FSP Epsilon 700w

FSP Epsilon 700w Review

Introduction

Power supplies have been getting bigger and bigger in recent years, from 500 to 800 to 1000 watts; now we even have the option of a 2000 watt PSU! Today however, I have something a little more conservative but hopefully with enough juice to power the XSR test setup. I will be testing the FSP Epsilon 700w, let’s see how it does.

Specifications

  • AC Full Range Input is applicable throughout the world.
  • High efficiency and power saving design >85%
  • Independent 4 Channel 12V Input design. Provides stable power.
  • 0.99 Active PFC. Improves the rate of power utilization.
  • 20+4Pin Connector designing compatible to all motherboards in the market.
  • 4+4Pin Connector design, complying with the requirement of CPU for ATX or EPS system
  • S-ATA Connector design which supplies high transfer S-ATA interface products with stable power
  • 2 Channel PCI-E Connector with nVIDIA dual graphic card support
  • 8 Pin 12V which supports double CPUs and supplies stable voltage.
  • MTBF:100,000 hours

Features

  • Supports the latest Intel ATX 2.0 standard. Improve the System Compatibility
  • Nvidia SLI Certified
  • Dual Channel PCI-Express
  • Supports the latest AMD 64 CPU
  • Conforms to WEEE & RoHS Environmental Directives in Europe
  • Extremely low noise design, providing consumers with a quiet, good operating environment
  • Ultra high power of 700W, providing the super player enough power to ensure a stable system
  • Over voltage protection, over current protection, and short circuit protection can protect each part of the computer.
  • High quality blue cover coating
  • 12 cm light blue fan, enhancing heat dissipation and reaching the minimum noise requirement
  • Neat and tight mesh sleeving improves the ventilation.
  • Smart Housing easy plugable D-type connector design.
  • Honeycombed cooling vents on the case reduce noise and improve the heat dissipation and air flow.

    Bits and Box

    The Epsilon is encased with rather techy looking box art, lots of drawings of metal doors ajar with blue swirly stuff in; suffice to say, it looks cool.

    FSP Epsilon Box
    Click to enlarge

    The side of the box shows off the myriad of features that this PSU employs.

    FSP Epsilon Box
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    The back has the typical multi-language specifications.

    Along with the PSU itself you also get a manual, a kettle lead, some screws and a velcro cable tie nicely sized to fit around the chunky PSU cabling.

    FSP Epsilon Bundle
    Click to enlarge

    The Epsilon

    The Epsilon has a slightly glossy blue paint job similar to the Blue Storm II but this one isn’t quite as reflective.

    FSP Epsilon
    Click to enlarge

    The Epsilon features a large 120mm fan to keep the PSU’s internal components nice and cool but this isn’t the only feature it has to keep those celsius at bay. At the rear of the PSU it has a honeycomb grill system (you can read about the benefit of honeycomb grills in our glossary here.)

    FSP Epsilon Fan
    Click to enlarge

    FSP Epsilon Grill
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    One of the more aesthetic features of the Epsilon is its LED lit power button. Nothing to shout about, but worth a line or two in a review.

    FSP Epsilon LED Switch
    Click to enlarge

    This PSU has several other features that are plus points in my book. One of these is its quick release molex cables which allow for easier and obviously quicker release of molex connectors by providing a small push clip. This is again, not a big feature but one that definitely deserves a thumbs up.

    Another aspect of the Epsilon that drew my attention was the quad 12v rail setup, this can be troublesome for some high powered systems. To read about how the amount of 12v rails affects the stability of your pc, read our glossary entry here.

    The Epsilon is also over 85% efficient and is said to be SLI ready, however it does lack an 8pin connector so this PSU will not be compatible with future 8pin power connector GPUs. However, I am sure there will be a converter around at some point so I wouldn’t worry.

    Testing
    For testing power supplies, we get together the most power hungry of all our hardware, get it all plugged in and then test the rail’s outputs at idle and at load to check their stability. However, since this PSU is rather large in it’s wattage, we decided to use our hillbilly testing setup. This involves placing our AM2 and Conroe systems very near each other and having the Olympia not only powering the entire C2D rig, but also the GPU, hard drives, CD drives and all fans from the AM2 rig.

    Testing is performed using Asus Probe. A multimeter is used to check accuracy of readings.

    The pieces of hardware that the Blue Storm II 500w powered were:

    Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.7ghz
    Asus P5W DH Deluxe
    MSI 8800GTS
    x1950 Pro 512mb
    2gb OCZ Special Ops. Urban Elite @ 900mhz
    1x 36gb WD Raptor
    2x 80gb WD Caviar SE
    2x LG CD/DVD Writer combo.
    3x 120mm Noiseblocker fans
    2x 120mm Akasa fans

    Results

    FSP Epsilon Results

    As you can see from the results the 5v and 3.3v rails stay relatively tight throughout testing. However, the 12v rails deviate from their idle voltage by 0.1 of a volt when under load. This is far from horrendous, but for a PSU of this cost I would expect better. Also, the 12v rail is 0.4 of a volt from the perfect 12.0; I have seen much better results from other similarly priced PSUs.

    Noise

    The Epsilon is a nicely quiet power supply. The 120mm fan spins slow enough to keep the noise levels to a minimum but still fast enough to keep the hot air pumping out.

    Cost

    Going for about £100 the Epsilon is far from cheap. However, it’s rails are relatively tight and stable and this may make the purchase worth it.

    Conclusion

    I’ll be honest, the Epsilon does seem a little overpriced. It’s 3.3v and 5v rails are nice and stable but the 12v strays a bit when putting it under load. They are also over 0.4 of a volt outside of what they are aiming to be; not that tight. However, the Epsilon does have a quiet cooling solution and its rather nice to look at in its fetching blue. For a 700w PSU there are probably better ones out there, but the Epsilon from FSP is hardly a poor choice.

    Pros Cons
    Stable 5v and 3.3v rails Pretty expensive
    Stand out colour scheme 12v rail is not very tight or stable
    Quick release molex No 8pin PCI-E connector
    Quiet

    I’d like to thank our sponsors FSP for providing us with this PSU.

    Discuss this review in our forums.

    1 response to “FSP Epsilon 700w”

    1. LumpyMeatLoaf avatar

      I bought the OCZ version of this power-supply in which uses the FSP850-80GLN (Rev1)in it; my model is OCZ-SXS-700…I have used it on two different boards over the last three years and she still works smooth as glass…. They don’t offer any extra Bling but they surely do the job! I have received my dollars worth and I would not mine finding another one and let my old warhorse be used as an emergency backup within the family. For multimedia work, video and medium gaming they are rock steady…. You all have a great day…..

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