XPG CYBERCORE II 1000W Platinum Power Supply Review

XPG make some great power supplies, and while they may not be a brand all of you know too well, they are in fact the hardcore high-end PC gaming hardware division of the mighty ADATA. While we have some more potent units in from them to test, I'm starting today with something a little more consumer-friendly today, the XPG CYBERCORE II, a 1000W power supply that should be more than enough for enthusiast gaming PC builds. It comes with an 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, so it'll more greener to run, and it supports the latest PCI 3.0 12VHPWR connectors too, so your new graphics cards won't need to use those janky PSU adaptors either! XPG CYBERCORE II 1000W Platinum It looks like they've gone all out on the hardware too, with all Japanese 105c Capacitors, a full DC-to-DC circuit design, a good quality 120mm Nidec fan, and eight protection systems to ensure safety and stability. While XPG isn't the only one to do this, I am glad to see them matching the competition by also offering this with a 10-year warranty, which certainly gives you peace of mind as they're obviously confident in the quality. Features ATX 3.0 Ready Supports Next-Gen GPUs with 12VHPWR Cybenetics ETA PLATINUM and LAMBDA A- Certified 80 PLUS PLATINUM Efficiency XPG VENTO PRO 120 PWM FAN by Nidec All Japanese 105℃ Capacitors Digital Control Panel in a Compact Form Factor DC-to-DC Circuit Design Interleaved PFC 8 Industrial Protections with 10-Year Warranty Specifications For in-depth features and specifications, please check out the official XPG CYBERCORE II Power Supply product page here. What XPG Had to Say "In light of the new Intel ATX 3.0 design guide specifications, the XPG CYBERCORE 80 PLUS Platinum series is getting an upgrade. With stricter voltage and current regulation guidelines changes needed to be implemented in order to safely and efficiently accommodate next-generation hardware. XPG has even upgraded the CYBERCORE cooling solution with a top-of-the-line XPG VENTO PRO 120 PWM Fan by Nidec to deliver optimum performance. As always, XPG is determined to provide gamers with products that meet the latest hardware demands." - XPG Packaging & Accessories The XPG CYBERCORE II 1000W Platinum comes in a large, durable and brightly coloured box, so it does stand out. Plus, it has its mascot Mera on the front, which we see across their entire range of products now. You can see on the front its various features and efficiency ratings too, as well as the 1000W output. It's good to see this unit has both an 80 Plus Platinum rating, but also rated Platinum from Cybernetics with an A rating, so I have high expectations of this unit. Around the back, the white text is a little thin and hard to read, and I think a bolder font would have made more sense. however, the dimensions, cable lengths, efficiency ratings, amps per rail and even the fan curve are detailed here, which is great to see. The PSU is nicely packed, with a separate canvas bag for the cable, and a protective foam material around the PSU itself. It's very well protected, and I love that you can keep spare cables in the handy storage bag. All the cables are of high quality, with black sleeving, black heat wrap on the connectors and black connectors too, so they should blend into your system easily enough. This includes a good quality 12VHPWR 600W cable for modern graphics cards. A Closer Look The XPG CYBERCORE II 1000W Platinum is quite compact for a 1000W power supply, so it should be broadly compatible with smaller mid-tower cases, just remember to accommodate the modular cables when you measure up your available space. It comes with a grey 9-blade fan, which can be seen through the rather large fan grill on the front of the unit. There's additional ventilation at the rear of the unit too, with about 20% of the area closed up, as there's likely some internal hardware mounted in that spot that needs protecting. There's a standard power connector and a master power switch, but otherwise, it's fairly plain. The side of the PSU is nicely done too, with a stamped metal panel that gives it a bit of shape to keep it looking interesting, and a CYBERCORE II sticker inset in the largest indentation. All of the connectors are clearly separated into zones, with the motherboard cables, SATA/Molex, and PCI cables nicely spread out, as well as that newer 12VHPWR cable in the middle. It's a standard 12VHPWR connector on the PSU end too, so you could use aftermarket cables for this if you so desired. Finally, the back of the PSU has all the main specifications should you need them. However, with a staggering 83.33A on the main +12V rail, it shouldn't have any problem running a couple of power graphics cards. A Closer Look - Internal The unit is easy enough to open by removing 6 screws on the exterior. With it opened up, I can see that it uses an XPG Nidec Vento Pro 120mm PWM fan. XPG actually sells this fan separately as a high-performance high static pressure cooling fan, and it's likely overkill for a PSU, but hey, I'm not complaining that the fan is too good! The fan also uses a standard 4-pin PWM connector, so if you ever need to swap the fan out for whatever reason, it's very easy to do so. Overall, the interior components look pretty neat and tidy, albeit rather densely packed, but at least that does mean the form factor is kept fairly compact