XFX 850w XTS Gold Fully Modular Power Supply Unit

UPDATE: I've dropped another star because after just 5 weeks my replacement unit has failed. It simply died. I'm now awaiting for a replacement. These things can happen, and Amazon have been very helpful as always.First impressions were very good when I received this XFX 650W XTR Gold Modular power supply. I'm listing the model and those details because sometimes these reviews find their way to the wrong product. Anyway, the packaging is very nice, and the PSU is well padded. All the cables are in their own separate accessories box which is handy for keeping any that are not used initially, but may well be needed in the future in case of upgrades to your system.The PSU looks very nicely finished, and feels solid and weighty, the way a good quality PSU should be. There is one oddity however. There is a switch on the PSU (which will be internal in your case, not the normal power switch) for the hybrid fan mode. Basically this allows you to manually select between normal fan operation and hybrid mode. In hybrid mode the fan kicks in and out, so the PSU fan will be off below a certain temperature. Normal mode will mean that the fan will be constantly spinning. On my unit this switch had a sticker over it to show the hybrid mode positions, but the switch has a 1 and 0 on it (for on and off), and they contradict the logic of on and off for hybrid mode. To further complicate things the sticker includes an instruction to remove it before use, and that reveals "on" and "off" text on the body of the PSU. It isn't a big deal but it seems like something wasn't completely thought through at the design stage. Regardless, this is a nice feature.You can hear the fan however. And I found the hybrid mode to be more of a distraction, as the fan coming on and off attracted my attention to the noise, while having it constantly running in the background allowed my brain to ignore it. But if you listen for it, the noise is a little unusual. It is quite, but slightly growly. Hard to describe. Actually, at first I thought it was a problem with my unit, but some research shows that this is what it sounds like. That said, it is way way quieter than the Coolermaster it replaced, but if you are looking for the quietest PSU, this probably isn't it.This is my first time with a fully modular PSU. I decided to go with a modular supply because I'm building in a Mini ITX case and being able to only include the cables that are actually required does simplify cable management, and improve airflow.Conclusion:Very solidly put together PSU, with a nice design, good quality cables. 1 star off because I can't give 4 1/2 stars, and 5 would be for perfect. Only let down by weirdness related to the hybrid fan mode switch, and noticeable and slightly unusual fan noise.

Great enough PSU, solid rails, nice modular cabling solution, everything you would expect from a premium PSU, however - reason for taking away a star is that XFX in their ultimate wisdom gave this PSU (What you will receive is the XFX XTR 750) EXACTLY the same part number as the XFX Black...The XTR is the replacement to the black, however - if you read comparisons, if you're trying to squeeze the very last percentile of performance from your PSU, you will see that the black scores higher...In the real world, sure you would not notice anything, but - still, not getting exactly what you want if you've been searching for an XFX Black....

Still working perfectly after a year (bought May 2015)Fully Modular means you no cables attached, only plug in the ones you require. This XTR series is made by Seasonic.Nicely boxed, securely wrapped and foam enclosed PSU unit, with a separate box within for the plentiful cables, User Manual and came with a 3-Pin UK Plug. The cables are not fancily sleeved but a decent no-thrills sleek black,Its very silent at 16dBA but if even the quiet fan airflow is an issue, there is also a 'Hybrid Fan Control switch' (located where you plug the modular cables in) which enables passive cooling i.e. fan off when not required and auto turns on when it gets to a certain temperature (20% Load or 25°C), which due to its location and labeling, cannot be confused wit h the Power switch at its regular locale where the mains power cable plugs in.Would have liked to see the images / more illustrative features stated in product description, so posted those of the box here too for those like-minded.

This review is for the XFX 850W XTS/PRO Series fully modular PSU with model number P1-850B-BEFX. Note that there is some confusion with XFX naming as if you look for reviews you will notice there is another 850W PRO PSU by XFX that looks different and is also not the same inside (and is 80 Plus Bronze, not Gold). The current official naming is XTR 850W Gold and this is what I got so even if the naming has changed the product number P1-850B-BEFX is what matters and is indeed correct. So what was 850W Pro Black Series Gold is now 850W XTS Gold, but it is the same product.Main features:• 850W real wattage, also rated at 50C.• 80 Plus Gold certification (efficiency up to 90%).• 105C rated capacitors (some Japanese, some not).• Fully modular.• Single rail Seasonic design, 5 year manufacturer warranty.• Hybrid fan control mode, 120mm fan.Last year I was looking to upgrade my aging CM 600M half modular power supply with something a bit more powerful and especially with a better efficiency. 80 Plus Gold was a good fit as Platinum is still much more expensive and I also wanted to go fully modular this time. I needed PSU design with a good track of reliability. So in the end somehow I spotted this XFX power supply and started researching the Internet for reviews. As mentioned there is a bit of confusion and change of naming of the XFX PSUs, but in the end I found a review of the right model based on the product number. So all the requirements were in check with the added bonus of hybrid fan mode which if enabled (there is a physical switch on the PSU itself) only turns on the FAN when it is really required so at low loads it stays off. These low loads are for example when the PC system stays at idle, mine stays around 120W usually on the power wall. That is on a Intel Skylake i5-6600k with Gigabyte Z170-Gaming G1, 16GB 3000MhZ DDR4, Radeon 6950, 3x HDD, 2x SSD and 5-6 fans in the box.So looking at the reviews it was great to see that at typical loads of around 150-200W at the wall efficiency is around 90% which is great as this is what matters for me the most, in fact I am not really gamer so low load efficiency is really important for my use.I am using this PSU for a bit less than a year, but it was great so far. I am mostly browsing the Internet so load generally stays low which means that the PSU is as silent as possible, because the FAN is mostly off thanks to the hybrid mode. I also believe some people experienced high pitched noise coming from the PSU, but that was not the case with me. It was also very important to me that this power supply is also efficient at low loads as this is my typical use… which means that I don’t really need 850W, but doesn’t matter as Amazon had a great price back then so it was an easy choice for me. So in the end you get a Gold certified psu with a proved Seasonic design with 5 year warranty, fully modular with hybrid fan mode… the only way up is to get Platinum and Titanium certified PSU, but then the price goes way up.