ETASIS ET850, 850 Watt Power Supply

 

I received the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply a few days before Christmas and immediately began to wonder if part 2 of my daydream; “meets the needs of the needs of the greater majority of my readers at a price that everyone could afford”, would be affirmed. Please join me as we explore this product in great detail and see if this entire scenario is surreal, or if perhaps sometimes dreams really do come true.

 

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever had one of those days when you have a fleeting thought and all of a sudden it becomes reality? Such was the case for me approximately two weeks ago when I was feverishly working to complete a product review before its scheduled release date and the words just weren’t flowing. I took a break to get something wet to drink. While enjoying my iced tea I thought it sure would be nice for once to review an unknown, quality product that has outstanding performance capabilities and meets the needs of the needs of the greater majority of my readers at a price that everyone could afford. Well so much for that day dream, back to work!

Upon returning to my computer room I noticed that the email notification light was flashing and that I had received an email from Sundial Micro. The context of the email essentially asked if I had an interest in reviewing a reasonably new product that they were selling, the “ETASIS Gaming Power ET850 High Efficiency 850 Watt Power Supply”. Immediately my thoughts shifted back to moments earlier and I filled out the necessary reviewer information and returned it to Sundial Micro. As I had never heard of Etasis or any of their products one of my criteria had already been met. The next day I received a reply from Sundial Micro stating that I had been chosen to do the review.

I received the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply a few days before Christmas and immediately began to wonder if part 2 of my daydream; “meets the needs of the needs of the greater majority of my readers at a price that everyone could afford”, would be affirmed. Please join me as we explore this product in great detail and see if this entire scenario is surreal, or if perhaps sometimes dreams really do come true.

ETASIS: The Company

ETASIS is one of the leading suppliers of standard switching power supplies. Founded in October 1996, ETASIS grew steadily, quickly acquiring a strong reputation for it’s high standards of quality and reliable products. Our research & development, engineering and marketing teams ensure that we stay in the lead by making sure that our products consistently meet and exceed the ever-changing needs of our customers.

In recent years, ETASIS has aggressively expanded into Mainland China to meet the needs of our global customers, and provides customers with products that meet their needs and exceeds their expectations. According to the conception of ETASIS:

ETASIS promotes continuously innovation, teamwork, quality improvement, individual initiative and ethical business practices.

FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS

Features

• Specification complies with latest ATX12V & EPS12V Ver. 2.91 standards and is downwards compatible
• Active Power Factor Correction (PFC)
• Rear fan with IFMTM ( Intelligent Fan Management) for lowest possible noise level
• Four independent 6-pin PCI Express connectors support high-end graphics cards
• Extremely high efficiency (over 80%) and sufficient power for gaming systems
• Four independent +12V outputs (+12V1 ~ +12V4) support dual core CPUs and comply with 240VA safety class level
• Equipped Serial ATA power connectors for at least 8 devices
• 36 months warranty, Universal AC power input (100~240 VAC, stepless)

Specifications

General Specifications

• Input Range:   100 to 240 VAC, +/-10%
• Power Factor:   >0.96min at full load
• Power Good:   100 to 500 ms, TTL compatible signal
• PSON (Remote ON/OFF):   TTL compatible signal
• Operating Temperature:   0 degree C – 50 degree C (32 degree F – 122 degree F)

Agency Requirements

• Harmonic: Meet EN61000-3-2 standards
• EMI/RFI: CE, FCC class B, BSMI and CISPR class B
• Safety: UL, cUL, CB, TUV, MEMKO

Applications

• Rackmount
• Server
• IPC
• Workstation

CLOSER LOOK

Packaging

One of the first things I look for on any product I review is if it is packaged in such a manner to prevent damage while in transit from the merchant. I the case of the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply they manufacturer gets an A+ for packaging. This is one of the most securely packaged products I’ve ever received and I’m very picky! The packaging material is solidly constructed out of thick very rigid cardboard with the appropriate retention mechanisms and dividers to keep the valuable product inside safe during shipment.

Opening the package I was greeted by an initial cardboard cover with a recessed area in the center that contained the product manual. Again a very nice touch as I and many of my enthusiast friends enjoy reading over the product information and instructions prior to delving into the product any further.

Lifting off the top cardboard cover you see the power supply, its cabling and a box including accessories supplied to aid in installation.

CLOSER LOOK

Exterior Views

The following are series of images of the exterior of the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply. As you can see from the photos the metal portion of the case is what I would call almost a light gun metal gray color.

