I took a look at the FSP Hydro PTM Pro two years ago when we used it in our TrueNAS project build and I have been happy with its performance so I was excited to see FSPs latest power supply be announced, the Hydro G Pro which like with a lot of new power supplies is FSP moving into the latest ATX 3.0 standard. That includes the addition of the new 12VHPWR connection. The Hydro G Pro is available in 850-watt and 1000-watt options and both are rated at 80 Plus Gold which means decent efficiency while potentially also being a reasonable value where the higher efficiency ratings get expensive quickly. Reasonably priced ATX 3.0 options would be great to see so I’m excited to see what FSPs latest power supply has going on.

Product Name: FSP Hydro G Pro ATX 3.0 1000W

Review Sample Provided by FSP

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

**Disclaimer**

LanOC Reviews only cover 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 standards to the absolute highest for you, our reader.

Packaging

The FSP Hydro G Pro ATX 3.0 1000W has a gold 80Plus rating and they took that information and decked the entire box out in gold trim. The box itself has gold around the outside edge but then there is an additional slide-on cover on the right side that is all gold as well. The slide on cover highlights what ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 ready is all about. They also take important information from the right side of the box that the cover goes over and have it on the cover as well like the 1000-watt wattage and the 10-year warranty badge in the bottom right corner. The main box has a space-themed background with a little bit of earth visible and stars with blue rings around the picture of the power supply in the middle. The FSP logo is in the top left corner in gold. Then the model name is in the bottom middle in white with the G in blue. They also have four badges to show key features including the 80 Plus Gold rating. The bottom edge of the box has a line drawing of all of the cables so you can see all of the connections as well as a list. Then the back has another picture of the FSP Hydro G Pro ATX 3.0 1000W, only this time they have the cover off. They show the eco switch and then list out the features with 4 features having blue numbered dots matched up with locations inside of the PSU where they can be found and full descriptions of each of these features.

When you open the box up the left side has the power supply wrapped up in a plastic bag and hidden between two thick foam panels. Then on the right, there is a cardboard cover you will have to open, but this has the documentation up top, a bag with accessories, then under that the bag of modular cables.

For documentation, you get a standard manual which isn’t model specific but does have installation instructions inside. There is a new paper that shows you how to plug in the new 12VHPWR cable which at the initial launch of some of the Nvidia cards with this plug there were issues with connections melting that now have been shown to be issues that can happen when the plug isn’t plugged in tight. So FSP is being extra careful with that. Then you have two sets of stickers. These stickers replace the stock side panel stickers if you want to change up the look. You have one in green with a tribal tattoo style to it and then red with a red dragon. It is interesting that they also note that the warranty doesn’t cover replacements of these stickers, I guess that has been a problem in the past. Then for accessories, you get a small baggie with black mounting screws. A stack of a few FSP branded Velcro wiring straps, and a plastic plug cover of some sort.

For the modular cables, FSP is still sticking with the full cloth bag which I love. It has the FSP branding on it which is nice when you have more than one PC around the house and the bag is soft. It's large enough to hold all of the cords including the power cable, so there will be lots of room once you use the cables you need and need to store any unused cables. In fact, you might be able to use it to hide all of the extra accessories for your other PC components as well.

Photos and Features

The FSP Hydro G Pro is available in 850-watt and 1000-watt options but our sample is the 1000-watt model. It is an 80 Plus Gold for its overall efficiency rating and it is an ATX form factor. What is surprising however is the 1000-watt rating combined with it being a compact ATX power supply. It is 86mm tall which is standard and the 150 mm width is standard as well, but often with larger wattages you see a longer housing the Hydro G Pro matches its width with the length being 150mm as well. It has a sheet metal housing with a few styling quirks and then a nice black powder coat finish that has a heavy texture that looks great.

Both sides of the FSP Hydro G Pro have the same design only one side is flipped around for when you have the power supply installed in cases with the fan facing up. The side has that nice textured black finish which looks great. Then there is one recesses arrow with the Hydro G Pro logo, this is also where you can cover this sticker with the two other sticker options if they fit your build better with red and green options. Then next to the branding, there are three raised arrows.

The outside end of the Hydro G Pro has a majority of its surface area covered in small hexagon holes for ventilation, this is where all of the cooling air blows out. The bottom left corner doesn’t have holes and they used that space to print “Power Never Ends”. Above that is the C13 power plug for the main power cable and the on and off power switch which is right next to it. They also have a small on and off switch for the eco mode. Eco mode keeps the fan off until the power supply reaches 30% load which for this model would be 300 watts. This is more than enough to keep things completely silent when you aren’t using your GPU with most configurations.

