Cooler Master has been known to mix in a few different popular small cases into their case lineup over the years. But it might come as a surprise, up until this year they hadn’t released anything with an SFX power supply, even though SFX has been around for a long time now. I think we used one in our Lunchbox 2 build over 7 years ago! Well, this year they introduced their NR200 and NC100 SFF cases, and to go with them they were also working on an SFX power supply to add to their PSU lineup as well. In fact, I’ve got the NR200 here in the office, just waiting for the new V850 SFX Gold to come out and after a few delays, it looks like it is finally time. Today I’m going to check out the V850 SFX Gold and see what Cooler Master has going on with their first SFX PSU, then maybe here soon we can use it in a build in the NR200!

Product Name: Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold

Sample Provided by: Cooler Master

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

**Disclaimer**

LanOC Reviews only covers the features of power supplies due to not having the equipment to test them up to our standards. Because of this, you will not see a performance section, a final verdict, or awards. Therefore, we prefer to call this a preview rather than a review. Thank you for understanding; we keep our standard to the absolute highest for you, our reader.

Packaging

Grey and purple, they make it clear this is a Cooler Master product right away by sticking with the normal color theme with grey on the front and back and purple at the bottom of the front and on all of the outside edges. The front of the box has a full picture of the power supply which features the modular connections which tells you right away that this is fully modular. Combine that with the model name which tells us the overall wattage, that this is an SFX power supply, and that it is 80 Plus Gold rated all at once. For everything else you might want to know cooler master put a few badges down in the corner which mention that this is 15% fanless and that the warranty lasts an impressive 10 years. They touch more on those on the back of the box as well where they explain things more. They also have a full breakdown of the cables includes on the back, a line drawing with dimensions, and efficiency and fan curves as well to give you a good idea of what to expect. They even have a full specification listing on the side as well.

When you open up the box you have the user guide up on top, but next to that is also a large reclosable bag used to hold the included accessories. Under all of that, the power supply itself comes wrapped up in a bag and with foam trays on top and bottom to keep it safe. They also have all of the modular cables in their own bag. It isn’t a nice canvas bag like some power supplies get, but it is at least better than no bag at all to store your extra cables which a lot of PSUs have been going to as well.

For the accessories, I was really surprised that Cooler Master went out of their way to include an SFX to ATX adapter. In fact, not only is it an adapter but it has a nice textured black powder coat finish and the Cooler Master logo on it. A lot of SFX options have dropped the adapter all together or include a basic unfinished version. In the past, I’ve had to buy these on their own or have mine painted or coated because I love using SFX PSUs in SFF cases that only support ATX PSUs. To go with it you get two sets of black screws, one for the PSU and another to mount the adapter. Cooler Master also didn’t skimp on the wire management, you get more zip ties than I’ve gotten with some full-sized power supplies and also two reusable Velcro straps as well.

While not packaging specifically, Cooler Master also covered the power plug with a large sticker to give a warning that the fan doesn’t come on under 15% power loads. Lots of people don’t see the fan on and freak out, hopefully, this will prevent a few support calls.

Photos and Features

So if you haven’t seen an SFX form factor power supply before, in a lot of pictures without any scale they look just like an ATX power supply. Especially the longer SFX-L models. It is only when you see them next to an ATX or when you see the dimensions can you tell how small they are. So a normal ATX power supply will be 150mm wide, 160/170mm deep, and 86mm tall. SFX shrinks that down to 125mm wide, 110mm deep, and 63.5mm tall. The larger SFX-L models will normally match depth to the width making them 125x125mm, but as you can see this is shorter and is supported by more SFX case options. SFX, because of its size is also limited in wattages as well as efficiencies. The original modular SFX power supplies maxed out at 450 watts and over the years finally moved up into the 500 and 650-watt range. SFX-L helped bring in larger wattages as well including an 800 watt from Silverstone. But up until now, the largest true SFX sized power supplies have been the 700 watt from Silverstone and the Corsair SF750 750 watt model. So Cooler Masters's introduction into SFX was not only important because they weren’t in the market, but some people may not even realize it has also pushed the SFX limits once again with the highest wattage available. With Intel and AMD pushing the wattage higher and higher with their CPUs and Nvidia and AMD doing the same on their highest-end GPUs, the increase is helpful for those highest of end, overclocked SFF builds.

So the entire V850 SFX Gold has a textured black powder coating finish. On one side Cooler Master has left it completely blank but then on the other side, they went all out. I’m surprised they didn’t give the same treatment to both sides. But the ornamental side has a C shaped debossed with the Cooler Master logo and the model number and then a few lines at the corner. This is the same design that the full ATX V series power supplies have now as of the new V2 models.

On the inside facing end, we have all of the modular cable connections and get can already get an idea of what all the V850 SFX Gold comes with. You have two plugs for the 24-pin cable, one is a 10-pin and the other is an 18-pin, this is a standard configuration now that the 14-pins use signal cables. Then on the right half, there are four 8-pin plugs which are labeled for PCIe or CPU and below that three 5-pin accessory plugs which are labeled HDD/SATA.

On the outside of the V850 SFX Gold, a majority of the space is filled with ventilation for airflow from the included fan to vent out. But on the right, you still have a standard power plug. The power switch has shrunk but is still there as well. Then of course Cooler Master filled up the rest of the space with their logo.

As for the top and bottom, this depends on which way you have the PSU orientated. But on the non-fan side, they have a large sticker that covers the entire panel. This includes all of the required certification logos as well as logos for things like recycling. Everything has the same off white color with the exception of the bright white sticker for your serial number and barcode as well as the bright gold logo for the 80 Plus Gold rating logo. Beyond that, the wattage is prominent in the top corner as well as a power breakdown that shows the amperage for each voltage rail and how they reach the 850-watt rating. This includes 120 watts on the +5v and +3.3v rails which are tied together and 849.6 watts for the +12v which handles the power supply power along with other things.

