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Today we take a look at one of the latest power supplies from Cooler Master – the V Platinum V2, in 1600W capacity. This new range was announced by Cooler Master back in January 2024 and incorporates a fully modular design, a ‘cutting edge Mobius fan' and 80 Plus Platinum efficiency. It is reassuring to see that Cooler Master back these units with a full 12 year warranty.
Based on the literature that Cooler Master sent me, they seem very proud of these new power supplies. The company seems to have ticked a lot of boxes, incorporating a quiet fan (with a silent mode), Japanese capacitors, fully modular cabling and, as mentioned previously, a 12 year warranty. Cooler Master are keen to point out that this 1600 Watt version is shipped with two 12V-2×6 (12+4pin) connectors supporting up to 600W each, allowing for a dual 4090 GPU set up. This reminds me of how much I miss SLI.
The first sample of this power supply we were sent from Cooler Master was recalled as I started testing as they said it could be faulty, and a second sample was shipped to arrive several weeks later.
- Ultra-quiet Mobius fan: An ultra-quiet Mobius fan featuring high-performance oil reflow and an innovative ring blade design.
- 80 Plus Platinum efficiency certification: This unit is certified to achieve more than 92% efficiency at typical loads.
- Optimized thermal performance: Anodic-coated heat sinks keep average component temperatures lower than a traditional heat sink for enhanced durability and a prolonged life span.
- ATX 3.1 support & a durable 12V-2×6 cable: Includes ATX 3.1 support and a 90-degree 12+4pin (12V-2×6) PCIe 5.1 cable featuring lower temperatures, enhanced durability, and improved safety.
- Dual 40 series GPU support: Two 12V-2×6 connectors for dual 40 series GPU support.
- Protective coating: A conformal coating provides protection against dust, moisture, and insects.
- Interleaved PFC design: An interleaved PFC decreases power loss by minimizing the current and reducing interference.
- Smart thermal control mode: Fan speed is automatically adjusted according to the PSU’s operating temperature.
- Silent fan performance with a zero-RPM mode: This unit defaults to zero fan spin, providing silent fan performance.
- Fully modular cabling: Efficiently reduces clutter, increases airflow, and improves overall efficiency and thermal performance.
- High-quality Japanese capacitors: Large, high-quality Japanese capacitors feature reduced ripple noise and enhanced reliability.
- 12-year warranty: This unit comes with a standard limited manufacturing warranty of 12 years from the date of purchase.
The Cooler Master V Platinum 1600 V2 arrives in a brightly coloured box with a high resolution image of the PSU on the front.
The rear of the box focuses on some key features – the fan, the heatsinks and the GPU connectors.
The cables arrive in a soft bag with a little support sheet explaining the dos and don'ts of GPU wiring.
The cable quality is good all round with a variety of ribbon cables ensuring routing will be straightforward. The right angled 12VHPWR connector is a welcome addition. The unit will be supplied with a C19 power cable for the higher power demands.
The 1600W platinum unit is quite simple looking, with just a few flashes of purple accenting across the panels. A large fan is hidden behind a panel, we will get a closer look at this fan shortly when we open the case. Cooler Master say this power supply is protected against ‘dust, moisture and insects' due to the ‘conformal coating'.
This power supply is very compact, measuring 160mm x 150 mm x 86 mm. This means it will fit into a huge variety of cases available on the market today.
One panel is home to the modular bay. This bay is split across three rows, all of which are labelled.
The other side of the power supply has the C19 power cable connector input and a power switch. The product ships with an information label attached here, which you remove. This explains that the fan will not start spinning until a certain temperature is detected inside the chassis. This is to try and help reduce noise levels when system load is lower.
This power supply is able to deliver up to 133.3A via the primary +12V rail. We can see that this power label is shared between the 1300W units and the 1600W units. The minor rails can deliver up to 20A which is a little less than the Seasonic Prime TX-1600, for instance, which is 25A on both.
Cooler Master are making a big song and dance about these fans and on paper they certainly look interesting. The fan in this power supply is called the Mobius 135 with a maximum rotational speed up to 2,400 rpm. It is DC 12V/0.4A. These fans are, unsurprisingly, made in China.
