The new Super Flower Leadex III line looks very interesting. Performance-wise, the 850 W model might not be among the leaders in this wattage category, which is mostly because its load regulation isn't super tight, but in crucial areas like transient response and ripple suppression, it performs incredibly well. This PSU is also utterly silent under even hard operating conditions. I had to push it hard with a full load and close to 46 °C to force its fan to spin at high speeds. Because of the selectable semi-passive operation, this power supply will even be compatible with chassis where the PSU has to be installed with the fan facing downward or sideways.

Super Flower replaced the 5VSB circuit with a much more efficient circuit, which addresses one of my complaints with previous-generation models. It is nice when OEMs have ears and minds open to feedback they receive from reviewers. You cannot make a product stellar without taking into account every opinion that matters.

I would like to see improved in the new Leadex III units the short distance between peripheral connectors and availability in the US, which is mostly nonexistent. I know that EVGA handles the US market and has a rich portfolio of Super Flower products, but there are still those who would like to get their hands on the original platform, not the relabeled one. With the recent Trump tariffs, selling anything made in China in the US is rough, so don't expect prices to be the same as for Europe when Leadex III units do finally find their way to the US. Finally, I noticed a problem in the 850 W unit's over current protection at +12V, which Super Flower should fix as soon as possible. Thankfully, this unit is strong enough to not easily be stressed, but the OCP on the +12V rail has to be fully operational.

Competitors to the the Leadex III 850 W are Corsair's RM850x and RM850 units and the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold unit of similar capacity, and all of them have better overall performance. In terms of noise output, the Leadex III unit places second with the RM850x taking the lead. Both the RM850 and Focus models are notably behind. In essence, the toughest competitor of the Leadex III 850 W is the RM850x; however, it has notable drawbacks that can render it incompatible with several chassis. Its semi-passive operation cannot be deactivated, for instance, so you will highly stress it if you install it with the fan facing downward. This is a problem the Leadex unit doesn't have since it has a selectable semi-passive operation. Hopefully, Corsair will hear me, and we will see the new RMx units with an option to deactivate the semi-passive operation.