On the flip side, this is the cooling fan intake, and because this is a normal SFX, not an SFX-L Cooler Master had to go with a smaller fan, not one that covers the full width. It seems to be a 92mm fan and Cooler Master has used a fluid dynamic bearing inside with an expected like of 60,000. They are also using a “15% fanless” design which means that the fan doesn’t run at low loads. It turns on over 15% of the rated output which means it won’t turn on until after 127.5 watts. That isn’t extremely high, but it is enough room where it shouldn’t turn on when your PC is idling or under basic use. This will keep things quieter and it also extends the life of the fan. When it comes on, according to the graph on the back of the box the fan will run a little over 1000 RPM and ramp up to about 2200 RPM once you reach full load.

I mentioned it before, but here is the reclosable bag that all of the cables come in. I’m glad you get a bag at all, but I do miss the nice fabric bags that some power supplies still come with.

The power cord is also included in the modular cable bag as well.

So here is the breakdown of the cords that you get. All of the cables, including the 24-pin, have the flat and flexible cable design and are all black. I’m happy that they didn’t just do this for some of the cables, a lot of power supplies have been going with a sleeved 24-pin when I personally think these blacked-out cables look better and are easier to hide. Of course, individually sleeved would still be better. In a rare move for an SFX power supply, you do get two EPS or CPU power cables and both have split 4+4 plugs for any boards that have an 8 and a 4 or even just a 4. They came in just over 19 inches long, which you need these to be longer to reach up to the top edge where the plug normally is. The 24-pin cord is shorter at around 13 inches in length and that is spot on for what you will need in an SFF case. You don’t want extra cord because in an SFF build there isn’t room to hide it.

Next up we have the accessory cables. You get three which matches the three plugs on the V850 SFX Gold. One is a Molex cable and the other two are SATA power. These are all around 19 inches when stretched out and all three have four plugs each. The SATA cables have passthrough plugs which is why they lay flat. Then the Molex cable has two cables running into each plug, one from the previous plug and the cable going to the next one.

The last two cables are both PCI Express cables. These come in close to 23 inches when stretched out but they are 17inches to the first connection. Both cables have dual plugs and each plug is a 6+2 design which allows for support of all of your normal PCIe power configurations like 6, 8, 8+6, and 8+8. Cooler Master also increased the wire gauge for these as well. Where the rest of the cables are 18 gauge wires, the PCIe cables are both 16 gauge. You can see it in the comparison picture down at the bottom where I have them next to one of the other cables. They are thicker because these will carry the majority of the power. The thicker cables help keep the cable temperatures down and keep efficiency up.

Overall

As always I should repeat the warning at the start of this coverage. This isn’t a full review, we just don’t have the equipment needed to test the V850 SFX Gold up to our normal standard. That said I did do some initial testing just to get a feel for things using the Passmark Inline PSU Tester as well as a look at the noise. The Passmark testing takes a light look at the performance and what I did see was similar to the full ATX new V series that I recently took a look at. With no load the rippled on the 12V rail was solid but it did go slightly out when I started to put a load with the system idling and again with the CPU and GPU loaded up using AIDA64’s Stress Test. The 5V Slew Rate was weird, being fine without the system powered up but dropping to zero with it on. I tested multiple times across more than one PSU thinking maybe that was wrong but it did keep coming up.

No Load

Idle Load

CPU and GPU Load

Beyond that initial look, I did also confirm that the fan does stay off at light loads and turns on as you turn things up. Our test system stayed around 74 watts at idle and it wasn’t until the GPU was loaded we finally reached enough demand to turn it on. With it, on at our load of 321 watts with an RTX 2070 and AMD Ryzen 3900X in the AIDA64 Stress Test it spun up and I recorded its noise level to be 33.6 decibels which is quiet in our office and wouldn’t be noticeable at all if the PSU was installed in an enclosed case.

For some the Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold will be a no-brainer simply because they trust Cooler Master and they finally have an SFX option. Others might be all in because they want or need the 850-watt option which is the highest in the market for a true SFX form factor. But for most, it will still depend on pricing. Cooler Master offers an amazing 10-year warranty, a good looking PSU, the wattage options you need, and good flexible cables. But pricing is still important. Here is the breakdown of the different wattages and model numbers.

V850 SFX Gold   MPY-8501-SFHAGV-US  $   139.99

V750 SFX Gold   MPY-7501-SFHAGV-US  $   129.99

V650 SFX Gold   MPY-6501-SFHAGV-US  $   119.99

V550 SFX Gold   MPY-5501-SFHAGV-US  $   109.99

Well, let's put things into perspective. The Corsair SF750 which is a 750 watt 80 Plus Platinum SFX option has an MSRP of $184.99. The Fractal 650 watt 80 Plus Gold has an MSRP of $114.99 (when in stock), and the Silverstone 700 Watt 80 Plus Gold option is $204.99. When you see the competition, Cooler Master is doing really well on their models, especially the higher wattage options with the 850W I have here running $139.99. The 550W model is around in line, with maybe just the Fractal being a little better value but also having 50 watts less. Overall I think Cooler Master is going to shake up the market, up until now most of the good options could charge whatever they want. Assuming the new SFX Gold PSUs perform well in true PSU testing, they may be the option to get. Especially with the higher wattage options. I also hope it means Cooler Master and maybe other brands will take notice and we will see even more case options as well in the future.

Live Pricing: HERE

Author Bio

Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org

Editor-in-chief

You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.