XFX XTR Series 850W PSU Review

XFX cooperates closely with Seasonic for its PSU products. That's a major advantage, since Seasonic is a top OEM. The XTR line is XFX's second-best, after the XTS family, and today's review focuses on the 850W model.

Early Verdict

An affordable, for its category, power supply with very good performance, high-quality capacitors and an FDB fan. What more to ask for? In this case for a more relaxed fan profile and probably for a not so strong fan. These changes would grant the XTR-850 with a much more silent operation, especially under stressful conditions.

Pros

  • +

    Full power at 49 °C • Fair price • Efficient • Ripple suppression • Load regulation • Hold-up time • 12V Advanced Transient Response performance • Compact dimensions • Quality caps • FDB fan • Fully modular • 8x PCIe connectors • Warranty

Cons

  • -

    Fan profile should be more relaxed • Some leaning heatsinks at the internals • Location of the fan-mode-selection switch

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XFX XTR 850W Power Supply Review

XFX is a division of PINE Technology Holdings Limited and its main product categories are graphics cards and PSUs. Currently, the company has six active PSU lines with the XTS family up front and the XTR series behind it. The XTRs cover almost every market segment with capacities between 500W and 1250W. All XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic, so we expect high performance out of them. Today, we're looking at the P1-850B-BEFX specifically.

You may find this PSU selling under the Pro Series Gold name since XFX recently made some changes to the way it markets power supplies. Since the same company also has a Pro Series family that includes several Bronze members, it decided to add all previous Pro Gold models to the XTR family for simplicity's sake. Unfortunately, some vendors still show pictures of the old box with the previous name, even though they're actually selling the newer XTR. 

The XTR 850W features modular cabling, and its external design helps it stand out from the crowd. This PSU is based on a a slightly modified version of Seasonic's former high-end platform (KM3), so its performance should be exceptional. On top of that, since it isn't a new product, you should be able to find it priced aggressively. Occasional rebates even bring the XTR 850W down under $100. Of course, that's a good price for a fully modular 850W 80 PLUS Gold-rated PSU sporting only Japanese capacitors and a Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan. Seasonic's power supplies aren't known for low prices, so it's interesting that XFX is able to make this model so affordable. We're not complaining; rather, we'd like to see XFX drop its price even more if possible.

So far, the only issue we have with the XTR 850W is its 120mm fan, which has to spin faster in order to move the same volume of air as the competition's 140mm fans. This translates into higher noise levels.

Specifications

The PSU is 80 PLUS Gold-certified and, according to its manufacturer, it is able to deliver full power continuously at up to 50 degrees Celsius ambient temperatures. According to our experience with Seasonic's KM3 platform, this is indeed the case. Moreover, the DC-DC converters responsible for generating the minor rails ensure compatibility with the C6 and C7 sleep states that Intel's Haswell processors introduced.

Besides modular cables, you also get a full set of protection features. Only over-current protection is missing, since it is meaningless in a high-capacity single +12V rail unit. The cooling fan uses a Fluid Dynamic Bearing that facilitates a longer lifetime.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, the only downside appears to be the smaller fan. A larger one would enable the same airflow at lower speeds, hence noise output would be lower. At least we get a semi-passive mode to keep acoustics in check under light loads. Physically, the unit's dimensions are small given its capacity, and the provided five-year warranty is satisfactory. 

Power Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Rail3.3V5V12V5VSB-12V
Max. PowerAmps25257030.5
Watts125840156
Total Max. Power (W)850

The minor rails are quite strong, offering 125W maximum combined power. The single +12V rail is also powerful, and with up to 70A of current available, it easily supports multiple graphics cards. Finally, the 5VSB rail tops out at 15W of capacity, so it won't trouble you unless you want to charge two energy-hungry tablets at the same time.

Cables And Connectors

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Modular Cables
DescriptionCable CountConnector Count (Total)
ATX connector 20+4 pin (610mm)11
Eight-pin EPS12V (655mm)11
4+4 pin EPS12V (655mm)11
6+2 pin PCIe (550mm+100)48
SATA (400mm+120mm+120mm+120mm)28
SATA (500mm+120mm)24
Four-pin Molex (400mm+100mm+100mm+100mm) / FDD (+100mm)14 / 1
Four-pin Molex (310mm+125mm)12

The number of cables is huge, even for a 850W PSU. A couple of EPS connectors, along with eight PCIe ones, are available simultaneously. You get a ton of SATA and peripheral connectors as well. The only flaw is that the single Berg connector is fixed on a modular cable along with several four-pin Molex connectors. Normally, the FDD connector works best as an adapter since only a few folks need it. Finally, all connectors employ standard 18-gauge wires.

Power Distribution

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

  • turkey3_scratch
    How come on the ripple page the 5VSB rail always stays under 15mv (except CL1) but on the crossloads page the 5VSB ripple graph is completely blue, hence greater than 30mv the entire time? Also, you have two "and"s in a row on Page 5. Anyway, what I love about Seasonic is they don't fall short in any category. This PSU excels everywhere, I guess except fan noise, of course.
    Reply
  • BadActor
    Nice. Any chance you might have a look at the budget XT's?
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    18155380 said:
    Nice. Any chance you might have a look at the budget XT's?

    ^^ Yes please review one of these. Though he only reviews units that the companies actually send to him, so it could be they don't want the XT units to get reviewed, so it'd probably have to be bought retail.
    Reply
  • apazeus
    I've had the 550w version since around October. At one point it was powering an FX-8350 and a 290X with no hiccups. (Nowadays it's paired with a 6600K and a GTX 1080, uses was less juice.) Nice PSUs.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    I cannot explain why ripple at 5VSB during the Crossload tests is higher than the high-temperature tests. This is strange indeed.

    As for the XTs I will try to find one.
    Reply
  • gofasterstripes
    Lol XTR and XT - Someone call Shimano and tell them their electric groupset is looking a big fat!
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    Excellent review. Could you guys possibly redo the Corsair HX 750i and up with the new review parameters? Really interested to see how it is in more detail now.
    Reply
  • damric
    "All XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic"

    Not quite. These are built by Hydance.

    http://www.orionpsudb.com/news/the-mystery-of-xfx-budget-xt-line-solved-oem-and-platform-discovered
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    When I state that a unit is made by Seasonic (or any other OEM) it doesn't necessary mean that it is made in its own factories. It is a common practice OEMs to outsource their products to other factories if they cannot meet demand (or in case they want a more affordable production line). However still the original design and the specs are set by the original designer.

    Many other models of various OEMs are also made in other factories but there is no safe way to know it without having info from the OEM itself.

    Finally, this specific article states about the XFX XT units: "If the available information is correct, XFX XT is designed by Seasonic, but the manufacturing is outsourced to Shenzhen Rui Sheng Yuan just like the Hydance. "

    As you can see there is an "if" at the beginning of the sentence. In any case, Seasonic is also behind the XT line. Given that this is an XTR review though, I thought it would be better to spare all above and just state that all XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic and not dive into such detail mentioning the outsourcing of XT line, for which there is no solid information.

    Given the opportunity I would like to mention the great work that Orion does and also thank him for the tip about the KM3S platform of the XTR-850 unit. I will try to find some details about the actual differences between the KM3 and KM3S platforms.
    Reply
  • Math Geek
    i got REAL happy for second there thinking this was one of the budget XTFR units. been waiting for someone, anyone out there to review one so we can see how it performs. they are priced awesome and if they perform even average, they will be worth the low cost for mainstream pc's

    either way, nice review :) always solid work
    Reply