Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 560 Watt Power Supply Review

Finding the right power supply can depend on a number of important factors. How many watts your system needs, what importance you place on quality, power efficiency and, quite frankly, how much you can afford to spend. Fractal Design has, however, just released their Ion+ Platinum range which looks to tick all of those boxes, and more! Fractal Design Ion+ The brand new range of Ion+ power supplies looks to provide some of the highest levels of power supply quality while all coming in at an affordable price. The 560-watt variant is absolutely perfect for the vast majority of PCs and even gaming systems, but how good is this one though? - Let's find out! Features Fractal Design UltraFlex DC wires have game-changing flexibility for effortless cable routing and connectors that twist and bend to fit your installation—not fight itEquipped with a custom-tailored Fractal Design Dynamic Series 140 mm fan with exceptionally low minimum speed and true long-life FDB bearing80PLUS® Platinum Efficiency for optimized electrical performance and reduced heat generationUser-selectable Zero RPM mode allows for either silent, passive operation in low load situations or continuous low-speed fan operation for additional coolingOutstanding output quality with tight voltage regulation and extremely low noise and rippleFully modular design for reduced clutter and maximum ease of installationPremium Japanese 105° C capacitors provide enhanced reliability and durabilityCompact 150 mm depth easily fits compact spaces with extra headroom for cable managementOver Power Protection, Over Voltage Protection, Short Circuit Protection, Under Voltage Protection, Over Current Protection and Over Temperature ProtectionExtra-long 600 mm 24-pin ATX cable and 700 mm 4+4 pin cableExtensive 10-year warranty Specifications For more details specifications, please visit the official product page via the link here! What Fractal Design Has To Say The Ion+ Platinum is a high-performance fully modular PSU with whisper-quiet operation, enhanced cable flexibility and superior output quality.A user selectable semi-passive Zero RPM mode maintains pure silence under light loads, and the custom-tailored 140mm fan with FDB bearings barely breaks a whisper under heavy use. Revolutionary UltraFlex cable with its ultra-high strand count wire and special insulation bends and twists effortlessly to make installation and cable-routing a breeze.Ion+ is available now in 560, 660, 760 and 860 watt capacities, all with 80PLUS® Platinum Efficiency, 10-year warranty, and a full electrical protection suite for your peace of mind Connections As this is a modular power supply, it's important to know exactly what connectors are provided and what you need for your PC. Fortunately, Fractal Design has you covered. The Ion+ 560w comes with more than enough to hook up any 'normal' gaming PC. Particularly with 4 PCIe connectors. Of course, you get more as you 'up' the wattage, but this model clearly has you covered! Packaging Fractal Design has taken a nice clean crisp approach with the packaging to the Ion+. You don't see any unnecessary clutter and right at the front, you have a nice large, bold, image of the power supply. The rear of the packaging gives you more images of the power supply including some of the key features and specifications. Yes, this could've been larger, but it's not cramped and is relatively easy on the eye. Finally, the side gives you some of the technical specifications including what cables come with the power supply, the voltage allocations and the dimensions of the power supply. It's fairly basic, but it looks good and tells you everything you need to know. A Closer Look Out of the box, the power supply has a nice strong aesthetic. It doesn't try to dazzle you with big logos or coloured advertisements. What you have is a nice clean power supply that looks professional. Unlike many power supplies, this comes with a 140mm fan which could prove excellent airflow. Remember though that this power supply has been designed to run as 'passively' as possible. When needed, however, that fan will clearly shift some air. The modular input bank is well labelled and features that 'back to back' design which allows you to easily insert or remove cables. You'll also notice it has the zero RPM function which is (perhaps strangely) located at a place where it will be inside the system. Finally, the rear panel has some nice large vents which should promote solid airflow. Again, as above, it's unusual to not see the 'zero rpm' mode controller here (where it would be far more accessible). Overall, while there isn't much to talk about in terms of the design (and anything particularly eye-catching) it all looks very well put together. The design speaks of a truly excellent performance associated with a quality product. Cabling In terms of connectors, you are provided more than enough to hook up even an advanced gaming system. The connectors themselves are nice and strong within their casing while also being long and bendy enough to accommodate even the most stringent cable management. They are all kept within a canvas bag which means that if you don't need them all, or need another one in the future, you have a nice secure place to keep them. Accessories & Manuals As this is a power supply, you clearly don't require that many accessories out of the box. You did, after all, buy a power supply, not a box of parts. You are, however, provided with a full product manual, a warranty information booklet, fixtures to attach it to your case and anti-vibration strips. In addition to this, you are also provided with canvas bags. The