Cooler Master ‘Ring Blade Design (RBD)' diagrams are shown here, from the company themselves (above). They claim the interconnecting fan blades are designed in house and are reinforced for ‘stable and concentrated airflow'. We have seen a lot of fans over the years so it's easy to get bogged down in buzzwords at times. Their life span is rated at 100,000 hours before failure.
This is a power supply that Prince would have been proud to own. The design offers OPP/ OVP / OCP / SCP / UVP and Surge and Inrush protection. This is an interleaved PFC design which helps decrease power loss by minimising the current and reducing interference. Cooler Master are using high quality Japanese capacitors throughout the design to help improve ripple performance and to offer more reliability.
There are several large heatsinks running along the length of the densely populated main PCB to aid with heat dissipation. Soldering quality throughout is very good.
Cooler Master's capacitors of choice in this unit are Toshin Kogyo, otherwise more widely known as TK. The two primary capacitors are 105C rated, 650V 680uF each for a total of 1360uF.
Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 Watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.
We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• Extech digital sound level meter
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA
12V output is single rail for our testing.
|
DC Output Load Regulation
|
||||||||||
|
Combined DC Load |
+3.3V
|
+5V
|
+12V
|
+5VSB
|
-12V | |||||
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A | V | |
|
500W
|
7.63
|
3.33
|
8.82
|
5.01
|
36.05
|
12.05
|
1.5
|
5.01
|
0.30 | -12.01 |
|
750W
|
12.63
|
3.33
|
14.12
|
5.01
|
52.06
|
12.03
|
2.0
|
5.01
|
0.30 | -12.01 |
|
1000W
|
17.75
|
3.33
|
20.00
|
5.01
|
72.25
|
12.01
|
2.5
|
5.01
|
0.50 | -12.02 |
| 1250W | 18.84 | 3.32 | 20.04 | 5.00 | 91.14 | 11.98 | 3.0 | 5.01 | 0.60 | -12.01 |
|
1500W
|
19.45
|
3.32
|
20.03
|
5.00
|
116.90
|
11.95
|
3.5
|
5.00
|
0.80 | -12.01 |
| 1600W | 10.00 | 3.33 | 10.00 | 5.01 | 125.00 | 11.92 | 3.5 | 5.01 | 0.80 | -12.01 |
Load regulation is very good all round across all the rails.
| Cooler Master V Platinum V2 1600 | Maximum Load |
| 1791W |
We managed to get the PSU to achieve 1791W before it would shut down, delivering almost 200 Watts more than the rated specifications.
Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.
| Cross Load Testing | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB | |||||
| A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | |
| 1150W | 3.0 | 3.33 | 2.0 | 5.01 | 92.0 | 12.03 | 0.2 | -12.01 | 0.50 | 5.02 |
| 250W | 20.0 | 3.32 | 24.0 | 5.01 | 5.0 | 12.02 | 0.2 | -12.02 | 0.50 | 5.01 |
This unit passed our cross load tests without any problems.
We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum.
ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.
|
ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
|
|
|
Output
|
Ripple (mV p-p)
|
|
+3.3V
|
50
|
|
+5V
|
50
|
|
+12V1
|
120
|
|
+12V2
|
120
|
|
-12V
|
120
|
|
+5VSB
|
50
|
Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.
| AC Ripple (mV p-p) | ||||
| DC Load | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | 5VSB |
| 500W | 5 | 5 | 15 | 10 |
| 750W | 10 | 5 | 20 | 10 |
| 1000W | 10 | 10 | 25 | 10 |
| 1250W | 15 | 15 | 25 | 10 |
| 1500W | 15 | 15 | 30 | 15 |
| 1600W | 15 | 15 | 30 | 15 |
Ripple suppression is very good across all the rails, peaking at 15mV across the minor rail and 30mV on the +12V rail.
