Enermax Platimax 1000-watt Power Supply Review

Introduction and Specifications, Availability and Pricing

As promised earlier this month in or review of the Enermax Revolution87+, we have another review for Enermax this month.

This time around it is for their Platimax series of power supplies which offer superb performance at Platinum rated efficiency. We took an early look at the Platimax series late last year when the only PSU we could get our hands on at the time was the 600W model.

We wanted to follow up and see if their high wattage offerings were of the same quality as we were sure our readers would be interested in Platinum efficiency in an enthusiasts quality power supply.

Keep reading as we take an in-depth look at the Platimax 1000W from Enermax.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

One of the big changes that we see between the 600W and 1000W models is that Enermax now uses a single 12V rail instead of three 25A rails. This allows for up to 83A of power on the 12V rail or 996W. Unfortunately the 3.3V and 5V rails didn't get an increase at all and are only rated for 20A each with a combined total output of 100W. We feel this is a little low for a 1000W unit.

The Enermax Platimax 1000W comes packed with everything we check for. It has both native and modular cabling; all of which is fully sleeved. All your protections are present including over-temperature protection. As you would expect, the unit is rated for 100% continuous output at 50C. Enermax gives you all that you could ask for and more when it comes to features.

Enermax has an MSRP of $299 on the Platimax 1000W unit. We were able to find it cheapest at Newegg for $289.99 at the time of writing this article.

Even at that price, it is the most expensive 1000W Platinum power supply on the market by $30. Enermax backs the Platimax with their customary five year warranty.

The Packaging

As the name suggests, the Platimax power supply comes in platinum colored packaging. Yes, that is a "Super Overclock Edition" badge you see in the bottom corner. Feel free to let out the same heavy sigh we did upon seeing it. This is the only mention we could find of it though as it wasn't on any of the other packaging, included materials or their website. They would be better off just removing this from the packaging in my opinion.

The back crams as much marketing and information as it can. It is rather overwhelming unless you know just what you are looking for.

One side features just the logo and Platimax branding.

The other contains the I/O specification chart.

The top again features the logo and Platimax branding with a picture of the unit.

The bottom just contains information in multiple languages to point you to their website for more information.

Inside the Box

Here is the unit just as it arrived with the top open. There is no padding to protect the unit. It is simply protected by the cables that surround it on three sides and cardboard on the other three sides.

As has become the norm, Enermax has located the I/O specification label for the Platimax on the top of the power supply.

Enermax uses the same design as the MaxRevo and Revolution87+ for the Platimax.

Lettering is reversed on the other side so that it is displayed properly no matter where you install it in a case.

The modular connections on the front are well labeled.

The back houses the standard honeycomb mesh grill. It is open almost as much as can be with the exception of the added Enermax logo.

The bottom houses the 139mm twister bearing fan that cools the unit.

Seven modular cables are included; two for PCI-E connectors and five for peripheral connectors.

Included with the power supply is the user manual, AC power cord, Velcro cable ties, mounting screws, case badge, CableGuard clip and a product brochure.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

Cabling for the Platimax 1000W is identical to that of the Revolution87+ 1000W and we still feel that the cable selection is only decent. We say decent for a multitude of reasons.

The natively wired PCI-E cables are a tad short and will likely prove to be hard to utilize if you are routing cables behind the motherboard tray and around to a video card. There is also the strong selection of Molex peripheral connectors along with the floppy connector. A few more SATA connectors would be nice along with just including a Molex to FDD connector.

Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail.

A Look Inside

Popping the bottom off, we see that Enermax has kept it simple. The clean design allows for good air penetration to all the components and good cooling.

A pair of Nippon Chemi-Con caps adorns the primary side of the power supply.

More Nippon Chemi-Con can be found on the secondary side of the PSU.

Enermax uses their own EA142512M-0A fan to provide cooling for the unit.

Test Results and Final Thoughts

Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's equal to that of the Enermax Platimax 1000W, we can test it to the maximum.

Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 2% regulation from start to finish across all the rails with a total drop of .16V from start to finish. The 5V rail also stayed within 2% voltage regulation and displayed a total drop of .08V. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was again within 2% with a total voltage drop of .04V.

DC output quality was good from start to finish, but not quite as well as we expected. Starting out, we were barely able to see a ripple on the scope during Test 1 where we measured noise at a low 14mV peak to peak. This steadily increased as the loads also increased. By the time we had reached around 50% load, the unit ripple had crept up to 23mV. Under full load, we saw that the noise on the 12V rail had crept up to 32mV.

The Enermax Platimax 1000W is rated for 80Plus Platinum efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 90%/92%/89% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the Platimax 1000W had no trouble achieving this while on our test bench. At no time was the unit close to failing for efficiency.

Final Thoughts

The Enermax Platimax 1000W power supply is the second Platinum rated 1000W power supply that we have taken a look at to date. The other was the XFX ProSeries 1000W. The Enermax Platimax 1000W unit performs noticeably better all the way around, but does so for nearly $40 more.

As most enthusiasts are aware, the bleeding edge of performance often comes with added costs and the Platimax 1000W power supply is no exception.

Unfortunately for Enermax, we just took a look at the Revolution87+ and found it to be a much better value than the Platimax 1000W unit as it performed almost identically with better DC output quality and costs $50 less.

The Enermax Platimax is a great unit, but it doesn't make any sense to spend the extra money to get the same performance and identical features for a very marginal increase in efficiency that will most likely only amount to pennies of savings on your electric bill.