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The Seasonic X-Series 850W KM3 is right up there in the top 3% of high power units available on the market today. It really is as close to perfect as you are likely to see and will appeal to the high end audience who don't mind paying a little extra for a top of the line supply.
Load regulation is class leading and we have yet to test a more capable unit in this regard. The intensive cross loading test barely phased the unit, with it holding onto nominal readings. Noise suppression is also close to perfect and reinforces the 850W KM3 standing as justifiably the finest power supply on the market today.
The addition of a new fan S2FC/S3FC selector switch and flat ribbon style modular cabling just enhances the overall appeal to the extremely demanding enthusiast audience.
The power supply is basically silent until just over 400W of output when the fan starts to spin up a little. Even at a 700W power demand the unit is whisper quiet. This is particularly appealing to gamers who have spent some time watercooling their system to reduce noise levels as much as possible.
The new KM3 is available in the United Kingdom for around the £150 inc vat mark. It is rather expensive, but when you consider the power characteristics and market leading design, we feel it is well worth the money.
Pros:
- load regulation.
- noise suppression.
- very quiet.
- 80 Plus Gold+ efficiency levels.
- can deliver over 1,000W output without falling over.
- pure modular design.
- fan switch.
Cons:
- Price premium.
Kitguru says: If you want the best, then the Seasonic X-Series 850W KM3 unit is exceptional value. It is simply flawless.
They do rock, no doubt about it !
Very nice indeed. id like to see a review of their 650W or 750W, 850W is a bit overkill for me…… coming soon?
I like the sleeved cables 🙁 didnt know people like the flat ones more…..
@ Mannucuna.
Flat cables are better for routing, some cases have problems housing the fatter cables behind the motherboard tray. I do agree however, the sleeved cables look better, but most people dont want to be looking at them… especially in a windowed case. Its an industry wide move, Seasonic were slow to adopt them.
its confusing because most of the stores dont list these as KM2 or KM3, its a complete guess when they dont include images or detailed information,. they should clearly mark these R3 on the box on the front.
Yes the marketing is confusing. newegg has been shipping the for a while but had the images of the KM2 model.
Minor nitpick about the review. It says “four OCP channels, two for +12V, one for +5V and another for +3.3V”
which makes it sound like it is a two rail PSU. I believe it is a single rail and, like its predecessor, one of the two 12V OCP channels isn’t populated or used.