FSP Aurum Pro 850W Power Supply Review

Final Thoughts
While this may be my first power supply review in a little while I have seen quite a few different power supplies in my time and the FSP Aurum Pro still was able to surprise me.  From the design, to the components I saw many things I have not seen on other power supplies before.

Let’s start with the design.  The rugged Granite-Touch finish of the unit gives it a very distinctive look, nice to see something new when it comes to the actual unit itself.  One thing I really liked about this power supply was the modular cables.  There were more like SATA cables expect 3 times thicker.  This means not only can they lay flat and are easy to work with they are also very strong and are not going to rip or snag on any part of your case.  It was also nice to see fan connectors built right into the power supply so if you do not have enough connectors on your motherboard you can connect your fans directly to the power supply.

Under the hood you have FSP’s true single rail dual transformer matrix design which minimizes energy loss, and maximizes efficiency and cooling.  It evenly distributes load current sharing and output power sharing to allow balanced utilization and heat dissipation.  Finally, the reduced transformer sizes, and increased power density optimizes airflow and cooling.  You also have Japanese-made capacitors.  The 135mm PWM cooling fan is a HDB (Hydro Dynamic Bearing) fan so it will operate nice a quiet.  This power supply is 80PLUS Gold certified so it will operate at 87% efficient at 20% load, 90% efficient at 50% load and 87% efficient at 100% load.

As far as performance goes the Aurum Pro did great.  In our tests the rails were pretty solid with only the 3.3V showing a noticeable ‘ripple’.  All of the rails stayed within 1% of their starting voltages (we normally like to see 5% or less).  While in operation the fan was extremely quiet that it was barely noticeable.

One thing I did not like about this power supply was the actual power cable.  While it was very thick and sturdy it was not designed like other power cables.  The actual power connection on the back of the power supply is different than others.  So in the case that this power cable stops working I have to find one that is designed for this power supply, rather than use one of the 20 or so normal power supply cables I have here.

Right now you can pick up this power supply at my favorite online retailer for $179.99, which puts it in the sample price range with other 80PLUS Gold certified units from NZXT, SIlverStone and Corsair.  Overall I am very impressed with this power supply and if it was not for the proprietary power cable I would have given it a perfect 10 score, but alas ThinkComputers awards the FSP Aurum Pro 850W Power Supply a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!

rating9 10 small TC award recommended small

Pros:
– Good performance
– Modular cables are strong and thick
– 80PLUS Gold certified
– Fan connectors on the power supply
– Cool and quiet
– True Single +12V rail

Cons:
– Proprietary power connection / cable

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