INTRODUCTION

   If you happen to be one of those people who like spending a small fortune to build a gaming rig then the two hardware components on top of your to buy list are (or at least should be) the best graphics cards available for dual/tri/quad configurations (the NVIDIA Titan X was just released by the way) and an power supply unit powerful enough to support them. Up to 10 years ago you'd really have a hard time to find models capable of outputting even 800W but things were quite different since tri/quad-card configurations were not really available back then. Today however in order to build a gaming rig with 3 or 4 graphics cards you need at least a 1200W PSU although that depends a lot on what cards you decide to use. Titanium and Platinum 80 Plus certified PSU models may have the spotlight on them since they offer the best electrical efficiency money can buy currently but that also means you can find 80 Plus Gold certified models for much less. The Aurum Pro 1200W by FSP is not amongst the newest models in the market since it has been around for roughly 3 years now but because we recently gave one away and many of you asked for it today we're going to take a closer look and see how it performs.

   FSP Group is the 5th largest power supply vendor in the world. Since the company was established in 1993, our outstanding management team has drawn together our R&D expertise, our sizeable production capacity, outstanding product quality to consistently excel in this competitive marketplace. FSP group is a publicly traded company listed in the Taiwan stock exchange, symbol: 30.15.TW, with revenues exceeding over 600 million USD. FSP group provides OEM/ODM power conversion products and services to the majority of well-established manufacturers and is the leading volume supplier of desktop PC ATX power supplies. In recent years, FSP group has expanded its R&D and manufacturing capabilities to become one of the major power conversion supplier of power adapters, industrial PCs, servers, LCD/LED monitors, LCD/LED TVs, heavy duty industrial products (UPS), portable battery chargers, Uninterrupted Power Supply as well as providing off-the-shelf consumer products, partnering with many strategic manufacturers.

   Just like the Aurum PT 1200W the Aurum Pro 1200W features a powerful single +12v rail capable of dishing out the entire output of the unit (all 1200W) making it ideal for gaming rigs (after all you can't overload single rails). As mentioned numerous times in the past this was known to cause overheating with older and far lower quality models but we are well past that point especially when this is found in a model by one of the leading manufacturers in the market. Unfortunately unlike the Aurum PT the Aurum Pro is not 100% modular since it comes with the mainboard power cables hardwired into its main body but since these are two cables which you'll be using after all we don't see it as a drawback. Certainly you may not "enjoy" the future-proof feature offered by 100% modular models but the truth of the matter is that you may not even need it in the long run (we don't have the slightest clue about when and if the standard will change). Other features include the 80 Plus Gold certification, 135mm hydro-dynamic bearing fan, low-profile cables, Japanese capacitors, active PFC and the usual Over-Current/Over-Voltage/Short-Circuit protections. So how does it perform?