When it comes to high performance >1 kW computer power supplies, almost every reputable OEM has released at least one design to serve as their flagship. This is not necessarily because the companies expect high revenue because they are well aware that this segment of the market is very small and overly saturated. They do this because the flagship serves as a symbol of the company's capabilities and competence, enhancing their profile on all fronts in order to produce that halo product, hoping the performance of the high end results in trickle-down sales. In this extremely competitive and saturated market, we have a new contender - Andyson.

Introduction

Andyson is a Taiwanese manufacturer, established in Taipei. Although they are not very well known as some of the other brands, they are neither small nor a new company. Andyson has been around for 18 years nowand they have sufficient production capabilities. Their reputation suffered because of Hiper, a company that shut down years ago, whose products were reported as having very high failure rates. The Platinum R 1200W PSU that we will be reviewing today represents their power supply engineering high end, at least as far as power is concerned, since the company also has four 80Plus Titanium units available.

Andyson currently has nine 80Plus Platinum units on their books, yet only three models (including this particular unit) have an official 80Plus certification. The same goes for their 80Plus Titanium series, where only one model has been officially certified. This tactic is somewhat common among manufacturers, getting only the most powerful unit of the series certified that is.

On paper, the Platinum R 1200W PSU has it all: modular design, very high efficiency, excellent reliability and top performance. Andyson boasts that it is very cost-effective as well, since it has an MSRP of just about $200. However, Andyson is going to have major opposition from brands like Seasonic, Flextronics and Super Flower in that segment of the market. We will see if the Platinum R 1200W has what it takes to meet such opposition head on.

Packaging and Bundle

Andyson supplies the Platinum R 1200W PSU in a relatively plain cardboard box. The artwork is very simple and formal, rather uninteresting and unlikely to draw attention if showcased on a store shelf. However, it is very sturdy and the PSU is well protected with polyethylene foam pieces, offering effective protection during shipping.

The Platinum R 1200W comes with a broad and very effective bundle. Thumbscrews, regular screws, small and large cable ties, cable straps, an anti-vibration silicon frame, a typical AC cable and a manual are supplied alongside the PSU itself.

The Platinum R 1200W is a fully modular PSU, including the main ATX 24-pin cable. All of the cables are made using only black wires and are covered with black sleeving. They are supplied inside a tall nylon bag. The following table lists the total number of connectors:

The Andyson Platinum R 1200W PSU - External Appearance

Visually, the Andyson Platinum R 1200W is not exactly a work of art yet it does have an element of subtleness and can be fairly appealing, depending on your requirements. The long chassis is sprayed with a grainy matte black paint, a circular finger guard covers the cooling fan and a subtle sticker with the company logo has been placed on its side.

A decorative sticker covers the right side of the chassis, facing towards the windowed side panel if the PSU is installed with the fan facing upwards. If the PSU is installed with the fan facing downwards, the sticker will be facing the right panel of the case and it will be upside down. 

The left side of the PSU is almost entirely plain, with the exception of a series logo printed at the lower right corner of the chassis. This logo will be upside down if the PSU is installed with the fan facing downwards.

The rear of the PSU is a little interesting, with the AC cable receptacle and the on/off switch placed on a different, white metallic frame that covers nearly half of the surface. The other half is perforated for the cooling air to escape to the exterior of the case.

A large number of connectors for the modular cables take up most of the space at the front of the unit. The rest of the surface is covered by a sticker, serving as a legend for the connectors and as a warning label. Funnily, it advises against the removal of the PSU cover and warns that the warranty will be void if the seal is broken, yet this cover cannot be removed and there is no warranty sticker to be found anywhere.

The sticker with the electrical specification of the PSU can be found at the top of the chassis.

The Andyson Platinum R 1200W PSU - Internal Design

ADDA supplies the cooling fan of this PSU. The ADN512DB-A91 has a 135mm wide frame, a ball bearing motor and a maximum speed of just 1500 RPM, which is relatively conservative for a 1200W PSU.

There is no "hidden OEM" behind the Platinum R 1200W as Andyson designs and creates their own PSUs and this unit is entirely of their own making. What someone immediately notices about the layout is that there are very few wires. Andyson went as far as to mount the AC receptacle and switch on a PCB that comes in direct contact with the main PCB of the unit.

The filtering stage begins on that small PCB and continues on the main PCB of the unit, comprising of four Y capacitors, two X capacitors and two filtering inductors. A surge-suppressing MOV can also be found. The primary conversion bridges share their own small heatsink right after the filtering stage.

Three Nippon Chemi-Con 400V/470μF capacitors and a very large inductor are the passive components of the APFC stage. These capacitors are exceedingly large, even for a 1200W PSU, which explains the presence of two NTC thermistors to moderate the inrush current of the PSU. The active components for the APFC, two transistors and a diode, are attached to the large heatsink next to the capacitors. Smaller, simple heatsinks hold the four transistors of the primary inversion stage, which form a full-bridge configuration. The eight secondary conversion stage transistors are on an even simpler heatsink that is nothing more than a thin sheet of metal.

Only a 12V output is generated by the secondary conversion stage of this PSU. Thick metal bars form current pathways, transferring the output of the unit to the vertical PCB that holds the cable connectors. The 3.3V and 5V DC-to-DC conversion circuits are present on this PCB, eliminating the losses that would occur if they were generated on the main PCB and then transferred on this one.

Most of the secondary capacitors, electrolytic and polymer alike, are supplied by Teapo. Only a few Nippon Chemi-Con electrolytic capacitors on the vertical PCB are an exception. Teapo is not the favorite manufacturer among enthusiasts but it is true that their products are being used more and more in high-end products. Andyson covers this unit with a ten year warranty, so they either feel very confident that Teapo is reliable enough or they severely oversized the capacitors in order to counter their aging.

