Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W PSU Review

1. Introduction2. Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W (Bundle/Cables & Exterior)3. Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W (External)4. Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W (Internal)5. Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Today we take a look at one of the most cost effective 1000W Platinum power supplies currently available – the creamy white Super Flower Leadex. The Leadex Platinum is currently available from Overclockers UK for £169.99 inc vat, on offer this week at only £149.99 inc vat.

As well as achieving Platinum efficiency, the unit is fully modular and is equipped with six 6+2 SATA cables to power demanding Crossfire and SLi configurations. Is it worth the asking price?

Features

• 100% Full Modular Cabling Design For Easy Cable Management
• 80 PLUS ® Platinum Certified, 91.12% 92.53% 91.11% Efficiency At 20% 50% 100% Rated Load
• Full Range Auto Voltage Detection Design 100V~240V (Active PFC)
• Comply With ATX 12V. V2.2, EPS 12V. V2.91 & SSI EPS 12V. V2.92 Specification
• Comply With Energy Star Standard & EuP (Energy Using Products) Regulation
• Over Voltage Protection / Over Current Protection / Over Power Protection / Short Circuit Protection / Under Voltage Protection
• Support All Intel/AMD Multi-Core CPU & ATX/BTX Compatible Motherboards
• Support NVIDIA® SLI™ & ATI CrossFireX™ High Performance Graphic Card
• Patented Easy To Use & Install Crystal Clear Cube Connectors with LED
• More than 2,000 times On/Off test
• Unleaded Green Materials with RoHS/WEEE Compliance
• Perfect For Professional & High Performance Gaming System

The Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W power supply ships in a plain white box with the company logo (a Butterfly) on the front, alongside some basic information on the power supply. The 80 Plus Platinum logo can be seen top right.

The rear of the box is more detailed, highlighting many of the buying points – such as high grade Japanese capacitors. Ideal for a retail store environment.

Inside the box we are greeted with the modular cables pouch and the power supply, which is wrapped inside a lovely white string bag.

The modular cables are supplied inside a heavy duty pouch with the company branding seen bottom right.

Super Flower supply a little user manual and mounting thumbscrews.

We love the fancy white bag which protects the power supply during shipping.

The cables are a mixture of high grade sleeved, and some flat ribbon style to help improve case airflow. Super Flower are using clear connectors which glow white when the power supply is powered up.

Cable	Connectors
ATX 20+4 pin	x1 (600mm)
6+2 pin PCIe	x2 (600 mm + 125mm)
6+2 Pin PCIe	x4 (600mm + 125mm)
4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V	x2 (700mm)
SATA / MOLEX	x2/2 (550mm + 125mm)
MOLEX	x3 (540mm + 130mm)
FDD	x1

Six 6+2 PCIe cables seems adequate, however we have seen 1000W units recently which are equipped with 8 PCI e connectors. We wouldn't imagine this would be a sticking point for many as we recommend enthusiast gamers aim for a 1,250Watt power supply for high end 4 way GPU configurations.


The Super Flower Leadtek Platinum 1000W power supply is very nicely finished. The white paintwork is deep and very resistant to fingerprints and rough handling. It measures 200 mm (L) x 150 mm (W) x 86 mm (H).

The white fan resides behind a white grill, keeping with the simple, yet effective colour scheme.

One side of the unit has a honeycomb style grill to aid with cooling. There is a power connector and switch at the side. We can also see a fanless mode switch which may confuse some of the user base. Best leaving it in the semi fanless default mode.

The modular panel is well laid out and pretty much fool proof. When the connectors are attached they glow white during operation. Ideal if you like to experiment with lighting inside case. Not so much, if you don't.

Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W
DC Output	+3.3V	+5V	+12V	-12V	+5Vsb
Max Output	20A	20A	83.3A	0.5A	2.5A
Total Power	100W		999.6W	6W	12.5W
	1000W

The single +12V rail is powerful, delivering 83A for 999W of the maximum output.

The 140mm fan has a Super Flower badge in the middle, however underneath it is a Hong Hua ball bearing unit.

This is a fantastic looking design, with tiny vertical heatsinks cooling the +12V fets on the secondary side.

Soldering quality of the main PCB is excellent, if not quite at the same level as Seasonic. The primary side uses a resonant converter and the secondary side is using a synchronous design alongside two DC-DC converters, to produce the minor rails.

There is a single X capacitor at the AC receptacle for filtering. The secondary part of the transient filter is on the main PCB and comprises two CM chokes, two X caps, an MOV and two pair of Y caps.