too. What cables there are throughout are kept pretty minimal and all appear to be well protected and shielded where appropriate too. Plus, as packed as it is in here, there's a reasonable amount of space between all components for better airflow. Towards the back, there are a few exposed bits of solder on the transient filtering, but overall, it looks pretty robust with thick wiring too. There are a couple of unused headers (white) on the unit, I suspect this PSU is ARGB capable or at least that PCB is, and they use it throughout their range on other configurations. There are two PFC inductors, and there are a few large aluminium heatsinks throughout which should provide passive cooling and also improve active cooling too. A small detail, but I also appreciate that much of the hardware is black too, not that I find PSU internals to be overly distracting to the eye when they're installed, but I suspect a clear look from all angles will add to the appeal for some. I haven't reviewed PSUs for 5 years and these components were largely bright yellow and on green PCBs back then. XPG has deployed 100% Japanese capacitors throughout, and they're all rated for high-temperature performance, and should just generally add peace of mind to the overall quality of this unit. There are a few of these 2200 µF 6.3v units. The main bulk capacitors are 420v 680 µF and again rated for 105c like all the other ones. It's hard to see the rest, as they're sandwiched between two smaller PCBs and some copper shielding, but there are four more on the far side besides the PFC coils and two more on the near side. 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 can 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-8800 Active Load Tester Stingray DS1M12 USB Oscilloscope Voltcraft 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") which also uses a 50% load test, 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. Transient loads taken with an oscilloscope are taken from 0% to 100% on the 12v raid, 3.3v rail, and then both combined. Measuring fan speed after a stabilisation period of five minutes at each loading 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. Any deviation from this will be explained per review as appropriate on the respective testing pages, but this methodology page will remain unchanged. 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) so we used an adequate number of cables for each power supply to ensure there is no efficiency loss from poor cable selection. If there is more than one 12VHPWR on a PSU, all will be used to test their combined loads. 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 deviation 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 the 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. Transient Loads Power Factor Correction Power Factor Correction is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. PFC aims 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 An oscilloscope can easily measure noise and Ripple. 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 are often quoted as having various protection mechanisms 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 of the noise. The ambient temperature during testing is held constant at 22 degrees, with 1 degree of variation. Each power supply had a consistent 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/Silent 800 to 1000 RPM - Barely audible 1000 - 1200 RPM - Audible but still quiet 1200 - 1400 RPM - Moderately noisy 1400 - 1800 RPM - Noisy 1800 - 2000 RPM or above - Intolerable Internal Components This is just an example (taken from a Corsair ax1200i) of what you can expect to see on a PSU interior. This PSU is rated for 80 Plus Platinum, which means it should reach 90, 90 and 91% at 20, 50 and 100% loads respectively. However, it managed to comfortably exceed that with a score that was actually good enough to rank close to the Titanium rating, so top marks all around really. Efficiency This power supply uses an Interleaved PFC, and as you can see, it's extremely effective. At high loads, the ratio is extremely close to the ideal target of 1 and even at lower loads, it never drops below 90%, which is fantastic. PFC (Power Factor Correction) Voltage Regulation The CYBERCORE II handles voltage regulation exceptionally well too, with no single rail exceeding even 1%, and in many cases, is even lower than that. Stable and accurate voltages are essential to a healthy operating system, so this is great to see. Ripple Ripple is excellent here too, with the 12V rail scoring in the teens, well under the ideal 50mv, and the rest scoring low too, given the specifications allow for up to 150mv, it's barely even 10% of that, which is again just excellent throughout all loads. 3.3V 5V 12V 5VSB Over Power Protection and Max Wattage This wasn't as good as I have seen on some other units, with the PSU rated for 1000W, it only managed to peak to 1100W before the OPP kicked in. That being said, this is a good result in that the OPP works as intended, and allowed for a 10% power spike over its rated specifications. However, given the size of the capacitors inside, which are great, it would have needed more to push much further than this. Transient Loads These results measure the power supply from 0% load to 100% load on various rails to simulate a power spike from your system. Typically, we would like to see as small a spike as possible relative to the requested voltage. With modern GPUs being notorious for power spikes, this is becoming more relevant in modern PSU design. The specifications for ATX 3.0 were released in February 2022. It includes the new 16-Pin 12vHPWR connector that can deliver up to 600 W to graphics cards. These incorporate data lines for components to negotiate power capabilities with the PSU so they do not draw more power than the PSU is capable of delivering. The specification also has more strict requirements for handling spikes, two times the nominal output for 100 microseconds. 