14 DAY TRIAL // Power supply units can be set apart by various qualities, and it is the ones with two or more of those qualities that stand out the most. The new series that Fractal Design has just unveiled has all of them.
There are three main assets that you should look for in a high-end power supply unit, and we don't mean the wattage output here.
Sure, that has a lot of bearing on how many of the other assets a company bothers to implement, but they aren't the best measuring stick. Instead, you should look for high efficiency, high protection, and high endurance. The Fractal Design Edison M series has superior rating in all these areas.
High power efficiency
The newcomers, with their wattages of 450W, 550W, 650W, and 750W, have an efficiency rating of 80 Plus Gold. That means that the efficiency is of 87% at 20% load, 90% at 50% load, and 87% at 100% load.
Admittedly, 80 Plus Platinum and Titanium do better, but other than for overclocking lovers (NVIDIA GTX 980 just reached 2.2 GHz on a system powered by an 80 Plus Platinum PSU) and hardcore systems owners with no monetary constraints (who make up less than 1% of the populace), they aren't even remotely affordable.
In addition to wasting just around 10% of the full energy going through them, the new PSUs areATX 2.4-compliant, including full support for the new C6 / C7 power states introduced by the 4th-generation Intel Core CPUs (Haswell).
High endurance
The Japanese and Taiwanese solid polymer capacitors plus the Japanese electrolytic capacitors ensure current stability and long life.
Over-temperature protection is another asset, even though this falls under the “high protection” category as well, which we'll check out soon enough. The 120 mm silent, temperature-controlled fan has a long life as well (fluid dynamic bearing). Then there's the DC-DC design, for improved system stability and maximum 12V output.
High protection
You get Over Power, Over Voltage, Short Circuit, Under Voltage, Over Current, and Over Temperature Protection.
Other assets
The modular construction is one thing (well, semi-modular technically) and the extra long ATX 12V cable is another (good for bottom mounting).
Availability
The press release makes it sound like the Fractal Design Edison M PSUs are already up for order, and the prices are included in the attached gallery ($84 / €80 to $120 / €110). Basically, the newcomers don't have too much of a price advantage over every other semi-modular 80 Plus Gold PSU in the world. At least the wattages mean they're not reserved for the elite alone.
