The ADATA XPG Cybercore 1300W PSU Review: Advanced From the Start

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

The XPG Cybercore is built from components that are capable of tolerating very high temperatures, which gave the PSU an edge while we were testing it inside our hotbox. The efficiency drop was very small, with a marginal average efficiency reduction of 0.4% across the nominal load range. In theory, the XPG Cybercore could receive its 80Plus Platinum certification even if the testing were to take place inside a hotbox. There is no disproportionate efficiency drop when the PSU is heavily loaded either, indicating that it is exceptionally resilient to thermal stressing.

No matter how efficient the XPG Cybercore is, that kind of power output will still produce a significant amount of thermal losses that the PSU will have to deal with. The temperature of the internal components will always be high if the PSU has to work under such adverse conditions, and higher than 60°C on the major active components across any load. Due to the cooling profile, the temperature of the internal components will be high while the unit is lightly loaded, will then drop when the load is moderate, and then keep rising until the unit reaches its maximum capacity. The temperature will reach a worrying level only when the XPG Cybercore is forced to operate at maximum load for prolonged periods of time.

The strange thermal behavior of the XPG Cybercore is due to the cooling fan or, to be more specific, the programmed cooling profile behind it. Regardless whether the unit was operating inside our hotbox or not, the thermal control circuit did not start the fan when the load was low. This was the culprit behind the high temperatures while the unit was only lightly loaded, which then dropped as the fan came on. The speed of the fan did not follow the same profile as when the unit was outside our hotbox though, as it reached its maximum speed with a load of 800 Watts and, naturally, maintained that high speed to the end of the load range.