FSP VITA GM 850W PSU Review

The FSP Vita GM 850W in my mind is a very good power supply. The diminutive footprint and fully modular design will make it suitable for a variety of chassis designs on the market today.

Technically the unit performs very well. Load regulation is very good on the major rail and ripple suppression falls well within industry rated parameters on both major and minor rails. It passed the cross load test, too, without any issues.

I was a little disappointed to find a low grade rifle bearing fan inside in this otherwise solid little power supply. This lets the GM 850W down and a possible future upgrade to a quality fluid dynamic bearing fan would be most welcome. The cost would only be a few dollars more, so it was a little bewildering to see this corner being cut.

FSP power supplies are difficult to find in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom so getting a solid lock on a price can be tricky. When I asked FSP about the pricing they sent me the image below:

Based on this information, the black unit is priced at $139, and the white model has a $5 premium, priced at $144. I have yet to receive confirmed retail links for any of the units, so I cannot confirm if the pricing is accurate. At the listed prices however, this unit is a solid buy and if you are willing to live with a little noise from the basic rifle bearing fan, it should serve you well for many years.

One last thing we want to note is that FSP really could do with improving their boxes for shipping. The power supply is surrounded on all sides by basic cardboard – no foam protection is supplied.

Update 19th August: FSP have reached out to clarify that future production runs of the Vita GM series will have Cybenetics certification – we are told the units have already been sent for testing, but the current production run didn't make it in time for the certification to be included, though FSP tells us that will be sorted by the next run. Additionally, FSP has said they will work to improve the packaging, but they are deliberately not using foam and polystyrene ‘as some countries have announced no foam from 2025 (e.g. Australia) and other aspects of consideration are to protect our earth.'

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Pros:

• High efficiency levels.
• Good ripple suppression.
• Build quality is generally high.
• Fully modular.
• Cables are high quality and long enough.
• Good protection features.
• 105C Japanese main capacitor.

Cons:

• Rifle bearing fan is sub optimal.
• May not be available in many countries.
• PSU should ship in a foam surround for protection.

KitGuru says: The FSP Vita GM 850W is a very capable power supply.

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