NZXT E Series 850W PSU Review: An Analog Platform With Digital Enhancements

Unboxing Video & CAM Software

The following video shows us unboxing the E850.

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Some photos of the E850 and its accessories are shown above.

Software

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The first time you run NZXT's CAM software, a tour mode guides you through the application.

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The utility provides a comprehensive picture of your system.

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You can set the PSU's fan to one of four profiles: Fixed, Silent, Performance, and Custom. We selected Silent mode for all of our testing.

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There are two tabs here: Regular and Advanced. The Regular tab reports CPU and GPU consumption by monitoring power through the EPS and PCIe cables. The same goes for the peripheral cables. Under the same tab, you'll find power-on time, temperature inside the PSU, and each rail's voltage.

The Advanced tab shows current output on every rail. Extra detail is provided for the +12V rail, since it's broken up into CPU, GPU, and Other. From this interface, you're able to enable over-current protection on the EPS and PCIe connectors, and configure the trip point according to your needs.

The driver and firmware versions are shown on a separate pane.

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All of the other settings are illustrated in the album above. There is even an overlay for measuring the frame rates of your favorite games.

Overall, the CAM software is intuitive, stable, and laid out well. It offers lots of options, though those can sometimes be confusing. A simpler monitoring program would be more appealing for mainstream users, though enthusiasts will appreciate all of the data that NZXT exposes.

Based on our own measurements, the software's readings aren't particularly accurate. And there is no efficiency information since the platform apparently doesn't have a circuit for measuring AC power from the wall socket.

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