Introduction

We would like to thank FSP Group for supplying the Aurum Gold review sample.

FSP Group is one of the few PSU OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). Besides lending their platforms to other companies they have also a retail presence in the market since 2003. The company was established in 1993 and its headquarters are located in Taiwan. Their major products, besides PC power supplies, are industrial and open frame PSUs, adapters, medical and LCD TV power products, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) etc. Currently FSP Group is the 5th largest power supply vendor in the world, which means that they are a pretty large company.

Recently FSP enriched their Aurum series with three units of 550W, 650W and 750W capacity. The main difference between the new units and the older ones, with nearly similar capacity, besides the small power increase is the addition of the modular cabling system. So internally the modular Aurums share the same design/platform with the non-modular Aurums.

In today's review we will take a look at the FSP Aurum CM Gold 750W (AU-750M here after) and find out if the addition of the modular cabling system justifies the price difference with the Aurum CM Gold 700W. In a quick look the AU-750M features Gold efficiency, four +12V rails, low profile flat modular cables for easier cable management, four PCIe cables and a 120mm FDP (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan.

Specifications

The PSU is equipped with a quality FDP fan so we don't expect it to output much noise even at high loads/temperatures. Also all possible protections are present, something that ensures that the unit is fully protected and thus you will have your piece of mind. The latter is further ensured by the five year warranty that comes with the AU-750M.
What we didn't like in above characteristics were the high price and the fact that FSP states that 750W total continous output power is guaranteed only up to 40°C and not 50°C. Nevertheless we will crank up the temperature inside our hot box up to 50°C and see if the PSU can handle the heat or OTP will be triggered.


The unit features four +12V rails with 30W lower combined power than the total max power, two quite strong minor rails and a 5VSB rail capable to give up to 3.5A. Since the PSU uses DC-DC converters for the minor rails generation I expected max power at +12V to be closer to 750W.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

The number of connectors is sufficient for the PSU's capacity. There are three hardwired cables which are fully sleeved and all modular cables are flat sleeved but not with normal sleeving net. Instead a thick plastic sleeving is used which it may protect the wires well, but you can't call it eye candy. On the hardwired cables the distance among the connectors is too small, only 100 mm. Thankfully on the modular ones the distance is increased to 150 mm. Finally all connectors use 18 AWG wires, the recommended diameter by ATX spec.


As you can see power distribution is optimal since the EPS connectors use a separate +12V rail. Also the PCIe connectors, in pairs, utilize two +12V rails.