one contains your power supply while the other (with a zip lock) holds all of your power supply cables. Internals Getting inside the power supply, the Fractal Design Ion+ 560 has a nice clean presentation. It's not cramped, crowded and, overall, looks very well put together. The nice large open spaces should, in theory, allow for excellent cooling and particularly that 'zero-fan' mode functionality. The fan itself is a Fractal own and, as we noted earlier is a 140mm configuration which is much larger than your standard 120mm cooler. A closer look internally shows just how well this has been put together. You don't see any large blobs of glue and the heatsink banks are kept close to the exhaust vents. This power supply also includes Japanese capacitors with the two main ones being 105c-rated Rubycon designs. In terms of capacitors, this is exactly what you want to see! Methodology & Testing At eTeknix we take the power supply testing procedure very seriously and have invested a lot of resources into acquiring the appropriate testing equipment. For all power supply reviews, we test the power supplies with dedicated power supply testing equipment. This means we are able to get the most accurate results from our testing as opposed to using software benchmarks (such as OCCT) or multi-meter readouts which are broadly inaccurate. Testing Hardware Sunmoon SM-5500ATE Active Load Tester (1200W rated)Stingray DS1M12 USB OscilloscopeVoltcraft DT-10L laser tachometer What the eTeknix Test Procedure Involves Testing each power supply at 20/40/60/80/100% load (with load balanced across all rails) and measuring PFC (power factor correction), efficiency (actual power divided by power "pulled at the wall") and voltage regulation (deviance from expected voltages of 3.3/5/12 on the main rails).Measuring ripple with an oscilloscope at 20/40/60/80/100% load.Measuring fan speed after a stabilisation period of five minutes at each load scenario using the Voltcraft DT-10L laser tachometer and a reflective strip on the fan.Testing each power supply's OPP (Over Power Protection) mechanism and seeing how many watts each power supply can deliver before shutting down Other Things to Consider We recognise that a single 12-volt cable can provide only 6 Amps before overheating (which corrupts voltage regulation and efficiency) and so we used an adequate number of cables for each power supply to ensure there is not efficiency loss from poor cables selectionOur Sunmoon SM-5500ATE power supply tester is not capable of testing more than 300W on each of the 12-volt rails so where a power supply provides more than 300W on a 12-volt rail that power is distributed over multiple 12-volt rails on the load tester. For example a power supply with one 12 volt rail supplying 750 watts would be spread equally over three 12 volt rails on the load tester, a power supply with two 450W 12v rails would be spread over four 12v rails on the load tester, two 225W 12v rails for each of the 12v rails on the unit.We use the same time scale and horizontal millivolt scale on our oscilloscope for all ripple tests, that is a 20ms T/DIV (horizontal) and a 0.02 V/DIV (vertical) meaning the scale is from -80mV to +80mV, ATX spec dictates that the 12v rail must fall within 150mv of ripple and the 3.3/5 within 50mv so that scale allows us to include both 150 and 50mV peaks. (Some older PSU reviews use different scales which were later ditched as the visual representation they give is inadequate, in these reviews written measurements are provided only).Deviance is the terminology used to represent the way voltages diverge from the expected values Voltage Regulation To test voltage regulation we load the power supply to five different load scenarios that give an equal spread of load across every single rail. So that means 20% on all rails, 40% on all rails and so on. We then calculate the average deviance of each rail from its expected voltage. Ideally, anything of +/- 2% regulation is seen as a very good result. Power Efficiency Power efficiency is measured by calculating actual supplied wattage divided by the wattage drawn at the wall/plug, multiplied by 100 to give a percentage. We then compare that to the particular 80 Plus certification the company claims to see if it meets that. You can see the 80 Plus certifications below, we always test power supplies at 230v. Power Factor Correction Power Factor Correction is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. The aim of PFC is to make the load circuitry that is power factor corrected appear purely resistive (apparent power equal to real power). In this case, the voltage and current are in phase and the reactive power consumption is zero. The closer the number to one the better as this allows the most efficient delivery of electrical power (Source - Wikipedia). Ripple Noise and Ripple can easily be measured by an oscilloscope. These show how much voltage fluctuation there is on a particular rail. We tested the rail stability of the 3.3-volt, 5-volt and 12-volt rails using an identical time and millivolt scale for all graphs. millivolt ripple is measured by the peak to peak size of the voltage curve. The latest ATX 12 volt version 2.3 specifications state that ripple from peak to peak must be no higher than 50 millivolts for the 3.3-volt and 5-volt rails, while the 12-volt rail is allowed up to 120 millivolts peak to peak to stay within specifications. Millivolt figures are stated to the closest increment of 5 given their variability. OPP Power supplies often quote as having various protection mechanisms such and the most important of these is Over Power Protection. In our testing we crank up the power draw until the power supply either shuts