| Article Index |
|---|
| Enermax Infiniti 720W SLI Power Supply Review |
| 2. Conenctors and Cables |
| 3. Cooling |
| 4. Power |
| 5. Conclusion |
| All Pages |
Enermax, a major player and leader in the aftermarket and enthusiast
power supply segment brings us their latest power supply, a 720W unit boasting SLI certification, modular cabling and even good looks, plus many other features.
The Infiniti range of power supplies from Enermax are available in 2 different levels of power output, 620W and 720W, and for each power level you choose if you want a Crossfire Certified or a SLI Certified model. From what I can tell there is absolutely no difference between the two models, every single component and feature is exactly the same. I’m guessing it’s not possible or practical for marketing reasons to have one power supply that is certified for both types of graphics systems, so to solve this problem Enermax figured they’d make a model for each. The only difference I can see is a sticker on the box which either says SLI or Crossfire Ready/Certified.
Just for clarity’s sake (in case there is a difference I can’t find), we are looking at the SLI model today – that’s what the sticker on the box says, although there’s no indication of anything on the unit itself.
The Enermax Infiniti 720W sells online for around AU$260, which is a bit on the expensive side for a PSU of ‘only’ 720W when you compare it to many other units on the market, such as the 700W Tagan EasyCon XL we reviewed earlier this year which comes in at $40 cheaper than the Enermax so hopefully the Enermax is making up for that extra cost in another area.
Appearance:
The casing on the Enermax Infiniti is made up mostly of anodised black brushed aluminium with the rear vent section composed of a honeycomb mesh of the same brushed aluminium. There is no voltage switch on the Infiniti, as it includes universal power input so it will work anywhere in the world. A status LED sits next to the power input plug which indicates whether the PSU is in standby, powered on, and give warnings along with a buzzer for overheat and overload conditions.
On the base of the PSU is a golden fan grill covering the one and only cooling fan, a 13.5cm transparent item, with the fan grill having a large Enermax badge in the middle.
This PSU hasn’t been made with flashy lights just to look good, but it does a good job at still looking stylish and respectable inside your case at the very least.
Connectors and Cables:
As the Infiniti is a modular cabling power supply, there are only a few cables that are actually affixed to the unit, these are the 24 Pin Motherboard power cable, which is a fixed 24 Pin cable, not a 20+4 Pin cable like most other power supplies on the market, as well as a 4+4Pin ATX12V cable and a single 6+2 Pin PCI-Express power cable, so PCI-Express 2.0 compatibility is taken care of.
All the other connectors are delivered via modular cables, the full list of connectors (included fixed connections) are as follows:
- 1 x 24 Pin ATX Motherboard Power Connector (Fixed)
- 1 x 4+4 Pin ATX12V Motherboard Power Connector (Fixed)
- 1 x 6+2 Pin PCI Express Power Connector (Fixed)
- 2 x 6-Pin PCI-Express Power Cables (Modular)
- 4 x 3-Connector Molex Power Cables (Modular)
- 4 x 3-Connector SATA Power Cables (Modular)
- 1 x Molex to 2 x Floppy Drive Power Cable
These are the cables which were included with our unit and they differ a bit to what Enermax list on their website. Enermax list that it will come with 3 of the Molex cables, and 3 of the SATA cables when 4 of each were included in ours, they also list that a 6+2 Pin PCI-Express modular cable is included in addition to the other 2 x 6-Pin cables, however this was not included with our unit.
The Enermax Infiniti has a total of 8 modular connections on the front of the unit, 2 of which are dedicated to the PCI-Express power cables, which leaves 6 connectors for the Molex and SATA power cables. There’s actually more cables included then there are connectors on the PSU (8 cables, 6 connectors), so if 9 SATA connectors are not enough then take out one of the Molex cables and have 12 SATA connectors instead – that’s a butt-load of hard drives it can cater for.
All of the Molex connectors have convenient squeeze tabs on them that make it nice and easy remove the connectors from your drives, a nice touch. As well as this all the cables, both modular and fixed are covered with a plastic sheath which helps them to avoid tangles, keep the case tidy and improve airflow through the case.
Cooling:
The cooling in the Enermax Infiniti is taken care of with a single 135mm fan in the base of the unit blowing into the Power supply. It is covered in typical Enermax style with a golden fan grill to keep cables and wayward fingers from coming to strife.
