As the PC DIY market slows down, manufacturers are trying to expand their product range to make up for the loss of revenue. While riding on the wave of the growing gaming industry, traditional hardware manufacturers are now focusing their efforts in building their image as a reputable gaming brand. In the recent years, we saw an increase in the percentage of products that focuses largely on the gamer community. AORUS, a premium gaming brand by GIGABYTE, targets the gaming industry with an exceptionally large range of products. Now, AORUS branded products include motherboards, graphics cards, computer accessories, gaming chairs, DDR RAM, gaming notebooks, CPU Coolers and many more.
New to the AORUS family is the range of AORUS Power Supplies. Of course, in order to uphold the name of the AORUS brand, these power supplies comes with features that are designed specifically for gamers. Currently, the two models that are available are the AORUS P750W 80+ GOLD Modular and the AORUS P850W 80+ GOLD Modular. We have the AORUS P850W 80+ GOLD Modular power supply with us today for review. Let’s take a deeper look to see the value that this power supply brings on to the gaming table.
Modular Cable Design
The AUROS product team understands that a they must have products of premium features to enhance the overall image of the brand. That is why, these power supplies only comes with a fully modular design. With a fully modular design, system builders and gamers will only use the cables that are required for their system. This encourages a “cleaner” build and makes cable management in the computer chassis a breeze. Moreover, less cables in the case also means less obstruction to airflow, which leads to an overall improvement to the cooling capabilities of the PC case. Well… you’ll only use what you need!
The cables for the AORUS P850W 80+ GOLD Modular power supply caught our attention. Interestingly, there is an additional capacitor that pops out from the usual power connectors. It has been explained that this additional capacitor on the cable will provide a more stable power to the motherboard and peripherals.
Single 12V Rail design
The AORUS P850W 80+ comes with a single 12V rail design. In fact, system builders will be getting 70.5A of current directly out from the 12V rail. A single 12V rail design will ensure maximum compatibility with PC components of high power consumption, such as high-end graphics card.
High Quality Components
Conventional Capacitors will usually last about 5 years. After the 5 years mark, system builders will encounter certain stability and reliability issues with their systems. This is also why many manufacturers only decide to have a 3 year warranty period for their PSU products. Luckily, the Gigabyte uses high quality components in their power supplies. For example, they have selected high quality Japanese capacitors which are known to perform with high efficiency and high reliability. These capacitors are tests to have 4x the expectancy than conventional capacitors!
Smart Fan
The AORUS P850W also features a smart fan within. Instead of having the fan spinning at 100% all the time, it adapts and adjusts its speed according to the system load. To minimize the noise from the fan, which could affect the overall user experience on their system, the fan will even stop when the system is idle or under low load (less than 20% load). The 135mm fan on the AORUS P850W is also specially designed for a longer expectancy and less noise.
Interestingly, Gigabyte still has to warn users that the PSU is still working even when the fan is not spinning!
Protection Features
Of course, it is almost a standard now to include protection features on power supplies. The AORUS P850W comes with the following electrical protection features
- OCP – Over Current Protection
- OTP – Over Temperature Protection
- OVP – Over Voltage Protection
- OPP – Over Power Protection
- UVP – Under Voltage Protection
- SCP – Short Circuit Protection
Efficiency Tests
The 80 PLUS Gold certification is a testament to the efficiency of the AORUS P850W PSU. This means that this power supply will deliver at least 90% efficiency at 50% load. Of course, with better efficiency, system builders can be sure that their system wastes less energy, and can save up on their electrical bills. However, not all 80 PLUS Gold PSUs are made the same. Some PSUs fall in the higher spectrum of the gold standard, while others barely make it. Here’s a load test done in the Gigabyte Labs which shows the efficiency of the AORUS P850W as compared to the other competing products in the same category.
In terms of efficiency, we can see that the AORUS P850W is largely better than products in the same category. In fact, it just falls short of the 80 PLUS Platinum specifications by a small margin for the 20% and 50% tests. It is apparent that the high quality components and circuitry design in the AORUS P850W really makes a difference to the performance of the power supply, resulting in improve efficiency across different loads.
Conclusion
The AORUS P850W 80PLUS GOLD Modular Power Supply’s efficiency sets itself apart from any other power supply in the same category, and it truly deserves the 80 PLUS Gold Certification. We liked the fact that the design team has kept it simple, while focusing on the quality aspects of the power supply. We don’t see fancy RGB lights nor power consumption meters, making the power supply non-pretentious, and it is able to perform much better than expectations. Therefore, for anyone who’s looking for a high quality and efficient 80 PLUS GOLD power supply without breaking the bank, The AORUS P850W and AORUS P750W 80PLUS GOLD Modular Power Supplies are excellent choices.