The inside end is where you will find all of the modular cable connections. The textured black finish carries on in here as well and they have printed the Hydro G Pro branding on it as well as PCIe 5.0 Ready which sits directly over the 12VHPWR connection. All of the connections do have legends for each grouping. On the left is a stack of peripheral connections, five in total. These have the 5-pin connection but they have the clip on the end which keeps the connection a lot more compact. Next to that are three PCIe 8-pin connections and the new 12VHPWR wraps around at the top with its 12 main pins and 4 sensor pins. Below that are two 8-pin CPU or EPS power plugs then at the bottom are two large plugs for the 24-pin motherboard power cable. This is split up and has 18 pins on the larger of the two connections and 10 pins on the second for a total of 28.

The bottom side of the Hydro G Pro has a unique fan grill design that is stamped from sheet metal but is removable with four screws. The grill has the Hydro logo in the center and relatively standard rings but the mounting points are shaped like arrows and extend through the grill. They also perfectly fit the housing which has been shaped around the grill to keep it all flush. Behind the grill, FSP has gone with a 120 mm fan which has a fluid dynamic bearing that should hold up for the long term and help keep things cool.

As I showed in the packaging section, all of the wiring for the Hydro G Pro came in the reusable box. FSP included the main power cable in the bag along with two different bundles of wires. Each of those comes bundled up with a reusable Velcro strap in addition to the FSP-branded straps we already saw. The power cable is a heavy gauge and for the US it has the standard NEMA 5-15 male plug on one end and a C13 female plug on the other end.

For the modular wiring, all of the cables except for the 12VHPWR cable have black flat cabling that is always easy to work with and has become the standard for power supplies for a while now. The largest cable is the 24-pin motherboard power cable which has a 20+4 connection on one end and a split plug on the power supply end and is 24 inches long. There are also two longer CPU power cables which have the 4+8 pin connection on the end for P4 or EPS connections. There are three older PCIe power cables, all three have dual connections on the end. Each of those is a 6+2 connection to give the flexibility to handle 6 or 8-pin connections. Two of the cable have their first plug at 26 inches and then 31 inches for the second but there is one shorter cable as well which has the first plug at 20 and the second at 25 inches. Also in that same picture is the new 12VHPWR cable, this offers a direct 12VHPWR connection from PSU to GPU rather than having to use adapters. This cable has black sleeving around its bundle of cables which allows a little more flexibility without it pulling on the connection and the cable itself is 27 inches long with male 12VHPWR connections on each end. This one is rated for 600 watts which is a little high for a 1000-watt PSU according to Intel which has 600-watt options for 1200-watt PSUs and above.

Then for accessories, the Hydro G Pro has 5 cables which all have at least some SATA power connections. There is one with four SATA power plugs at 21, 27, 33, and 40 which is the longest cable. There are two which have two SATA and two Molex with the SATAs at 21 and 27 inches and the Molex towards the end at 33 and 37 inches. One has two SATA at 21 and 27, then one Molex at 34, and then a single floppy power connection. Then one last all-SATA power cable with them at 21, 27, 32, and 37.

Overall

As I mentioned at the start, we are only taking a look at the features of the new FSP Hydro G Pro ATX 3.0 1000W power supply, I’m not testing its performance. So I still recommend that you check out a full review that puts it to the test. You can find a few that test its performance properly at Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech. As far as features go it is clear that FSP is aiming to be a more budget-friendly ATX 3.0 option with the 80 Plus Gold rating. Even so, they have given the Hydro G Pro a few nice styling touches like the textured finish, the replacement stickers, and the flush-mounted fan grill. I’m also digging that they are still including a full cable bag when a lot of companies have been moving away from that. For cable options, you have the flexibility needed to use the Hydro G pro with an older style video card or a newer model that doesn’t have the 12VHPWR connection with the three different power cables and 6 total 6+2 PCIe plugs. Then when needed you can move over to the new 12VHPWR cable which is supported and included. Not having to use one of the included PCIe to 12VHPWR adapters will be worth it alone, but it also does flex a little better than the adapters which should make it easier to get a solid connection and avoid any of the issues that has brought. FSP has an interesting mix of peripheral cable options as well with every cable having at least 2 SATA power plugs and then mixing in Molex and floppy connections. I still have no idea who is using a floppy power connection these days though. They did have one shorter cable as well but I wouldn’t mind seeing one extra short cable with just one or two SATA power which is what most people would need and could keep wiring even cleaner.

For pricing, the FSP Hyrdo G Pro 1000 Watt has an MSRP of $199 but as of right now, it is down 5% to $189 on both Amazon and Newegg however Newegg doesn’t include shipping. The discount helps a lot as there are some other ATX 3.0 options on the market now at $179 with the same 1000-watt and 80 Plus Gold rating so the original MSRP would be a little high. Even at the discounted price, it is a little behind the Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W which I would consider to be the most direct competition. That said the 1000-watt and 850-watt wattages hit a sweet spot for a majority of today's builds and even if you aren’t using the 12VHPWR connection now I wouldn’t buy a power supply for a system I plan on upgrading in the future without one. There isn’t such thing as future-proof, but it’s best to be ready.

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.