There is also a feature within the Infiniti called PowerGaurd, whereby if you shut off the PC and the PSU temperature is above 45 Degrees Celsius, it will keep its fan going, as well as all the other fans in the system either until the temperature falls below 45 degrees, or for 1 minute, whichever comes first. If the PC is shut off and the PSU temperature is already below 45 degrees, it will still keep itself and the other fans going for 10 seconds to cool everything off.
We tested this PowerGaurd system on our OzHardware test bench with the ASUS P5N32-E SLI motherboard and ASUS 8800GTS Video card, as well as an Intel E6600, 2 hard drives and DVD drive. For our first couple of attempts we only got the basic 10 seconds of cooling, mostly because our office is quite cool and the components are out in the open on a test bench, not stuffed into a case soaking up heat. So to get the full 1 minute of power on shutdown we blocked off part of the Enermax Infiniti’s intake fan and loaded up the system by running 3DMark06 in a loop for an hour.
This would do the trick we thought, so we stopped the loop and shut down the PC straight away and removed the partial blockage (i.e. Piece of paper) from over the PSU’s intake fan to give it back its full cooling potential. The display shut off, as well as the hard drives, but all the fans in the system continued at their normal rate, for longer than was expected as well, going on for 1 minute 20 seconds before the PSU and fans finally shut off. During this time the graphics card dropped from 57 degrees-C down to 47 degrees-C, so it does its job nicely to help cool the components down before cutting off the juice.
Power:
The majority of the Enermax Infiniti’s 720W of power is of course delivered through the +12V rails which can delivery up to 672W of power in total. This is done through only 3 separate +12V rails which can deliver a massive 28/28/30 Amps down each one respectively. This is much higher than the latest official ATX (ATX12V and EPS12V) standards which state that if the 12V rails produce more than 18 Amps they must be split, however having more power down each rail allows more devices to be run on each rail without threat of being underpowered, so it’ll be great for SLI systems and systems with heaps of drives.
With the Enermax Infiniti, each +12V rail handles the following tasks:
- +12V1 – Drives + Video Card (GPU)
- +12V2 – Drives + Video Card (GPU) + (4+4)Pin Motherboard Power
- +12V3 – Main Motherboard Power + (6+2)Pin Video Card (GPU)
In operation the Enermax Infiniti showed very stable voltages across the board, we recorded the following voltages with our multimeter (not from motherboard sensor) at idle.
- +3.3V -> 3.31V
- +5V -> 5.07V
- +12V1 -> 12.14V
- +12V2 -> 12.15V
- +12V3 -> 12.15V
- +12V4 -> 12.13V
These are reading at idle, we tested the Enermax Infiniti under load (our test system running 3DMark06) and we recorded a maximum difference of around 0.03V increase across all the 12V rails, so voltage stability will not be a problem with these power supplies.
The Enermax Infiniti makes use of Universal Power Input, so any AC voltage around the world from 100-240V is accepted, and there’s no risk of forgetting to switch to the correct voltage and having something go pop, as there is no switch to forget, it’s all automatic. Active Power Factor Correction (PFC) is of course included as standard along with protection for almost every kind of overload you could think of (Voltage (over/under), Load, Temperature, Short Circuit) so your components and the power supply itself will stay nice and safe.
Conclusion:
The Enermax Infiniti 720W SLI power supply is an excellent unit, it may be a few dollars more than some of its competitors, but given Enermax’s general standard of quality and reliability, I think it is well worth the money for that extra piece of mind.
There’s plenty of power for the higher end systems out there and the delivery of the power is consistent and reliable so there’s little chance of the Infiniti causing any temperamental little power issues and its stability will be great for overclockers. The Infiniti is 80-Plus certified, with Enermax claiming 82-85% efficiency depending on load which means it has less wasted energy which is better for the environment and better for your power bill.
I can really find no fault with the Enermax other than its price, which really isn’t a great concern, it even comes with an Enermax branded satchel to get all your unused modular cables organised.
So overall the Enermax Infiniti 720W SLI power supply is an excellent quality unit with enough power and connections to satisfy the most avid enthusiast, it’s a bit more expensive than some other brands, but not overly so by any means. I’d have no problem recommending this PSU to anyone after some serious power with the convenience of modular cabling.
OzHardware Rating – 9/10 – Highly Recommended!
This product can be purchased online at www.techbuy.com.au (Direct Link)
