Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
The design of the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is quite standard for a power supply unit, utilizing an all-black exterior. At 10.0cm in length, the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is compact for the performance grade and wattage it is designed for. Modular power supplies are longer than non-modular units by a centimeter or two to accommodate its connector board at the back that contains the electrical connections for the outputs. Length is generally not an issue for larger cases, but if you have a small case, the short size is beneficial. This is especially true for the Dagger Pro being of the SFX form factor.
Looking at the photo above, you can see the full branding is implemented on the sides, where FSP's logo and the product name are seen prominently displayed. To ensure you will always see the text right side up, the orientation of it is different on both sides, so whatever side facing the user after installation will always be correct. The fan grille is a standard circular pattern. The 92mm fan generates airflow by drawing air from the bottom of the power supply over its internal components to keep the temperatures at a reasonable level. Exhaust heat can leave at the back of the power supply through the honeycomb holes. As with most fans, four screws are used to keep the fan attached to the PSU. Meanwhile, four additional screws secure the power supply case together. A warranty seal extends over one edge of the power supply, so you cannot open the Dagger Pro 850W without voiding its 10-year warranty.
Looking at the exposed side of the power supply, we can see the power input and switch. Both the receptacle input and switch are standard, so a power cord can be reused from another device if necessary. The text under the switch and receptacle says, “Power Never Ends”. It is important to keep in mind the thickness of the power cord you decide to use, although the recommended thickness for the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is not specified, since this is not a very high wattage unit. The low resistance honeycomb pattern is implemented to maximize airflow and minimize air resistance. The FSP Dagger Pro 850W has automatic full range 100V to 240V AC line voltage selection like with all active power factor correction or APFC power supplies, so users do not have to worry about manually input voltage.
The FSP Dagger Pro 850W is a fully modular power supply unit. This should make your PC build cleaner with less unused cables. It is worth noting the ATX-24 pin and CPU-8 pin connectors need to be used for almost all desktop computers. Ultimately though, I think a fully modular PSU has more benefits than a non-modular power supply.
The back of the power supply contains the connection panel. The sockets are easy to identify thanks to the labels indicating, which cord goes where. Starting at the top and going from left to right, we have an 8-pin CPU and two 8-pin PCIe cable headers. At the bottom, we have the two halves of the 20+4-pin motherboard connector header. Finally, on the right-hand side, we have two 5-pin peripheral cable headers. As with most power supplies, the design of these connectors is great with different pin configurations. This makes it so you do not have to risk plugging in a cable to the wrong port.
The FSP Dagger Pro 850W has solid external build quality. The surface of the PSU is gritty and feels nice on the fingers. Fingerprints are unlikely to be left on the surface due to the matte finish. The gaps between the connection ports are small and even as well. The small size of this SFX supply is quaint and will have no issue fitting in almost any case.
The voltage specification label for the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is located on the top of the power supply unit. Two virtual rails are visible here. Up to 20A can be delivered on both the +3.3V and +5V rails, making for a power rating of 66W and 100W, respectively. The combined output for the +3.3V and +5V rail is 120W. This means the total power allocation combination must fall within the limits of the listed specifications. The +12V rail is rated to deliver up to 70.83A, making for a power output of 849.96W. This is done to maximize power delivery flexibility compared to multiple +12V rails. The combined power output for the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is 850W, as the name implies. As a reminder, the power distribution on your system must not exceed the rated limits -- that being 66W on the +3.3V rail, 100W on the +5V rail and 120W combined for both, 850W on the +12V rail, and 850W combined between all the positive rails. The power distribution of the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is reasonable for an 850W power supply unit, although I have seen higher +3.3V and 5V rails for lower output rated units.
The FSP Dagger Pro 850W is 80 Plus Gold certified, which means it is certified to be 87%, 91%, and 87% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% loads, respectively. Higher certifications available include 80 Plus Platinum and 80 Plus Titanium.
Out of the box, we get ten modular power cables and one AC power cable with the FSP Dagger Pro 850W. As expected, the modular cables are quite easy to bend. The flat cables are flexible enough to allow easy cable management in a desktop computer. 18 AWG wires are found on all the cables, which is common in modern supplies. The company opted out of fattening the high current motherboard and PCIe cables to 16 AWG.
The following modular cables are included out of the box:
- 1x ATX 20+4 pin, 50.0cm
- 1x ATX/EPS 4+4 pin, 2 connectors, 70.0cm to first connector, 15.0cm spacing thereafter
- 2x PCIe 6+2 pin, 2 connectors each, 35.0cm
- 1x SATA/Molex/Floppy, 4 connectors, 35.0cm to first connector, 10.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x SATA/Molex, 4 connectors, 35.0cm to first connector, 10.0cm spacing thereafter
Generally speaking, the standard length for ATX cases is 50cm for the first connector with 10 to 15cm spacing thereafter. This of course should not be an issue if you plan to use an SFX system, although some issues may arise if you plan to use a larger case. The FSP Dagger Pro 850W did make an improvement over the 650W version by doubling the number of connectors for the 4+4 pin and PCIe 6+2 pin cables, which increases the number of PCI Express connectors for graphic cards. Like the 650W version though, I do think FSP would benefit more from having a Molex to Floppy adapter rather than having a dedicated connection on the cable.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
