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- Date:
- Monday , September 22, 2008
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
FSP Everest 700w Power Supply
FSP is back at HardOCP’s PSU testing facility this time with a much more mainstream 700 watt computer power supply. Will this one have you dropping your Antec’s, BFG’s, Corsair’s, OCZ’s, and TT’s? We put the screws to it in what many consider the best PSU testing program on the Web.
Build Quality
As we already know the Everest 700w features a single 120mm fan design that has come to be the preferred standard for quiet cooling environments due to the ability to move a larger volume of air at slower speeds than a smaller diameter fan. While great for quiet computing environments the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, rather than its sound level or form factor.
External Build Quality
The Everest 700w is dressed in a slightly textured blue offset by a frosted 120mm fan that is identical to the 1010w model we reviewed previously. The unit is by no means flashy but it does look good while being scratch resistant. The rear of the Everest 700w lacks a voltage selector switch; instead it sports a white sticker indicating the unit is full range. Also on the back we see the wire guard used to protect the wires as they exit the power supply housing a small inexpensive piece of insurance to add but one that is skipped by many companies.
The Everest 700w comes in at ~6 1/2 inches while the cables are ~20 inches long to the first or only connector. All the cables are sheathed in black mesh and protected by a plastic guard as they exit the power supply housing.
Internal Build Quality
Once the screws securing the fan to the rest of the housing are released we are once more greeted by the typically sparse interior of a FSP Epsilon based power supply. Unlike the 1010w model there is no pretense made that this unit is anything other than an Epsilon model as the PCB denotes the unit as being a FSP850-80GLN(Rev1). As such, this unit shares many features with the other Epsilon based units we have seen before (of which we have reviewed two other units at 700w output the Sigma SP-700 and the Super Talent Atomic Juice PS-700) although those units were clearly marked as being the 700w variants of this platform whereas the part number here is 850 with the 700w box checked (possible unit sizes with this PCB range from 500w to 1010w). The 120mm fan used to cool this particular FSP is a Yate-Loon rated at 0.3A at 12v. The fan is mated with the same 3 heatsinks we have come to see in all the Epsilon's, two of which are ridged while the third is cut into “fingers” and bent to increase the surface area that will come into contact with the air stream being produced by the single overhead 120mm fan.
On the primary side we see the APFC coil tucked in among the heatsinks just in front of the main filtering capacitor. This capacitor is provided by Teapo and is rated at 400v 470uF 85c. Slightly to the right of frame we see the main transformer but unfortunately as we saw with the 1010w unit it carries no part number to see if it is identical to the ones used in other 700w Epsilon based products.
Once we move over to the secondary side we find the Everest 700w to be filled out much like the other Epsilon based units we have seen. The majority of the input filtering is housed on the AC receptacle or on the PCB directly behind the AC receptacle with the fan controller on an add-in PCB immediately behind that but separated by a piece of plastic. Nestled in the wiring of the secondary we see a mix of Teapo and CapXon capacitors that are secured with caulk. The wiring is bundled and zip-tied with sheathing that runs back into the housing through a wire guard. A portion of the wiring is run to the modular interface as the unit has some fixed and some modular cables. The modular interface looks very cleanly constructed which is good to see as some companies use a less than meticulous approach here.
Build Quality Summary
This is starting to sound like a broken record but, like the many other recent FSP units we have seen the overall build quality of the Everest 700w is just simply “acceptable.” There is nothing outstanding about its build quality, construction, or integration and it does look “undersized” for a 700w unit. However, as we have seen more of the Epsilon series power supplies we have seen the “undersized look” has not always been an issue but it has been often enough to make us pause before assuming this unit will do well in load testing (indeed this platform is starting to resemble a power supply version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). The Everest 700w does, like other FSP built units we have seen of late; feature less than top shelf component selection when it comes to capacitors as the unit is stocked exclusively with Teapo and CapXon. The primary capacitor is a Teapo while the secondary is a mix of Teapo and CapXon. Also like other FSP epsilon based units, the secondary of this unit is a bit untidy but overall this is not a horrible looking group regulated power supply and the modular interface actually looks really well constructed unlike some other examples we have seen. Lastly, the exterior does have a nice blue finish but the mostly sleeved cables could use some work. Overall, given our seriously mixed results with Epsilon based units we move on to the load testing with great anticipation.