Next some close-ups … We’ll start with the front and as you can see it is entirely metal mesh with large openings to facilitate air flow.

Next, the side of the power supply case that includes the label with some product specifications.

We next switch to the opposite side with the ETASIS logo.

Next, the rear of the power supply with the fan and cables.

CLOSER LOOK

Included Components

The ETASIS ET850 includes the basic complement of supplies you would expect to find with any power supply.

• 1 – ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply
• 1 – Users Manual
• 1 – AC power cord
• 4 – mounting screws
• 6 – wire ties

Cabling:

• 1 – 18 inch cable with 24 pin main power connector (fully sleeved)
• 1 – 21 inch +12V 8 pin EPS cable (fully sleeved)
• 1 – 19 inch +12V 4 pin cable (fully sleeved)
• 4 – 18 inch 6 pin PCI Express cables (fully sleeved)
• 2 – 28 inch 4 pin peripheral power connector cables with 3 – Molex connectors (twisted wire)
• 1 – 28 inch 4 pin peripheral power connector cables with 2 – Molex connectors plus 1 4 pin floppy power connector (twisted wire)
• 4 – 28 inch connector cables with 2 – SATA power connectors (twisted wire)

Here are a few images of the cabling which includes both fully sleeved connections for the motherboard main power cable, 8 – pin 12 Volt cable, 4 – pin 12 Volt cable, and 4 – PCI-E cables. The Molex and SATA power connector cables are twisted wire style.

I have a personal preference for power supplies with a modular design, as it greatly aids in cable management. The proper modular design prevents the user from having to bundle unnecessary cabling within the case making for a much cleaner and easier install. As stated this is a “personal preference” and due to some of the “power supply gurus” making a case that some modular designs can be a detriment resulting in power loss and efficiency. For that reason I will not reduce my rating of the ETASIS ET850 for not using a modular design.

CLOSER LOOK

Internal View

The next series of images is a brief overview depicting the internal components and construction used by ETASIS in the ET-850 850 Watt power supply. You will not able to see many of the components as the internal design is shall we say different from any power supply I’ve ever reviewed. Removing the top metal casing which is “L” shaped and covers the front of the power supply case as well, initially reveals nothing more than a black plastic shield.

Once the plastic shielding is removed, all you see is the rear of a circuit board which is inverted.

A view from the rear to the from of the power supply case with the “L” shaped top removed gives us a better look at the internal component design with. There appears to be two major circuit boards with aluminum heat sinks, each inverted. This is a novel idea as the air from the rear fan is directly channeled over the heat sinks.

Finally the rear Sanyo Denki 80mm fan which utilizes IFMTM (Intelligent Fan Management) for the lowest possible noise level at all power ranges.

Installation

As most of you are aware the one caveat to the higher output power supplies is their physical size. The next two images show our comparison of the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt to the Antec Neo HE-550 in the next two images. The Antec power supply is what I would term a “normal sized” power supply. The ETASIS ET850 matches it in all dimensions except for depth where it is approximately 2 inches longer.

Installation other than the depth issues was no different than any other power supply. Simply place the unit in the power supply bay of the case that you are using and attach it with the four included screws. With most full-tower case and many mid-tower case designs the extra depth of this power supply will not be an issue. There will be some of the mid-tower cases, however, where the fit will be somewhat tight thus possibly restricting the cooling capabilities in that area of your case.

TESTING

Test Methodology

Let’s face it, with a power supply this is the real meat of any review. Power supply pictures and verbose descriptions mean absolutely nothing without the ability to produce the desired results. Each of the power supplies we used to compare against the ETASIS ET-850 850 Watt power supply has been previously reviewed by Bjorn3D. We are planning to really try and drive the ETASIS PSU to the limits our test rig will provide, for that reason none of the previous test results will be used. Each test unit will be completely retested using the same criteria we plan to use with the ETASIS ET850.

To act as a break-in period for the ETASIS ET850 850 Watt power supply I ran it for several days in the above described test system case and allowed to run virtually undisturbed during normal everyday use ranging from surfing the Net to some hard-core gaming. To establish load conditions we ran a variety of different processes on my test system to create as much power demand on the ETASIS ET-850 as the components of the test system will allow.

