Introduction

Once again we have another brand of power supply on the test bench that many of our readers will know little to nothing about. FSP Group has been around for quite some time and produces a very wide variety of power supplies for consumer, professional and industrial uses all across the world. Those that have been around long enough might also recognize the brand known as Fortron Source. We've been told that some of their latest power supplies boast great performance and efficiency, so we gladly accepted the offer when FSP asked if we would like to sample a unit.

FSP sent us the AU-700 power supply, the largest of four models in the AURUM lineup. FSP claims that the AURUM family of power supplies meets the 80Plus Gold standard with 90% efficiency and goes on to say that they are also "a perfect combination of premium quality and efficiency."

Let's start taking a look at the features that our AU-700 offers and then we'll see if it has the performance to back up what it boasts on paper.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

On the surface, the AU-700 seems like it should deliver plenty of power all the way around. It has some relatively high output minor rails and a total of four 12V rails. The 3.3V and 5V rails are both capable of 28A each with a combined output of 100W. Many would think that four 18A 12V rails would be enough, but few have probably done the math in their heads. This is only 216W of power on each rail.

Considering that a GTX 570 requires 219W and a GTX 580 requires 244W of power, a single rail of power will more than likely not be enough to power a single high-end GPU. This is just something to keep in mind when matching the AU-700 to your system's components.

The AU-700 comes with a very modest set of features. While it doesn't have everything that we check for in a power supply, it does include the most important features. A full range of protections are packed inside the FSP AU-700, even the somewhat elusive OTP. Since all of the cables are natively wired on the AU-700, we see a big X for modular cables. It doesn't affect the power supply's performance and is really more of a personal preference.

One thing that we don't find present is a 100% continuous output at 50C rating. The unit is rated for 40C, however. FSP claims the unit to be both SLI and CrossfireX certified and they seem relatively proud about the efficiency rating as well. since the unit performs towards the upper end of the 80Plus Gold rating.

FSP is quite an established brand and as such, their power supplies are readily available at most of your major online outlets. Newegg lists the unit for $124.99 with $1.99 shipping for a grand total of $126.98. It certainly isn't the cheapest unit available, but it does have a rather decent list of features going for it.

FSP backs the AURUM AU-700 power supply with a five year warranty.