0-100% +5VSB PSU is left in standby mode and then loaded to deliver max output on the +5VSB. 0-100% 12V The PSU is left in standby mode, and that receives the maximum 12v load. Mains Power Off-100% 12V The PSU is physically switched off using its rear power switch, the full 12v load is then applied, and then the PSU is physically switched on. Cross-Loads 3.3V and 5V are tested at 10-100% loads together, and then 12V is tested in the same fashion. This shows us if the PSU is able to maintain its target voltage regulation while delivering different loads. Ideally, you want to see this within 5% deviance, but under 3% is better, and of course, the lower the better with 0.00% change being the ideal result. With the 3.3v and 5v loaded, voltages were pretty consistent with just 0.6% under the rating, it was consistent and well within tolerance. Interestingly, the 3.3v was +1% over the previous test when the 12V rail was loaded, but again, the deviation was the same, just +.6% rather than -.6% so well within tolerances again. Fan Speed The fan on this PSU is total overkill, it would be well suited to a liquid cooling radiator or high-performance air cooler installation. However, the advantage of it here is that it doesn't have to work hard to push good airflow and static pressure, and even when leaving the PSU at high loads for our testing, I never saw it exceed 400 RPM. Of course, it can go far beyond that to deal with hot days too, but I have every confidence in its capabilities. How Much Does it Cost? Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I couldn't see UK retail stock at any of our preferred retailers, with the only listing being on Ullakulla, which I've never heard of before. However, they do have the unit listed at just £232.29 which seems way too high for me, as that's around £50-100 higher than similarly equipped models from Corsair, Antec, Kolink, and many others so I won't link it here. Overall, I would assume this unit to be much lower than that when stock is available, so check with your retailer of choice, as stock can change very quickly. Overview XPG make some great power supplies, and we gave them a Best of Comptux award for their mighty Fusion Titanium PSU, which is a total monster and we will have it on the test bench very soon. However, it's great to see that their attention to quality components and exceptional performance is still available on significantly more affordable models such as the XPG CYBERCORE II. The choice of components speaks for itself here, with all Japanese capacitors throughout. They're all high-performance parts, rated for 105c, and intensive workloads. So I have confidence in its ability to sustain high loads for long periods of time. The addition of the Interleaved PFC design is great too, this active solution delivered some of the best PFC results I've seen to date, and the modern PFC hardware is both more compact and efficient than most, meaning less heat and better power delivery too. Speaking of heat, I never got the impression this PSU got even warm, and with that completely overpowered fan there to protect it, I doubt it ever will. 1000W used to be regarded as quite a lot, but in 2023, it's pretty standard for a high-end gaming PC. With the 12VHPWR able to deliver 600W alone, albeit even the RTX 4090 doesn't use much more than about 330W of that right now, and high-end CPUs like the 13900K able to use another 250W, it's easy to see how things can add up rather quickly. Just keep in mind the Cybercore II only has one 12VHPWR connector, so if you're looking to run two cards, such as the RTX6000 workstation cards, you would need to use the PCIE 6+2 to 12VHPWR adaptors for the second one. I would have liked to see the OPP go a little further than 1100W before it kicked in, but really, if you're running your PSU at 100% all the time, you may want to aim for a more potent model anyway to deal with both power spikes and future hardware additions. While XPG is proud to point out this PSU has "8 industrial protections" I would like to point out that most good quality brand name PSUs have them anyway these days, they're pretty much a given, but alas, it's always welcome to see them to ensure your PSU and more importantly, the hardware that's connected to it, are well protected. I also appreciate that they've given this PSU a whopping 10-year warranty, which should more than cover the time you own it before replacing it with something else. Should I Buy One? With a surprisingly compact design, fully modular cables, and support for the latest ATX 3.0 standards, and both an 80 Plus Platinum and Cybernetics Platinum efficiency, the XPG CyberCore II 1000W Platinum PSU delivers constant performance, stability and it runs impressively quiet too, making it an ideal choice for most high-end gaming systems.