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 -- of which certain criteria consists 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, it is 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 8W as measured by our wall meter unit -- indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply was very good. Unfortunately, no independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment exist at press time, so we are unable to comment on its efficiency, voltage regulation, and ripple. We have never seen anything from its OEM, MEIC, either. This is an 80 Plus Gold certified power supply unit.
Voltages with minimal load are generally accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation, all are within 2%. The PG (Power Good) delay is well within its rated range and general power supply standard of 170ms.
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/S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. A nominal load of 200W (23.5%) on the Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W had the power factor at 0.99. This is excellent as expected.
The Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W is silent to reasonably quiet power supply, depending on the amount of power being drawn. Under idle level loads -- less than approximately 20% -- the AORUS P850W 850W is inaudible, because the fan is shut off completely. Under moderate to high loads -- above 50% -- the AORUS P850W is reasonably low noise. Personally, I found the Yate Loon D14BH-12 to be pretty good for a double ball bearing fan, but it is not as quiet as fluid dynamic bearing fans. 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 Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W to be at 0.0/10 when the fan is off, because, well, the fan is off. Above that, I would peg it at 2.5/10 acoustically under moderate loads, because the fan does not spin that fast. The fan is out of the way to approximately 50% of its maximum speed, but it will become exponentially more audible when it kicks in. If you are a silent PC enthusiast, the Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W is a respectable choice, because there is a silent mode even though the fan is not the quietest model available.
Gigabyte provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W is a very well designed and built fully modular power supply. Not only does it come with quality internal components inside a unique gaming-themed enclosure, Gigabyte backs it with a massive ten-year warranty to ensure you are in good hands should anything go wrong. The fan is not the quietest model available, but it does feature a silent mode that operates up to 20% of the maximum load. With an estimated MSRP of $150, it is on the higher end of the spectrum for an 80 Plus Gold unit at press time, but surely one can find one below that figure at your favorite retailer by the time it hits the shelves.
Do you have any comments or questions about the Gigabyte AORUS P850W 850W? Drop by our Forums. Registration is free, and it only takes a minute!
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
