R0-30YLD MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +5V and +3.3V outputs, located on the vertical board perpendicular to the rear connector board in the above photo. The PSMN4R0-30YLD's rated continuous drain current is 67A at 10V, 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 4.0 mΩ maximum and 3.4 mΩ typical at 10V, 25c. A Weltrend WT7527RA monitoring IC that provides over/under current and over/under voltage protection and ANPEC APW7159C PWM switching controller are also spotted on the same PCB. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
Here is a shot at the bottom of the main board. It has a black soldermask. There are no components of significance placed here.
At the very back, we have a large daughterboard covering the entire rear panel for the modular cable sockets. All connection points are soldered directly to the add-on PCB after the secondary stage to reduce power transmission loss compared to having wires. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page.
Overall, the internal build quality of Fractal Design's Ion 3 Gold 1000W is excellent. Components are arranged very well for optimal cooling with practically no wires running around inside, and solder points on its black PCB is very clean in general. I would say the Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W is generally very good with regards to the selection of components used under the hood, appropriate for its performance class.
Lastly, we see a 140mm fan that provides cooling to the Fractal Design Ion 3 Gold 1000W's internal components. It is connected to the controller using a 2-pin connector. A 140mm fan is the largest you can fit in an ATX power supply, and it is beneficial in most cases in providing lots of airflow at lower speeds for quiet operation.
The fan is a Fractal Design Momentum 14, as shown in our photo above. The Momentum 14 is a fluid dynamic bearing fan with a specified at 0.24A for a maximum speed of 2000 RPM. The fan is not supposed to activate until the PSU is loaded up to 30% in Zero RPM mode. As such, it should remain off during normal operation, and even when it is on, Fractal Design uses a silent speed profile, so noise is not going to be a problem at all. Fans with fluid dynamic bearings generally have much longer lifespans compared to sleeve bearing fans, and are quite suitable for this application.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
