Fractal Design ION+ Platinum 660 and 860W PSU review - Introduction

Fractal Design ION+ Platinum 660 and 860W PSU review

We’re putting the new Fractal Design ION+ Platinum power supply on our test bench today. It’s a fresh series in the offer of this Swedish company, as it was introduced at the end of July this year. As the name suggests, it does have 80 Plus Platinum Certification, which means that it’s 92% efficient at 50% load @ 115 V, and even 94% efficient @ 230 V. This is important because the energy consumed does not go to waste (at least not in a significant amount), and that affects your energy bill. The Fractal ION+ Platinum is an ATX power supply.It’s a fully modular PSU, so even motherboard connectors are not attached permanently to the housing (but you still have to use them, right?). This feature is not really necessary, as an increasing number of cases are now fitted with a power supply shroud (at least ATX-sized ones), but it’s still easier to manage cables this way. The fan has a user-selectable Zero RPM mode, allowing either silent and passive operation in low load situations, or continuous low-speed fan operation for additional cooling. The fan size is 140 mm, and it’s a custom-tailored Fractal Design Dynamic Series product. The fan uses true long-life FBD bearings. The Ion+ Platinum is built with Premium 100% Japanese 105℃ capacitors that provide enhanced reliability and durability.

Features that make this product stand out from the crowd include its size, because it’s only 150 mm long (even the 860 W variant), and Fractal Design’s UltraFlex™ DC cabling. An extremely high strand count with specially formulated insulation made it possible to reduce the wires to just 0.08 mm in diameter – half the thickness of competitor products – without losing efficiency or current capacity. The UltraFlex™ cable bends and twists effortlessly, eliminating the inherent hassles of traditional rigid power supply wiring to make installation and cable-routing a breeze.
Last but not least, here’s the list of the available variants:

• 560 W
• 660 W
• 760 W
• 860 W

We’ve received the 660 and 860 W versions. The range should cover most user systems with a typical setup. 
Fractal’s ION+ Platinum is backed by a 10-year warranty. This is a great offer, event though Seasonic provides as many twelve years of warranty for their Prime series. Still, Fractal is on par with Corsair’s offer here. MSRP ranges from 106.99 to 139.99 EUR. Ok, let’s check out this PSU from Fractal, shall we?