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Bottom Line
Delta is one of the best power supply manufacturers and definitely among the largest ones, but it had withdrawn from the desktop PSU market for quite some time now, so Cooler Master's decision to cooperate with this OEM and use a platform which counts several years in production, isn't one of its boldest moves. The last time that I saw this platform was almost five years ago, in an Antec HCP-850 which by the standards of that period was a really good product. Nonetheless, the scenery has dramatically changed and the competition has moved forward with a fast pace, so Delta's older designs cannot keep up, especially if they are offered at so high price levels. The Cooler Master V850 might have top build quality but it also has a high price tag, which inevitably affects its price per buck/pound performance.
With much less money, you can get a Seasonic Focus Platinum 850W, which has similar noise output levels, higher efficiency, and better overall performance. If you don't want to go with the Seasonic offering, there is the Corsair HX850, which is more affordable, quieter and also achieves higher overall performance. At the time of the review, even the mighty Corsair AX850, which earned an editors choice and totally blows the V850 out of the water in every section, costs the same. Cooler Master should either drop the V850 Platinum's price, or it should proceed with modifications in order to improve its performance, especially in transient response where the power supply has to cope with fast-changing loads in all of its rails. Modifying this platform won't be a viable option though since it will take time and money, so the only option left is to drop the price by at least 50 bucks (£39). With the current pricing scheme, none of the fresh V series Platinum units stand a chance against the competition and this is a shame since they are built like tanks, so they will easily outlive their long warranty, even under tough operating conditions.
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Disclaimer: Aris Mpitziopoulos is Tom's Hardware's PSU reviewer. He is also the Chief Testing Engineer of Cybenetics and developed the Cybenetics certification methodologies apart from his role on Tom's Hardware. Neither Tom's Hardware nor its parent company, Future PLC, are financially involved with Cybenetics. Aris does not perform the actual certifications for Cybenetics.