|
Efficiency (%)
|
|
|
500W
|
92.53
|
|
750W
|
94.12
|
|
1000W
|
94.06
|
|
1250W
|
93.67
|
| 1500W | 92.12 |
| 1600W | 91.32 |
Efficiency levels are high, peaking at just over 94% and dropping to around 91% at full load.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
Today to test the power supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
|
Noise (dBA)
|
|
|
500W
|
<28.0
|
|
750W
|
30.7
|
|
1000W
|
32.8
|
|
1250W
|
34.4
|
| 1500W | 35.8 |
| 1600W | 36.9 |
In our environment, the fan doesn't start spinning much until loads get close to 700 Watts. When the power supply is delivering 1250 Watts, the fan ramps up significantly, and at 1600 Watts, it is clearly audible. Not really a real world situation you will be running very often.
|
Temperature (c)
|
||
|
Intake
|
Exhaust
|
|
|
500W
|
36
|
38
|
|
750W
|
37
|
42
|
|
1000W
|
42
|
47
|
|
1250W
|
46
|
53
|
|
1500W
|
48
|
55
|
| 1600W | 50 | 58 |
The large fan copes with the heat inside the chassis, spinning more actively as the load increases above 1000 Watts.
|
Maximum load
|
Efficiency
|
|
1791W
|
90.4
|
At 1791W, the efficiency level is still good, measuring 90.4%. Not a practical situation to be running 24/7, but worth noting.
This review has been somewhat of a long drawn out ordeal. When I got the Cooler Master V Platinum V2 1600 sample months ago, I was told by Cooler Master to shelve it as the early sample I had was potentially faulty. The second sample took some additional weeks to arrive, and then some of my test equipment was throwing up weird results so I had to wait on replacement parts to verify.
When I checked online to get pricing for the V2 1600 late May, the Cooler Master store was showing it available for £247.00 – however check out could not be completed. After liaising with Cooler Master it appears this was a store issue and they were unable to ship to the United Kingdom. Clearly the CM system was applying a simple dollar to pound conversion based on exchange rates at the time.
Fast forward another week or two and Cooler Master confirmed UK pricing at £319.99 inc vat – £70 more than the store was initially showing to potential customers. Checking the CM store now (13th June 2024) with a UK IP via Google, it only shows a dollar value of $319.99 HERE. Cooler Master called me this morning to confirm UK availability will be forthcoming. Perhaps that page will update with options to ship inside the UK as well.
The physical dimensions of this power supply will appeal to a wide audience – at 160mm x 150 mm x 86 mm it is significantly smaller than the 210mm length of the Seasonic Prime TX-1600, for instance. This means the power supply will offer greater compatibility with smaller chassis designs.
Technically this unit is very capable and exhibits no major weaknesses. I found the fan didn't activate at lower loads, and in my environment it only became audible once load hit 700 Watts. In the last 10-20% of load, the fan would ramp up significantly to help ensure as much airflow as possible. This is a diminutive, densely populated power supply, so airflow is critical to maintain good PCB temperatures.
Load regulation is pretty strong across all rails, and ripple suppression falls well within industry rated parameters. Minor +3.3V and +5V rails peak at 15mV with the +12V rail hitting around 30mV at full load. It is not a class leading power supply by today's high end standards, but it did everything we threw at it without any complaints.
Overall this is a solid purchase, it is a fully modular power supply with high levels of efficiency, it is able to deliver the full 1600 Watts sustained without issues. Noise levels are well under control and the fan is able to push a lot of warm air away from the components inside. Obviously the high levels of efficiency being 80 Plus Platinum certified, help maintain good temperatures as well.
Pricing at the original CM store listing of £247.00 was extremely competitive – however at the updated, confirmed price of £319.99 it is slightly less appealing. By comparison, the Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Platinum is more expensive at £359.99 (HERE). While technically superior the Seasonic unit is also larger (210mm length versus the 160mm of this one), however unless you need a smaller form factor unit, this may not be that important to you.
Cooler Master are supporting this power supply with an comprehensive 12 year warranty which gives long-term peace of mind to a prospective customer.
Pros:
- Physically compact.
- High grade cabling.
- Fully modular.
- Low noise.
- Looks great.
- 105C-rated Japanese capacitors.
- Competitively priced.
- Good load regulation.
- Ripple suppression.
Cons:
- Does not appear to be currently available in the United Kingdom (13th June 2024).
KitGuru says: The Cooler Master V Platinum V2 1600 is a great power supply, and at the current price point offers decent value for money too.
