What might be an unusual or less seen wattage, Fractal offers great efficiency with the Ion+ 860P power supply. Although an older choice of hardware, it has gotten another generation, but that doesn’t detract from what this one had yet to offer. Offering such a strong conversion efficiency does make it a strong contender for the best PSU for those looking to minimize their electricity bills. Along with a strong cable management case with its full modularity, we take a look at what it offers in our review.
- Wattage: 860W
- Form Factor: ATX (325 x 110 x 210mm)
- Rating: 80+ Platinum, Cybenetics Platinum
- Design: Fully modular
Although a more expensive choice of power supply, the Fractal Design Ion+ 680P brings a high level of efficiency and Wattage to your build. Ensuring most of your electricity is used as intended from the Platinum ratings. Plus with 860W it gives you plenty of power for even top-end modern graphics giving you plenty of future use from it.
Even the sound is minimal with the large and efficient fan it keeps things silent. Although the standard connectors do limit the reach between each peripheral connector, it can be difficult to plug in further apart parts.
- After an efficient and quiet power supply to last you many years
- After a PSU to power the highest end of hardware
- Require a native ATX 3.0 PSU for modern day GPUs
- If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution
Ion+ 680P design
As far as PSU designs go, the Fractal Design Ion+ 680P keeps things simple. No lights or mixing things up it keeps to the basics to focus on the internals. With a two-piece design with a slight change in tone between the top and bottom, it’s sleek and to the point considering you don’t see it most of the time, it’s not exactly a necessity.
As for the connector side, it’s quite a standard setup, although fairly limited in combination. However, an 860W PSU might not need all too much in total. But the supply combines the ATX 12V and PCIe into the same range of connectors, which gives you only that much for both CPU and GPU combined. That will be plenty for most standard builds as the Fractal PSU comes with two 4+4 pins and six 6+2 pins.
Fractal Design Ion+ 860P fan
Fractal Design Ion+ 860P back
Fractal Design Ion+ 860P connectors
Fractal Design Ion+ 860P RPM mode
Fractal Design Ion+ 860P side on
Fractal Design Ion+ 680P source: BGFG
You also get plenty of SATA and peripheral options with four individual connection ports. On the side facing into your PC case as well, you can find the “zero RPM mode” switch, giving you flexibility to the noise levels, although you may not require much attention anyway when it comes to performance.
From the main power side, there’s not much but the off-on switch and plenty of ventilation to exhaust out the back of your system. That is also where the incredible cooling comes into play. Featuring a huge 140mm fluid dynamic bearing fan, that comes with little impediment to keep temps down for a top performance choice.
Ion+ 680P size
There’s not much too different in the sizing of the Ion+ 680P as it offers up a standard ATX form factor. Unlike the RM1000X Shift, it doesn’t need any considerations when building it into your case. But it’s also not a small form factor choice, as you compare the ATX vs SFF standard it’s not the ideal pick for something small.
With dimensions of 150 x 150 x 86mm, it is a more standard fit and a lot more compatible with a wide range of choices making it an easy fit. But beware of the cables as usual, be sure to fit all the modular cables you need before having to reach into the basement and blindly figure things out.
Sound and efficiency of the Ion+ 860P
The sound and efficiency are where the Ion+ 86-P prospers, making it a top choice for both quiet and efficient operation. Especially with the newer standard from Cybenetics rewarding it with an A+ and Platinum for those functions respectively. That makes it both basically silent in operation as well as ensuring most of the electricity you pay for actually is used for running your PC.
That makes the Ion+ 860P a strong power supply for efficiency with basically no noise.
In terms of the Cybenetics testing done on the PSU, we can see in detail what it does to gain that award. There we see that at 115V it averaged an efficiency of 89.952% with the 5VSB efficiency lower at 76.311%. Whilst the average noise output was only 18.05 dB(A). Whilst at 230V that improves even more, as the average efficiency sits at 91.727% and 5VSB goes to 76.109%, while the noise averages up to 17.99 dB(A). That makes the Ion+ 860P a strong power supply for efficiency with basically no noise.
What GPUs to pair with the Fractal power supply
As an 860W power supply, it’s the less conventional wattage compared to the 50W increments you see others utilize. Even still that makes it a rather powerful choice for anything you might want to pair with it. Considering even the top-end graphics cards, which are the ones dictating your power needs, only ask for 850W this PSU can handle anything really.
In that case, we’d suggest the AMD RX 7900 XTX or even RTX 4080 Super to go with the Ion+ 860P. Giving it great efficiency and performance to keep your system nice and quiet. They have a TDP of 355W and 320W and suggest an 800W and 700W PSU respectively. So you can easily achieve it with this power supply and have a good run for years to come.
Warranty and support
Fractal Design offers up a strong warranty for its power supply as you’d hope for. With the part integral to the safety of your entire system you do want to make sure you can trust it and have help if needed. In that case, the Ion+ 680P has a 10-year warranty giving you reassurance for many years from the first time you build with it. Allowing you to get many systems powered with it and get great value for your money.
high power rating and top-of-the-line efficiency, it makes for a universally great power source
Conclusion
The Fractal Design Ion+860P, in general, is a strong choice for a power supply. With a high power rating and top-of-the-line efficiency, it makes for a universally great power source. Especially when it comes to a long-term commitment so you can also enjoy an efficient use of power for your money. However, at this point, there is a second-generation choice that you can enjoy with minor improvements in considering what new-generation graphics might need.
Is the Fractal Design Ion+ 680P worth it?
Today it’s not going to be worth getting considering there is a 2nd generation choice you can get hold of. But also if you are after an ATX 3.0 PSU with native support for the latest choice of hardware that can save you plenty of distress it’s not the choice either. But for efficiency and low noise, it is a top choice option.