Because of the complexity of changing out a power supply 6 different times we decided to test the components using a recently acquired large HSPC Tech station. While this test environment doesn’t completely simulate the results in a case we feel that using it uniformly with all test components should make the results relative. All electrical measurements were measured using a new Velleman digital multimeter and a Seasonic Power Angel. Sound/noise measurements will be acquired using a new Omega HHSL-1 digital SPL meter.

As most of you are aware it is virtually impossible to drive an 850 Watt PSU to its maximum load capabilities using a standard test rig even with the number of components we have added to increase power draw. Unfortunately, at present Bjorn3D doesn’t presently own an electronic load simulator to drive these devices to their maximum output. Hopefully we’ll have one of these devices in the not to distant future. While measurements taken using one of these devices show the true and ultimate capabilities of the power supply being tested, it’s not “real world”. By this I simply mean other than for bragging rights, why measure something you’ll never practically attain. The question then arises why buy a power supply that provides more than you need? Many computer enthusiasts subscribe to the premise that a power supply should never be driven in a real life environment to more than 75% – 80% of it’s capable output for obvious system performance reasons. I personally like a cooler quieter system so I feel the 60% – 70% range gives me more of a performance comfort zone.

Enough already, on to the testing! We found that we could create the most power hungry system using a recently reviewed ATI® Radeon™ X1950 XTX CrossFire platform. With our test system we established three points of reference which we’ll refer to as Idle which ranges between 161 – 240 Watts, Mid Level which ranges between 325 – 365 Watts, and Load which ranges between 406 – 440 Watts. We attained these levels by applying various levels of overclocking coupled with running various applications in the background to stress the test rig to these demand levels. The results are as follows:

TEST RESULTS

Power Test Results

Power Factor Test Results

Noise Test Results

CONCLUSION

As I alluded to in the introduction to this review, we were going to take the ETASIS ET850 power supply to the maximum level our testing components would allow. That being said and having finished approximately 6-8 hours of testing I can say without reservation this product is a winner! The power testing results show the ETASIS to be the most stable of all the power supplies we used in our test. It is also by far the quietest of the lot with a very well designed fan management system.

Now lets talk about the few minor things that we don’t like about the system. First of all, this product is not going to win any beauty contests, but then again it’s a power supply and not a featured component which the system owner will be trying to showcase with tube lighting or LEDs. We were very impressed with the sleeved primary power connection cables and would have sincerely liked to have seen the Molex and SATA power connector cables fully sleeved as well. We mentioned the additional depth of this power supply and that it may cause some of the smaller mid-tower case owners a bit of heart burn with installation. In defense of the depth, the ETASIS is not nearly as deep as the Zippy or PC Power and Cooling power supplies. From what I can tell it’s one of the smaller high-output PSUs on the market currently.

Price vs. performance is certainly a major factor in buying any computer component. The ETASIS ET850 retails at Sundial Micro for an incredible price of $225 which is roughly $125 cheaper than most of its competitors. For this much of a savings you’d think that ETASIS had to cut some corners in production, if they did we were certainly unable to find them with our visual inspection or testing. I am in hopes that this pricing will send a message to the competition that a quality product can be produced at a valued price. This product’s design is not that of some of the behemoths that we’ve used with the huge heatsinks and multiple fans. All we can say is that is works as advertised and that goes a long way in our book.

Finally an issue that has recently stirred much controversy on many of the computer forums; single rail vs. multiple rail performance with high-output video cards. While a topic for another complete article or review we can simply say that the Etasis ET850 is one of a very small group of manufacturers “NVIDIA® Certified” for dual 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS, and quad SLI operation. Very impressive!

I can without reservation recommend the ETASIS ET850 to anyone, enthusiast or general consumer alike, wanting to purchase a high quality product that will reliably drive their high-output rig and don’t want to pay a small fortune just to buy a name.

 

Pros:

+  Extremely quiet operation, IFMTM ( Intelligent Fan Management) really works
+  Excellent performance
+  Active PFC
+  Incredible Power Output
+  Cooling design and results
+  Excellent power regulation
+  Cables are long enough to facilitate almost any full-tower case requirements
+  Quality power supply at a value price
+  Eight SATA power connectors

 

Cons:

–  Might be to long for some midtower cases
–  All cabling is not sleeved

Final Score: 9.5 out of 10 and the Bjorn3D Golden Bear award.

Note of Thanks

I would personally like to thank both Sundial Micro and their staff for extending me the opportunity and pleasure of reviewing this wonderful product!

Members & non-members alike, we invite you to discuss this and other Reviews on the Bjorn3D Product Discussion forum…