INTRODUCTION

   A good power supply unit may not be among the very first things people tend to look for when out in the market gathering components for a brand new system but it's without doubt extremely important (especially for gaming rigs) so when i see people who prefer to spend much on a good tower and just enough for a low-end PSU I’m just lost for words. I sometimes do offer my opinion to people when i happen to be present in such situations and most of them usually welcome my input but i don't really think that changes things nearly as much as our reviews do. Because of that you all know that we've done our best over the years to bring reviews of all the latest power supply units (more brands will be available soon) and we're doing that again today with the latest Hydro-G 750W model by our friends over at FSP.

   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.

   The Hydro-G line of power supply units is the latest one to roll out from FSP and as many of you have probably figured out by now it's aimed primarily towards demanding gamers since not only is it fully modular (future proof really since you can swap the 24pin mainboard power cable for the new one if it ever comes to that) and has a single powerful rail (62.5A) but it's also 80 Plus Gold certified (over 90% efficiency). This line is currently available in 650/750/850W outputs and features active PFC, quiet 135mm PWM FDB (fluid dynamic bearing) fan complete with intelligent control system, Japanese heavy-duty capacitors, changeable side stickers, an assortment of industrial grade electrical protections (OCP,OVP,UVP,SCP,OPP,OTP) and is covered by a 5 year warranty. Certainly this is not the first time we've seen similar specifications and features even in previous models by FSP but the Hydro-G 750W is their latest model and it's up to us to see how it does.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Much like the Aurum Pro series the Hydro-G line is shipped inside a black and gold box that has a large product picture at the front right above the main product features and the 5 year warranty.

The wattage, power plug type and available power connectors are all listed on the right side of the box.

On the opposite side we see the electrical table along with two graphs showcasing the units noise levels and efficiency.

All available features are printed and showcased at the rear of the box with the help of 6 product pictures.

At the bottom of the box FSP recommends you visit their official page for more information on the PSU (in 35 languages).

The PSU is placed between two thick black pieces of foam while the modular cables are placed inside another cardboard box.

Along with the Hydro-G 750W PSU you will also get the modular cables, power cable, 4 stickers, piece of paper with info on recycling, user manual and 4 mounting screws.

THE HYDRO-G 750W EXTERIOR

FSP has once again used flat ribbon cables which not only are ideal for routing behind the mainboard tray but they also help with airflow inside a case.

The Hydro-G line follows the typical ATX size and features a nice black matte paint.

A 135mm PWM FDB fan is used to cool the internals of the unit.

The two long stickers placed on the sides can be changed with the bundled ones to match the color of your case more (just place them over the stock stickers).

Typically the electrical table is placed at the base of the PSU.

Although the modular ports are not color coded they are tagged and different in shape.

According to FSP the rear is perforated in such a way that it increases airflow and lowers noise levels.

THE HYDRO-G 750W INTERIOR

This is not the first time FSP has used this 135mm PWM FDB fan by Power Logic so we know it can spin up to 2000RPM to output up to 111.1CFM of airflow with just 41.6dBA of noise.

It feels like there's not much room for anything else inside the PSU but that aside no issues with the design.

Primary capacitors are made by Nippon Chemi-Con and are certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand secondary capacitors are manufactured again by Nippon Chemi-Con but this time we also see Rubycon ones (all are certified for use up to 105 degrees).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a computer. Certainly limitations do apply and so you can't really test a 1000W power supply if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why during the past 5 years i have saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact closer to real world usage. So as always we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside a few minutes.

       Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say in order to get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be considerably less.

TEST RESULTS

RAIL STABILITY

We’ve recorded slightly better rail stability in the past by higher output units but for a 750W model the Hydro-G 750W does extremely well and certainly better compared with many similar output units.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Although we did manage to surpass the total power output of this power supply unit we couldn’t push it to its shutdown limit (not that we had to, 768W was more than ideal for our tests).

NOISE LEVELS (SPL)

FSP claims that the 135mm FDB fan is silent and with a max dBA of 42.7 they are not far off.

CONCLUSION

   FSP markets the Hydro-G line as the ideal for gamers and enthusiasts not only thanks to its fully modular design, single powerful rail and 80 Plus Gold Certification but also because of its server grade circuit and thermal design. Server grade quality and server grade circuit are not quite the same but the Hydro-G 750W is without doubt one of the highest quality PSUs with a similar power output we’ve ever seen and I guess that should be more than enough for a consumer oriented system. The fully modular design is always a nice feature especially since it renders any PSU future proof if the 24pin mainboard plug ever changes (although it may never happen) while the flat cables although quite hard still can fit in places where regular ones can’t. Rail stability as clearly shown in our charts was rock solid even at 768W and although the 135mm FDB fan is not really silent still it was inaudible for the largest part of our tests (doesn’t turn on until the unit starts to heat up - even at load however we could hardly hear it). As for the changeable stickers well I can’t say we bothered changing them but I can see why FSP decided to place then in the bundle, there are just too many PC cases out there in red and green nowadays.

   At the exact moment in time the FSP Hydro-G 750W Power Supply Unit (HG750) will set you back USD119.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 142Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) a price tag which especially in the USA is very down to earth. I do feel that the price in the EU is a little bit higher than it should compared to that in the USA but still it’s quite nice for one of the best power supply units in that category. Build quality, rail stability, low noise levels, affordable/tempting price tag, the Hydro-G 750W by FSP just has it all and that’s why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality
- Solid Rail Stability
- Fully Modular
- Flat Modular Cables
- 5 Years Warranty
- 80Plus Gold Certified
- Electrical Protections (OCP,OVP,UVP,SCP,OPP,OTP)
- Low Noise Levels
- Changeable Side Stickers
- Price USA (For Some)

CONS

- Price EU (For Some)