FSP Aurum PT 1000W PSU Review

1. Introduction2. FSP Aurum PT 1000W (Bundle/Cabling)3. FSP Aurum PT 1000W (External)4. FSP Aurum PT 1000W (Internal)5. FSP Aurum PT 1000W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

If you are building a new, powerful multi GPU gaming system then the FSP Aurum PT 1000W power supply will likely interest you. This high end modular unit is 80 Plus Platinum certified and the company say the design uses industrial grade Japanese capacitors with solid capacitors on the secondary side. It is a single +12V Rail design and features E-Sync Remote Sensing – providing synchronised 3.3V/5V/12V with superior noise and ripple suppression.

The FSP AURUM PT 1000W utilises a 135mm fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) fan for long life, and to reduce noise levels as far as possible. The supply is coated in a ‘Granite touch' finish which is said to be very resilient long term. The AURUM PT Series is available in three output capacities – 850W, 1000W and 1200W. FSP also include a 7 year warranty, for peace of mind.

Product Highlights:

• 80 Plus Platinum Certification.
• Designed for gamers and overclockers.
• Modular design.
• Japanese capacitors.
• Arrow shaped ventilation for superior cooling.
• Quiet and long lasting 135mm fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) fan.
• 7 year global warranty.

MSRP:

• 850W – €209,99 / US$ 219.99
• 1000W – €229,99 / US$239.99
• 1200W – €259,99 / US$279.99

The FSP box artwork is rather nice. A close up of one side of the power supply is visible, faded into black. A list of specifications run along the bottom of the box. The 80 Plus Platinum logo also takes pride of place in the corner.

Many more technical details are highlighted on the rear of the box.

Inside, the power supply itself is protected between thick foam layers. The accessories are kept separate at the side.

A user manual is included, along with cable ties and mounting screws. All of the cables are stored inside a black felt bag.


The FSP power supply ships with a combination of sleeved and flat ‘ribbon' style cables, as shown in the images above. There are four PCI cables included giving a total of 8 connectors – this will cover all bases within the power range. The cables are only 500mm (+100mm) long however which is a little bit disappointing.
The FSP Aurum PT 1000W is very spartan looking – a simple two tone design, which I personally like. Less is often more, right? The colour banding around the fan grill may look silver, but we would assume it is meant to signify the ‘Platinum' 80 Plus rating.

More importantly, the ‘Granite Touch' finish passed our ‘screwdriver' test without a problem. This involves running the head of a Philips head driver down the side of the chassis with light to medium force. After all, how many times have you accidentally connected with a power supply during a system build?

The company logo is clearly visible in the center of the grill, above the fan inside. There is an embossed ‘FSP' barely visible on each side panel.

The modular panel takes up the full side of the chassis. They are well labelled and pretty much what we would consider fool proof. In case you are wondering, the PCIe cables will not plug into the CPU power headers, they are physically incompatible. The little white header is the ‘E-Sync' connector.

Flip the power supply around 180 degrees and we can see a power connector, power switch and venting. You may notice that FSP have opted for ‘arrow' style ventilation cut outs on this panel. They claim these shapes deliver ‘aerodynamics that improve air extraction'.

FSP Aurum PT 1000W PSU
DC Output	+3.3V	+5V	+12V	-12V	+5Vsb
Max Output	25A	25A	83A	0.8A	3A
Total Power	160W		996W	9.6W	15W
	1000W

The FSP Aurum PT 1000W power supply can deliver 83A on the +12V rail. This FSP unit can deliver almost all of its total output over the +12V rail.


FSP are using a Power Logic Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan – model number PLA13525S12M. This is rated 12V, 0.4A, 111.1CFM at a maximum noise rating of 41.6dBa. Bonus points for the quality of this fan – you won't get much better in any supply available today.

This platform uses a full bridge topology with an LLC resonant converter to improve efficiency levels. The secondary side utilises DC-DC converters for the generation of the minor rails. Soldering quality is good throughout.



The filtering stage starts with an X cap and two Y caps at the receptacle. There are two more X caps, two Y caps, two coils and a TVS diode on the main board. Both of the DC-DC converters are installed on a daughterboard.

FSP are using two high grade Japanese capacitors by Nippon Chemi Con in the power supply. They are 105c rated, KMQ series. These are rated 420V, 470uF each for a total of 940uF. Their combined capacity looks a little overspecified for a 1kW PSU. Secondary capacitors are all Japanese grade, from Nippon Chemi Con and Rubycon. Bonus points to FSP for the attention to detail.

On this page we present some high resolution images of the product taken in our professional studio with a Nikon D810 and Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art Lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.








Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price.

Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.

