Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home will void your ten-year warranty, thanks to the warranty seal Fractal Design applied over one of the attachment screws. But for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you do not need to, haha. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum is quite straightforward with the removal of four to ten screws, depending on how far you want to get. Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. Its OEM is Sirfa/High Power, which is a decent manufacturer. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent. There are five main heatsinks inside. Three larger ones painted black are located on the primary side, while two smaller sized unpainted heatsinks reside on the secondary side.
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. High Power has always done a great job in the past to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements, and the Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum is no exception. The Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum has one metal oxide varistor, two metalized polyester X-capacitors, four ceramic Y-capacitors, and three ferrite coils. This is two times the amount of X and Y capacitors than recommended.
On the primary side, we can see two Japanese brand Rubycon capacitor. 100% Japanese brand capacitors are specified on the marketing material, so this is to be expected. Our 760W version of Fractal Design's latest Ion+ series power supply incorporates two 470µF x 400V capacitors in parallel for an equivalent capacitance of 940µF. It is rated at 105c; whereas more value-oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
The active PFC circuit featured on the Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum uses two Lite-On Semiconductor GBU1506 bridge rectifiers attached to opposite sides of the first heatsink. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity with heatsink is 15A each, 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 are able to keep up. Further down the line, on the inside of the largest heatsink, we can see two Infineon IPW60R120P7 power transistors. Each is certified for up to 16A at 100c. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 0.120 ohm 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 IDH08G65C5 boost diode is placed right next them. Two more Infineon IPW60R120P7 power MOFSET transistors are used as the main switchers on the Ion+ 760W Platinum power supply. Other components that can be spotted in the primary side include a Champion CM6901X PFC controller and an Infineon ICE3PCS01G active PFC controller on various add-in boards.
On the secondary side, we can see more Japanese brand capacitors rated at 105c. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, 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 the power supply unit. Eight Infineon BSC027N04LS MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +12V output, located at the back of the PCB, as shown. The BSC027N04LS's rated continuous drain current is 88A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 0.0027 ohm maximum and 0.0023 ohm typical. Eight Infineon BSC0906NS MOSFETs on an add-in board on top generate the +5V and +3.3V output from the +12V rail. The BSC0906NS's rated continuous drain current is 40A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 0.0045 ohm maximum and 0.0038 ohm typical. Meanwhile, a Silicon Touch PS224 monitoring IC provides over current and over/under voltage protection. ANPEC's APW7159C is the PWM switching controller. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
Other components that can be spotted include an STC 15W408AS microcontroller, KEC KIA7912PI for the -12V circuit, and an Infineon BSC0906NS MOSFETs for the +5VSB line.
At the back, we have a large daughterboard covering the entire rear panel for the modular cable sockets. All modular sockets at the bottom are soldered directly to the main PCB after the secondary stage to reduce power transmission loss. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of Fractal Design's Ion+ 760W power supply is excellent. Components are arranged very well for optimal cooling with minimal wires running around inside, and solder points on its black PCB is quite clean in general. I would say the Fractal Design Ion+ 760W Platinum 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+ 760W Platinum's internal components. It is connected to the mainboard using a 2-pin connector. A 140mm fan is probably the largest one you can fit inside a standard 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 Dynamic X2 GP-14, as shown in our photo above. It is used in products like the Define S2 Vision Blackout, and is a fluid dynamic bearing fan specified at 0.35A for a maximum of speed of 1700 rpm. Fans with fluid dynamic bearings generally have much longer lifespans compared to sleeve bearing fans, and is quite suitable for this application.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
