ocaholic - PSUs > Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W Review

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Preview

Page 1 - Introduction

Page 2 - Preview

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Delivery and Specifications

With the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000 Watt you get a fully modular power supply.

Cables
Cable	Length
1 x ATX 20+4 pin	59 cm
2 x EPS/ATX 12V (8 & 4+4) pin	70 cm
4 x PCI-E 6+2 pin	59 cm
1x PCI-E 6+2 + 6+2 pin	59,71 cm
2 x 4x SATA	55, 68, 81, 94 cm
1 x 2x SATA + 2x Molex	55, 68, 81, 94 cm
1 x 3x Molex + 1 x Floppy	55, 68, 81, 94 cm

With its 8 PCIe connectors this PSU can also be used for more exotic applications like (Multi GPU OpenCL/CUDA). The connectivity is very good for a 1000W PSU. We like seeing 11 universal plugs on this PSU. In our opinion this is an important step towards more versatile PSU's. However Super Flower does not deliver more than 11 universal cables so this all does not lead to a big advantage. A nice addtion, that's what the lightning of the connectors is. If we had a wish free, we would love to see an additional Molex/Sata cable.

Specifications
Voltage	Current	Power
+ 3.3 V	20 A	100 Watt	1000 Watt (Total)
+ 5.0 V	20 A	100 Watt
+ 12 V	83.3 A	999.6 Watt
- 12 V	0.5 A	6 Watt
+ 5 Vsb	2.5 A	12.5 Watt

The Specifications are basically good. However for some exotic applications 100W on the 3.3 and 5V rails could be critical. On the other hand its likely that this PSU can deliver more than specified on the minor Rails.

The Super Flower Leadex 1000W is 80Plus Platinum certified. This means, that the efficiency of this PSU should be above 90% at 20% load, more than 92% at 50% load and over 89% at 100% load.

Ath this point the feature list:

80Plus Platinum
OVP, UVP, OCP, SCP, OPP, OTP
Dimensions (W x H x D): 150 mm x 86 mm x 200 mm
140 millimeter fan
Warranty: 5 Years
Price: is estimated to be around 220 CHF

Remarkable is the depth of this PSU as well as the long lasting warranty.

Page 1 - Introduction

Page 3 - Delivery / Specs

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A Look Inside

The first hint for a high Quality PSU we can see already when we take a first look at it. At this point we get a nice design and high quality case.

Right at the input there is an X capacitor. On the main PCB the transient filtering stage continues with two X, four Y, two CM chokes, two MOV (Metal-Oxid-Varistor) and a TVS. Additionally there is an NTC thermistor for inrush current limitation. A mechanical relay shorts the NTC thermistor for normal operation. The transient filtering stage is well done.

Two U30K80R (800V, 8A) are used for rectification. The PFC booster consists of three IPP50R140P mosfets (550V, 0.14Ohm, 23A) and two C3D06060 (600V, 6A, Qc 16nC) SiC Schottky diodes. The APFC is controlled by an NCP1653A from ON Semiconductor. The NCP1653A has a Gate driver performance of 1.5A. This PSU has two APFC capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con (KMQ series; 560uF and 470uF, 400V, 105C). The total capacitance of 1030uF is very competitive for a 1000W PSU. Four IPP50R199CP (550V, 0.199Ohm, 17 A) mosfets are used on the primary side of the LLC resonance converter, which is controlled by an ASIC with the name AA9013. The good input filtering and the usage of over 1000uF of extremely high end Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors together with thick litz wire in the APFC Choke and the Main Transformer are very nice to see. The primary side of this PSU is solid.

On the secondary side 4 IPP041N04N (40V, 4.1mOhm, 80A) and 4 IPP023N04N (40V, 2.3mOhm, 90A) mosfets do the 12V rectification. These mosfets are directly cooled via 2 heatsinks. The design of the secondary side is solid. 3.3 and 5V are generated from 12V using DC-DC converter. Those are located on two Daughter PCBs. The DC filtering is done using Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors. Those are extremely high end. The connection of the main PCB to the connector PCB is well done. The connector PCB has some additional capacitors from Capxon which are non Japanese. This does not comply with the advertised statement "100% Japanese Capacitors".

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Page 4 - A Look Inside

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Input/Output Power and Efficiency

Page 1 - Introduction

Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency

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Result Analysis and Discussion

Efficiency 115V
Load	Pin(W)	Pout(W)	Efficiency
20 %	224.82	204.93	91.15 %
50 %	552.70	511.42	92.53 %
100 %	1118.50	1019.06	91.11 %

The Platinum energy certificate requirements (90%, 92%, 89%) are surpassed with huge margin.
Its uncommon to see a PSU with such a high margin to the 80Plus requirement. Good efficiency and a very low efficiency decay between 50 and 100% are a indicator of quality (especially of the passive components).

Output Stability]t]
Load	Rail	Loading(A)	Output(V)
20 %	5V	2.00	5.04
	3.3V	2.00	3.31
	12V	14.97	12.18
	5VSB	0.50	5.07

50 %	5V	4.99	5.03
	3.3V	4.99	3.30
	12V	40.64	12.16
	5VSB	1.25	5.02

100 %	5V	9.97	5.02
	3.3V	9.98	3.29
	12V	74.81	12.11
	5VSB	2.50	4.95

Noise
Load
20 %	Noiseless
50 %	Silent
100 %	Audible

Voltage regulation of this PSU is very good. It makes use of a DC-DC approach, which means, that the 12 Volt rail is being used to generate 5 and 3.3V. This is a very modern approach, and since the Load is mainly on 12V it makes a lot of sense. Like most PSU, which use this topology, the voltage regulation and crossload testing does not present a problem.

Noise/Ripple
Voltage	Noise/Ripple Vpp
5V	0.006
12V	0.013
-12V	0.004
3.3V	0.012
+5VSB	0.011

The noise/ripple values you can see here come from a Chroma test report, which we got from the manufacturer. The noise values are excellent. However these values are probably measured in a different way, which means, that they're not comparable to other PSU reviews. However the DC output quality is excellent, and in comparison with many other PSUs outstanding.

Page 1 - Introductiont]

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Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion

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Conclusion

With the Leadex Platinum 1000W, Super Flower offers a PSU, which will feature an estimated price of about 180 Euro. Connectivity options are amazing for a 1000W PSU and the efficiency surpasses 80Plus Platinum standard with huge margin.
This unit is very well manufactured and the DC output quality is excellent good. Another neat feature, especially for modding, is the lighting you get with the connectors. Another great sign of quality is, that the efficiency does not drop much between 50 and 100% Load. Additionally, because of it's very low ripple/noise, this PSU is very well suitable for high-end PC audio, where low ripple and noise values are what you're looking for.
The biggest and only downside we spotted is the fact, that "100% Japanese capacitors" are promised, but not delivered. The Capxcon caps on the connector daughter board are definitely not from Japan.

Overall you get an excellent power supply with the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W. Thank you very much for the good word Super Flower!

We rate the Super Flower Leadex 1000W with 5 out of 5 possible stars.

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