down (meaning the OPP mechanism is present and working) or blows up (meaning it is either not present or not working). We then note the maximum power consumption before the power supply shut down, or before it blew up. Fan Speed When testing in a power supply laboratory it is difficult to take fan noise readings as the noise from the Sunmoon test equipment and air conditioning corrupts everything. The next best thing in our circumstances was reading off the fan speed with a tachometer to get an idea for the noise. The ambient temperature during testing held constant at 22 degrees, with 1 degree of variation. Each power supply had a consistent time period of 5 minutes to stabilise between each load scenario. In my experience, the following general relationships apply between noise levels and fan speeds, though it can vary greatly between the type of fan used. Below 800 RPM - Inaudible/Silent800 to 1000 RPM - Barely audible1000 - 1200 RPM - Audible but still quiet1200 - 1400 RPM - Moderately noisy1400 - 1800 RPM - Noisy1800 RPM or above - Intolerable Efficiency In terms of efficiency, being a platinum-rated power supply the Fractal Design Ion+ has some very high-levels of performance to achieve. As a testament to the excellent quality in design, the efficiency ratings are exceptionally good. Achieving well over what's necessary for the platinum rating, the Ion+ 560 does much better than it's (already high) rating would suggest. PFC (Power Factor Correction) Looking at the PFC ratings, what's clear is that the Ion+ is happiest when working harder. Initially, at 20% the scoring is relatively low. As soon as you start asking this power supply to perform, however, it improves dramatically to well-above-average levels. Voltage Regulation The voltage regulation test provided some nice and consistent results across the range of load requirements. Admittedly, the -12v rail did under-voltage by a notable (but hardly worrying) margin. Considering that this rail is not particularly important in modern PC designs, the other (excellent) results easily gloss over this. Ripple The ripple noise provided by the Fractal Design Ion+ 560 is exceptionally good. As can be seen in our results below, even the highest rating barely scored above 10. This speaks of excellent power delivery that is getting where it needs to go in a clean and efficient manner. Load (%) 3.3V Ripple 5V Ripple 12V Ripple 202.22.610.4 40339 602.83.49.2 803.23.610.2 1003.24.410.4 Over Power Protection and Max Wattage Good, well made, power supplies should always have overpower protections in place. While most will happily run a little over the rated-wattage level, you are always running a risk, if you do this consistently, of damaging your components. So, how did the Aio+ 560 do? Well, put simply, really well. Firstly we can confirm that the overpower protections came into place. Amazingly, however, it achieved over 200 watts above the rated amount before this happened. Not that you should ever rely on it, but this power supply clearly has plenty of headroom if you do push it a little hard. Fan Speed With a 140mm fan installed, some may be concerned that it may run fast and, by proxy, noisily. Such concerns, however, are very removed from the reality here. While running normally, the fan averages 400-500rpm and still remains exceptionally quiet. In addition, the hybrid mode doesn't even run until around 60% load. If noise is a factor, then this power supply is whisper quiet even while working hard. How Much Does It Cost? The Fractal Design Ion+ 560 power supply retails for a price in the region of £94.99. This, in terms of platinum-rated efficiency power supplies, is already something of a bargain and with its 600-watt output, should be a highly attractive proposition for most gamers. Admittedly, at nearly £100, it might seem expensive. Particularly for a 560w power supply. Remember though, our tests clearly showed this performed amazingly and, of course, has that fantastic platinum-rated efficiency. Performance Aesthetically, Fractal Design presents this as an all-business power supply and that's a factor clearly proven in our testing. While it wasn't perfect, it clearly shows that Fractal has put a lot of effort into creating this PSU. A major highlight was the excellent efficiency rating score and, of course, those amazingly low ripple scores. Practicality & Functionality Offering excellent levels of performance, this power supply (at 560w) comes at the perfect entry point for the vast majority of gaming systems. Combined with it's 'zero-fan' operation and high-levels of efficiency this would be perfect for anyone who takes their system and performance seriously. Should I Buy One? It's always going to be something of a hard sell to get people to buy a power supply with less than 600w of power for the £100 mark. Frankly, for this price, you can get other models that offer anything up to 1000 watts. This release by Fractal Design, however, is a huge step above what most would expect from a 560-watt power supply. It's built to last, looks like it, and gives levels of performance usually associated with products that cost significantly more. For less than £100, this is a great power supply that punches well above its wattage rate would suggest. It is, in fact, arguably one of the best around at the moment ticking just so many of the right boxes! This is the standard that all power supplies (regardless of their wattage) should aspire to! For more information on other Fractal Design Ion+ power supply releases, check the link here! You can, in addition, check out our review of the 860 variant via the link here! Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 560w Power Supply Review