Cooler Master V Series 850W Power Supply Review

Introduction and Features

Three new Cooler Master V Series power supplies are built on the excellent Seasonic platform.

Cooler Master continues to offer a full line of cases, power supplies, and coolers along with numerous other accessories for PC enthusiasts. Today we will be taking a detailed look at Cooler Master’s new V Series 850W power supply.

(Courtesy of Cooler Master)

It has been quite some time since we last reviewed a Cooler Master power supply and we were happy to see one show up recently on the test lab doorstep. We were even happier to learn that the new Cooler Master V Series, which includes three units: the V700, B850 and V1000, are all built by Seasonic, who has a stellar reputation for building some of the best PC power supplies on the planet. All three power supplies in the V Series incorporate all modular cabling, high efficiency (80Plus Gold certified), high quality Japanese made capacitors, a silent 135mm fan with a Fluid Dynamic Bearing, and they come backed by Cooler Master’s 5-year warranty. In addition, the V Series power supplies deliver excellent voltage regulation (particularly on the +12V output) with minimal AC ripple and noise. The Cooler Master V850 power supply is currently selling for $169.99 (newegg.com, March 2014).

Here is what Cooler Master has to say about their new V Series PSUs:

“Developed to be the highest quality, Cooler Master carefully sourced every aspect of the V Series PSU line to produce a high-efficiency and stable power supply. It’s highly efficient even at low loads, extremely stable, and works well beyond the parameters of 80Plus specifications.”

Cooler Master V Series 850W PSU Key Features:

•    Fully modular cable design
•    Single 850W +12V output that delivers up to 70A (840W)
•    80Plus Gold Certified: up to 93% efficient @ 50% load)
•    Silent 135mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) fan for low noise and longer life
•    Six PCI-E 6+2 pin connectors to support high-end GPUs
•    100% high-quality Japanese capacitors ensure performance and reliability
•    Reliable 5-Year warranty

PSU Testing Methodology

Establishing an accurate load is critical to testing and evaluating a PC power supply.  PCPerspective’s power supply test bench can place a precise DC load on the PSU under test.  Each power supply is tested under controlled, real-world conditions up to its maximum rated load (at 40ºC), using both 115 VAC and 240 VAC line voltage.  Our current suite of tests includes:

•    DC Load Regulation
•    AC Ripple and Noise
•    Efficiency
•    Differential Temperature
•    Noise

The Cooler Master V Series 850W power supply was evaluated on both features and performance.  A full range of equipment was used to test the power supply under controlled load conditions.  

•    (2) CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
•    (4) CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
•    (2) 200W Precision resistor load bank (+12V5 and +12V6)
•    Switchable precision resistor load bank (-12V and +5VSB)
•    Agilent 34401A digital multimeter (Accuracy ±0.0035% vDC)
•    Extech 380803 Power Analyzer (Accuracy ±0.5% of full scale)
•    DS1M12 "StingRay" digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
•    Powerstat Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA, 0-140 VAC
•    Extech Model 407738 digital sound level meter (Accuracy ±1.5 dB)