Enermax Galaxy 850W Modular Power Supply

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by Greg King on October 12, 2006 in Cases & PSUs

Are you building a huge machine and require a power supply to match? Enermax has got you covered. Their Galaxy 850W fully supports Quad SLI, Quad core CPU, mass amounts of hard drives and your other hardware. It passed with flying colors in our stress tests, so read on.

Page 5 – Conclusions



The results speak for themselves. The Galaxy 850W is the most powerful power supply that we have taken a look at to date and with that said, it performed up to our expectations. Enermax has a winner on its hands in the Galaxy series and I look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves.

The main feature that I like about this power supply is the fact that it has 2 completely separate 12v rails, one dedicated for the CPU and the other one for the peripherals. This design feature keeps the CPU power separate and helps eliminate noise from the CPU line.

Another feature that I like, and that Enermax is proud enough of to plaster it on the front of their box, is the labeled power is rated at 50’C. While this is rather hot for some people, there are PCs where the internal case temperature is around this temperature. The higher the temps of the power supply, the less power the power supply can, well, supply. This is nice because even when running hot, the Galaxy will give you 850 watts and not a lesser amount.

Lesser important features, not pertaining to stable operations, include the modular design. There have been complaints of the resistance of modular power supplies but for gamers, and almost every other person on the earth, this is a non-issue. The fact that I, or you, can use only the cables that you absolutely need and store the others away is nice and can certainly help with cable management in your case. This allows for better air circulation in the case as there are fewer obstructions. Also, this eliminates the need to ‘hide’ cables in areas where there is low visibility, like an empty optical drive.

Whatever you are powering, more than likely the 850W Galaxy can do you right. With the coming of DX10 and its compliant video cards, power demands are going to shoot through the roof. With ATI’s R600 and NVIDIA’s G80 both rumored to have power consumption of over 200 watts, you will certainly need a beefy power supply. The same applies to Kentsfield. It will take a lot to power a pair of the above mentioned GPUs along with a quad core CPU. These obvious and unavoidable advancements will require a lot of power and the Galaxy line of power supplies is here to deliver.

As it stands now, this 850W Galaxy can handle just about anything that you throw at it. Our test results confirm the quality and reliability that Enermax has built their name upon over the years. You really can’t go wrong with this power supply, if you can afford it’..

Doing a quick search at my favorite online retailers, the 850W Galaxy can be found for approx. $300 (US) give or take $20 dependant on the site. This is rather steep for a power supply but in the coming months and years, you are going to need it. The stability of the Galaxy is wonderful and the value is high because of this. If you are in the market for the very best, look no further. You can even shell out a bit more money (approx. $50 more on average) and pick up the 850’s bigger brother, the 1000W Galaxy behemoth.

    Pros

  • 850 freakin’ watts!
  • Stable
  • Sharp looking
  • Quiet
  • Power Guard feature: LED and buzzer status indicator
  • Supports Quad Core CPUs and Quad SLI
  • Up to 24 drives can be used at once
  • High efficiency ‘ 80% to 85%
  • Active PFC
  • 24/7 use at 50’C
    Cons

  • Will be a bit too expensive for some
  • Ungodly long and thus, will not fit in some cases

The proof is in the pudding folks, the Galaxy is bad ass. Enermax has always made quality power supplies but this time, they have outdone us. While we do not have the top dollar testing equipment other sites have at this time, we put the Galaxy through a lot and it kept on tickin’. Nothing else needs said; the Galaxy is just a great power supply and one that I will recommend to all that are considering a new build.

The Enermax Galaxy 850W power supply is getting a perfect 10 out of 10. The price is steep for some but you get what you pay for and I cannot hold that against Enermax. This is hardware that our Editor’s Choice was made for.

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