Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products, because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects must be taken into consideration. Certain criteria consist of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We are not going to try to create useless test results by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, are not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 13W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is higher than normal. There are no independent sources with professional load testing equipment done on the FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W at press time. This power supply unit has an 80 Plus Gold rating, but has no Cybenetics ETA certification at the time of writing this review.
Voltages with minimal load are accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. This power supply is ATX 3.0 compliant and officially supports Alternative Sleep Mode with 100 to 150ms PG specifications, so it looks like the PSU tester I used was not fast enough to pick up the true PG signal. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it, as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W has active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W is a silent to quiet power supply, depending on the amount of power being drawn. Under idle level loads, or less than approximately 30%, the Hydro G Pro 1200W is inaudible because the fan can be shut off completely in Eco Mode. Under moderate loads above 30%, the Hydro G Pro 1200W is reasonably low noise until about 70%, which then ramps up rapidly and becomes quite audible. Personally, I found the Protechnic Electric MGA12012XF-O25 to be reasonably smooth, but will become audible at high speed. While this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W to be at 0.0/10 when the fan is off, because, well, the fan is off. Above that, I would peg it at 2.0/10 acoustically under moderate loads. This PSU is not Cybenetics LAMBDA rated for noise. If you are a silent PC enthusiast, the FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W is a respectable choice.
FSP provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W is a fully modular Gold-grade power supply that delivers a lot of power in a very compact package with a depth of only 15cm. The latest revision is ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 compliant for all your latest hardware, but be aware the internals are quite different than the last Hydro G Pro I looked at. Still, it uses 100% Japanese brand electrolytic capacitors, and is built on a cleanly laid out FSP platform with a passable selection of components. The inside has a conformal coating against dust, stains, and humidity for reliable operation harsh environments, as expected from the Hydro G Pro series. FSP includes a 10-year warranty should anything go wrong. The 1200W Hydro G Pro features an excellent fluid dynamic bearing fan and supports fanless operation for loads up to 30% like all the PSUs in the Hydro series. However, the fan profile is aggressive above 70%, so be aware that you will be able to hear the PSU when it is fully loaded up. There are no independent test results available at press time, so I cannot comment on its performance. Overall, the Hydro G Pro 1200W is a reasonably priced power supply for the power and features it offers at a retail price of $190 at press time.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