Quality-wise, the design is almost impeccable. The layout is very well designed and clean, while the soldering job is immaculate. There is just one dissonance that feels like a rookie's mistake: right next to the secondary conversion stage and towards the secondary PCB, where the metallic bars transfer the current from one PCB to another, Andyson had to place a capacitor between a tall electrolytic and a short polymer. For unknown reasons, much likely because Andyson is oversizing the components across the layout to ensure high performance and reliability, this capacitor could not fit where it was supposed to. Andyson circumvented this by gluing the capacitor on the adjacent components and insulating its leads, which are soldered on the main PCB nearly two centimeters below. This is not a critical problem but it is something that just does not match the aptness of the rest of the unit. 

Cold Test Results

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs - 2014 Pipeline post.

Note: As the Andyson Platinum R 1200W cannot follow the test protocol guidelines without overloading its 3.3V/5V lines, the load derating factor D_V of these two lines is being reduced to 50%. To explain why, we will be putting up a pipeline post shortly to explain the matter, as it applies to several other units.

Even if its low load efficiency is not much to look at, the Andyson Platinum R 1200W meets the 80Plus Platinum certification requirements with ease. It manages a maximum conversion efficiency of 94.2% at 40% load and an average of 92.8% within the nominal load range (20% to 100% of the unit's capacity). When the load is reduced below 20%, the efficiency plummets, dropping to 81.7% at 10% load and further down to just 74.7% at 5% load. This was to be expected, as this is how SMPS PSUs operate. A 5% of a unit this powerful corresponds to an output of 60W, ample to power a modern system while it is idling, so higher low-load efficiency would be more than welcome.

Due to the very high efficiency and the presence of adequately sized heatsinks, the Andyson Platinum R 1200W maintains very low internal temperatures without overworking its cooling fan. The temperature of the heatsinks barely surpassed 65°C under maximum load, when 100 Amperes were flowing from the transformer to the distribution PCB. The cooling fan displays a "stepping" behavior, staying entirely quiet up to 40% load and then stepping up each time that the load increases. Even with a load of 1kW, the noise levels are tolerable for daily use, with the fan pushing the borders of comfort only at maximum load.

Hot Test Results

As the following tables indicate, Andyson really outdid themselves. The Platinum R 1200W displays exceptional power quality, especially considering the very high power output of the PSU. The maximum voltage ripple on the 12V line is just 26mV at maximum load, under a massive >92A current. The voltage regulation is equally amazing, with a change of less than 0.6% for every voltage line across the load range.

We should mention that this PSU does not have a clear temperature rating. This most likely means that it has been rated at 40°C, as this is the commercial computer PSU temperature standard. However, in order to match the 50°C rating of several high-end products, we perform our testing at temperatures higher than 45°C. We could reduce the ambient temperature of our hotbox testing but we chose not to do so as the results would then not be comparable to those of our previous reviews.

According to the following results, it does not seem that Andyson would have any trouble giving this PSU a clear power output rating at 50°C. High ambient temperatures have very little to no effect on the performance of the Platinum R 1200W, which lost a mere 0.15% of its average energy conversion efficiency. In fact, it maintains the 80Plus Platinum efficiency levels, with the maximum efficiency being 94.1% at 40% load.

Despite the great rise of the ambient temperature, the internal temperatures of the PSU do not rise disproportionally. On the contrary, the rise is almost additive, with the internal temperatures of the PSU rising about as much as the ambient temperature did. The fan displays the same behavior, with the only difference being that its speed starts increasing much sooner, yet reaching the same maximum noise levels nonetheless. 

Conclusion

Andyson may not be the most reputable manufacturer when it comes to high-end units but it seems that they really wanted to turn the tide around. As far as performance is concerned, the Platinum R 1200W has literally nothing to fear from its competitors. With superb output quality, efficiency and thermal performance, it excels on every performance aspect. It also has extreme thermal resistance, with high ambient temperatures having almost no effect at all on the performance of the PSU. The combination of great thermal resistance and high efficiency allows the fan to operate at low speeds, maintaining low noise levels under most conditions.

Aesthetically, the Platinum R 1200W is rather uninteresting. The full modular design and the all-black cables certainly enhance the appeal of this PSU a lot. On the other hand, printing a logo that will be facing upside down on the side of the unit is an amateurish mistake. It is not a secret that almost every case in existence that has the PSU compartment below the motherboard tray is designed to have the PSU installed with its fan facing downwards. It is unlikely that most people will care about the logo, yet modders will obviously seek to correct it somehow.

The quality is a little more complicated matter. The ten year warranty is certainly reassuring, the design is exceptional and the assembly job immaculate, yet we feel that Andyson did a childish mistake by selecting Teapo capacitors. It is not that Teapo capacitors are technically worse than their Japanese counterparts are. On paper, they are identical or even better. However, it all goes down to market psychology and Teapo capacitors simply are not loved among advanced users, which are exactly the target group of this product.

Andyson claims that the Platinum R 1200W is the most cost-effective PSU of its class. True enough, with an MSRP just over $200 and such performance, it could wreak havoc to the sales of its competitors. However, it is exceedingly difficult to find in the US at this point of time, or almost anywhere outside Eastern Asia for that matter. This negates the company's argument and reveals a major flaw, that of availability. There is no point with having an excellent product if the majority of your potential customers have no access to it. If it becomes readily available to the "western" markets and the price remains similar, then it will most likely be in the shortlist of every enthusiast shopping for a >1kW PSU.