Introduction

We would like to thank FSP for supplying the review sample.


FSP revamped its Hydro G line. The capacities of the four new models range from 650 W to 1000 W, and all of them feature top build quality, are fully modular, and have a ten-year warranty. Such an extended warranty seems to be the standard for high-end PSUs nowadays. With a $150 price tag, the HG2-850 isn't affordable given an additional $10 gets you a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold model of similar capacity. Moreover, the highly popular Corsair RM850x is listed at $130, which creates lots of problems for FSP's offering in this category.


As you can easily figure out based on the above, the HG2-850 is notably more expensive than its competitors. Because of some high-end parts FSP uses in this platform, the manufacturing cost is pretty high, which might not be a concern for users after the best reliability under even harsh conditions. However, most users base their purchases on performance per dollar.


The HG2-850 utilizes a fully modular cable design and has a semi-passive fan operation, which can be deactivated should the user want to install the power supply with its fan grille facing sideways or downwards. On the Cybenetics scale, the unit meets the ETA-A and LAMBDA-S++ standards in efficiency and noise respectively. It is also 80 PLUS Gold certified.

Specifications

The fan is of high quality, but small, so it has to spin at high speeds to produce enough airflow, and its profile is aggressive at high operating temperatures, so noise output can be annoyingly high. Finally, at 150 mm deep, dimensions of the HG2-850 are compact.

Cables and Connectors

There are plenty of cables and connectors without any extra filtering caps. This makes the cables less bulky, which can be a strong advantage, especially in cases with a small interior, as well as small cable-routing holes.


I finally come across a PSU with the proper distance between peripheral connectors. Most brands and manufacturers cut corners here to save some money, but FSP left 150 mm clearance between both SATA and 4-pin Molex connectors and deserves high praise for doing so.


Not everything is perfect, though. I noticed an affixed Berg connector that will most likely not be used. It should be provided as an adapter, and FSP should install an additional 4-pin Molex connector instead.

Component Analysis

The platform looks different from the one previous-generation Hydro G units used. No cables block the airflow in this new design, and the distance between components is larger, allowing for better cooling and lower operating temperatures. On the primary side, FSP again uses a half-bridge topology along with an LLC resonant controller.


The APFC converter uses a bulk cap of incredibly high quality and a lifetime of 3,000 hours at 105 °C. Even more expensive PSUs use 2,000 h @ 105 °C bulk caps, so the HG2-850 has an advantage here. The last parts I expect to fail in this unit are the bulk cap and cooling fan.


The caps on the secondary side are exclusively provided by Japanese manufacturers. All belong to good lines, not entry-level ones.


The soldering quality on the business side of the mainboard is good. The +12V FETs are installed on this side, along with several controllers and other interesting ICs.


Several polymer caps at the front of the modular board are used for ripple-filtering purposes.


The DC-DC converters that generate the minor rails.


The Protechnic Electric fan with model number MGA12012XF-O25. It is of high quality, but I would like to see a larger diameter fan to keep noise output lower.