Super Flower are using the highest quality Nippon Chemi Con Japanese capacitors (KMQ series) rated at 105c. The primary capacitors are rated 400V 560μF and 400V 470 μF. We were surprised to see quite a lot of glue holding the fan control wiring in position – if this came loose it could potentially get tangled up in the fan above. This cable stretches across the full length of the power supply which is not an ideal layout really.

The secondary side has three small heatsinks in place. The two outer heatsinks house eight fets. Alongside the heatsinks are polymer and electrolytic caps again by Japanese high grade supplier Nippon Chemi Con.
On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.











Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price.

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 – 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
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA

DC Output Load Regulation
Combined DC Load	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		+5VSB		-12V
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
100W	1.55	3.32	1.79	5.03	6.70	12.14	0.50	5.03	0.20	-12.07
250W	3.42	3.32	4.47	5.02	17.17	12.12	1.00	5.03	0.30	-12.08
500W	7.08	3.31	9.14	5.02	34.68	12.09	2.00	5.02	0.50	-12.08
750W	11.08	3.30	13.72	5.01	52.73	12.08	2.50	5.02	0.60	-12.09
1000W	16.87	3.29	19.00	5.00	71.92	12.05	3.00	5.01	0.80	-12.09

Load regulation is excellent, with none of the rails showing any major variance between the loads. All results hold within 2% of optimum.

Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W	Maximum Load
	1134W

We managed to get another 134W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in. The supply was undamaged and it was ready to fire up again when we were a little more sensible with the load demand.

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
885W	2.0	3.32	2.0	5.03	72.0	12.05	0.2	-12.09	0.50	5.02
240W	20.0	3.29	24.0	5.00	2.0	12.12	0.2	-12.07	0.50	5.02

The Super Flower power supply delivered a fantastic set of results in the demanding Cross load test, shown above.

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
100W	10	5	10	5
250W	10	10	10	5
500W	10	10	10	5
750W	10	10	10	10
1000W	10	10	15	10

These are probably up there with the best ripple suppression results we have recorded. The power supply kept all rails well within rated specifications. In fact, +3.3V and +5V peaked at 10mV, which is incredible. Equally as impressive was the peak +12V figure of 15mV.

Efficiency (%)
100W	86.5
250W	91.8
500W	93.5
750W	92.4
1000W	91.8

The efficiency results are excellent, peaking at 93.5% at 500W. This drops to 91.8 % efficiency at full load, still a very impressive result.

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 SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) 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 Refridgerator
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)
100W	28.0
250W	28.0
500W	30.4
750W	31.8
1000W	33.3

The Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W operates very quietly, barely making any noise until around 650W demand is made. The fan spins up slowly and even at full load it would barely be audible running within a performance oriented gaming system.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
100W	35	40
250W	35	44
500W	38	48
750W	43	54
1000W	46	59

Temperatures are well controlled, peaking at a 13c above ambient at full load.

Maximum load	Efficiency
1134W	90.2

Pushing the power supply above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 90.2%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless.
There is no question that the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W is a remarkably well designed power supply with some of the finest ripple suppression results we have seen to date.

The white appearance may alienate a portion of the potential user base, however we really rate the quality of finish and feel it would look great in a matching chassis such as the Corsair Carbide 540 in Arctic White. The modular cabling is also high quality and we like how the connectors glow white when active.

Technically, there is little to fault. As we said, ripple suppression is class leading and the unit passed load regulation and cross loading tests with flying colours. The fan manages to spin quite slowly at all times, and even at full load, the power supply remains quiet. If it wasn't for the 1000w power rating, the ultra low noise levels and modular cabling would make it ideal for a powerful media center. 1000W for a media center could certainly be considered overkill, even if you are using two graphics cards in SLi or Crossfire.

The choice of high grade Japanese 105c rated capacitors throughout the design is reassuring, and along with the 5 year warranty, Super Flower are certainly giving the indication that they believe this unit will last a long time before a potential failure.

This is clearly a power supply to ensure that Super Flower can build on their reputation with the demanding European market. Considering the outstanding build quality, stellar performance and low cost, it is difficult, if not impossible to find fault. One of the best power supplies that money can buy.

You can purchase direct from Overclockers UK for £169.99 inc vat, with a deal this week reducing the price to £149.99 inc vat.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

Pros:

• delivered over 1,100W before shutdown.
• class leading ripple suppression.
• superb load regulation.
• very quiet.
• extremely competitively priced.
• fully modular.
• lit modular connectors is a cool idea.
• 5 year warranty.

Cons:

• lit modular connectors may not suit everyone.
• The extra long fan cable inside is held with glue and potentially could come loose.

Kitguru says: An incredible power supply, and at the price – impossible to beat right now.

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