Enermax Gold: Modu87+ and Pro87+
by Christoph Katzer on January 19, 2010 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
A look Inside
When opening this unit we couldn't really see anything different inside than you'd see in other power supplies. If you take a closer look you will find a few differences though. In fact this unit uses some of the same technology as Seasonic does in their latest X-series. Enermax's so called Dynamic Hybrid Transformer technology, part of the "resonant topology", is nothing more than a kind of gearbox for the components. This way Enermax can regulate the voltage that goes into the capacitor ranging from roughly 330V to 400V. If the load on the DC output is low the voltage to the capacitor will be lower as well, resulting in better efficiency. The same goes for the frequencies which will be decreased with higher loads and increased when the DC load is lower.
In the secondary part we see two "DC to DC" sister PCBs where the 5V and 3.3V rails are created. Below these two sister PCBs we find capacitors attached to another PCB vertically. Enermax actually carries a patent for this arrangement which is space saving and enhances the cooling of the attached components. Oh and don't mention the blue heatsinks. They do look strange inside a black and golden schemed power supply, but as you can remember back at Computex the housing was still dark matte black with a red fan installed. It made sense at the time and Enermax unfortunately had already produced all of the heatsinks and were unable to change those when the new look was introduced. For component geeks, there is a Rubycon capacitor in the primary and a lot of Nippon Chemi-Con caps in the secondary. The solid-state caps are made in Taiwan, though.
The overall quality is as we would expect from Enermax, but they still managed to top former achievements. As they previously worked with PCBs made of synthetic resin bonded paper (FR-2), things always looked a little shabby inside. With the new multi-layer PCB it all looks much cleaner and adds a huge percentage of quality to the units.
The Fan
Since Enermax bought its own fan company a while ago they started producing a wide range of funky fans. Together with their twister bearing they have come up with some pretty good fans lately and are in fact able to diversify the product ranges according to their actual needs. In the case of the Modu87+ and Pro87+ for example Enermax wanted a larger fan; 140mm is the largest possible in an ATX power supply today and it's already patented, so Enermax decided to make a 139mm fan themselves. Together with golden blades this fan looks truly amazing, and we are happy that there aren't any LEDs. The fan carries the model number EA142512W-OAB. Enermax also worked on the Hall-IC inside the fan and made it possible to run the fan at incredibly low RPMs, which we will see later.
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rudolphna - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
Very nice to see a new PSU review on anandtech, I was worried you guys had forgotten what made you popular- reviews of real products not just blog after blog. I have a suggestion, if I may. The Antec Neo Eco 400W power supply. I actually just bought one, it seems like a good deal. It has a 30 amp 12V rail (360W) a 120mm fan, and is 80plus certified. Not sure who the OEM for it is, I'm thinking Seasonic. But you guys should check it out. Great review by the way.papapapapapapapababy - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
good luck finding a replacement for that gold monstrosity. so that make this crap a n buy for me. You see, i like to change the fans on my psu ( better fans) in order to control them myself.strikeback03 - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - link
Might still use 140mm mounting holes, and just be a 139mm fan to avoid a stupid patent.Calin - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - link
Hard to think you'll need a fan better than that - 50 Celsius for the vented air and almost totally silent even at maximum load?I have an old Seasonic 350W (12 cm fan) which I felt was totally silent in typical operation (closed case, computer under desk), and after about four years it still is totally silent.
papapapapapapapababy - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - link
is not hard to think _ for me_ the big fan dsnt follow a standard, it has no other use for me, if a buy 4 120 fans i could give the multiple uses/ ( psu replacement fan, case fan, cpu fan, low speed fan, high speed fan, etc, - btw cases with big fans are terrible) one huge big ass fan? no other user ¡ difficult to find = no thanks.papapapapapapapababy - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - link
is not hard to think _ for me_ the big fan dsnt follow a standard, it has no other use for me, if a buy 4 120 fans i could give the multiple uses/ ( psu replacement fan, case fan, cpu fan, low speed fan, high speed fan, etc, - btw cases with big fans are terrible) one huge big ass fan? no other user ¡ difficult to find = no thanks.Voldenuit - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
Why use such a cumbersome term as Cable Management (which refers primarily to the neatness of cable routing) when 'Modular' is much more apt (and specifically referred to in the product name)?Nobody makes 'cable management' PSUs, but quite a few companies make 'modular PSUs'.
Mumrik - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
More comparisons (especially in the benchmarking) to competing products (rather than just the other two in the series) would really be nice. I actually have come to expect it at Anandtech.To me, this came off as a bit more of a fluff piece. Not a disguised commercial but more like something I'd find at most other hardware sites.
ap90033 - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
I thought this was a good article on specific hardware. But then again I am not the uber geek with no life like some seem to be around here....RaistlinZ - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
Geez, and I thought the X-Series was overpriced. Sure, these Enermax PSU's are efficient, but certainly not $50.00 more efficient than say, an Corsair 750HX. If they come with a $30.00 MIR then they might be worth the money, but otherwise I'll pass.