We use combinations of the following hardware:

• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA

DC Output Load Regulation
Combined DC Load	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		+5VSB		-12V
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
100W	1.53	3.36	1.77	5.15	6.66	12.22	0.50	5.02	0.20	-12.04
200W	3.13	3.35	3.50	5.12	13.50	12.20	1.00	5.02	0.20	-12.04
400W	6.42	3.34	7.04	5.10	27.50	12.17	1.50	5.00	0.30	-12.05
600W	9.81	3.33	10.75	5.08	41.70	12.13	2.00	5.00	0.30	-12.05
800W	13.25	3.32	14.55	5.07	56.40	12.08	2.50	5.00	0.50	-12.07
1000W	16.53	3.30	15.66	5.06	71.40	12.04	3.00	5.00	0.60	-12.07

Load regulation is good with all the rails holding within 2% tolerance. There was a bit of variance on the +3.3V rail, but nothing to be concerned about.

FSP Aurum PT 1000W	Maximum Load
	1232W

We managed to get another 232W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in. The supply was undamaged and it was ready to fire up again when we dropped the load to a more realistic level. This is a very impressive result.

Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.

Cross Load Testing	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		-12V		+5VSB
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
885W	2.0	3.36	2.0	5.13	72.0	12.03	0.2	-12.04	0.50	5.02
240W	20.0	3.30	24.0	5.02	2.0	12.20	0.2	-12.05	0.50	5.01

The FSP Aurum PT1000W coped well with the intensive Cross Loading test. The +12V rail held above 12V when hit with 72A.

We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.

ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
Output	Ripple (mV p-p)
+3.3V	50
+5V	50
+12V1	120
+12V2	120
-12V	120
+5VSB	50

Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.

AC Ripple (mV p-p)
DC Load	+3.3V	+5V	+12V	5VSB
100W	10	5	20	10
200W	15	5	20	10
400W	15	5	25	10
600W	15	5	30	15
800W	15	10	30	15
1000W	15	10	35	15

Ripple suppression is excellent. All rails hold well within the industry rated tolerance levels. +3.3V and +5V peak at 15mV and 10 mV respectively. +12V peaks at 35mV at 100% load.

Efficiency (%)
100W	88.4
200W	91.2
300W	93.3
500W	94.1
800W	93.2
1000W	92.5

The overall efficiency results are fantastic, peaking at 94.1% at around 500W-550W load. This drops to 92.5% efficiency at full load. This is an exceptionally efficient power supply and one of the best we have ever tested.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide

10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Noise (dBA)
100W	28.0
200W	28.0
400W	28.0
600W	30.6
800W	32.3
1000W	34.2

The FSP Aurum PT 1000W is very quiet throughout the full range of load, with the fan only spinning up when 750watts is demanded. At full load the maximum noise rating is 34.2dBa. It is highly unlikely you will be running at 1000watt load for any extended time mind you.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
100W	35	39
200W	35	41
400W	37	44
650W	43	54
800W	45	57
1000W	47	60

Temperatures are well controlled and while the fan gets active in the last 20% of power delivery it isn't too intrusive at all.

Maximum load	Efficiency
1232W	91.7

Pushing the power supply above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 91.7%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless.
The FSP Aurum PT 1000W is a very well built, high grade supply suited to power hungry multi GPU system builds. While competition in this sector is very aggressive, the FSP Aurum PT can hold its own against any other unit we have tested.

Aesthetically, the FSP Aurum PT is likely to split opinion. Some may find it rather mundane looking and there is no doubt FSP have went for a simple two tone colour scheme. That said, we feel it will fit in well with any system build without looking like an eyesore. The ‘Granite Touch' finish deserves praise, as it is almost impossible to leave a fingerprint on the surface and it proved very resilient against accidental damage.

Noise levels of the FSP Aurum PT are particularly low, thanks to the adoption of an expensive, large Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan. These fans last a very long time, and it is likely to remain trouble free for the lifetime of the power supply itself.

Load regulation is quite tight, ripple suppression is excellent and the unit passed the cross loading test without a hiccup. FSP opted to incorporate high grade 105c Japanese capacitors inside, from the likes of Nippon Chemi Con and Rubycon. It is difficult to fault the selection of caps that FSP have integrated into this design.

Right now availability of the FSP Aurum PT 1000W is very limited in the United Kingdom, although FSP have assured us that this will change shortly. FSP have listed the price at €229,99 / US$239.99 – which in direct conversion today is around the £180 mark. It is likely the final price may be higher, once we factor in additional UK costs. Once we get confirmation we will update this page.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

Pros:

• voltage regulation.
• efficiency.
• noise levels are very low.
• delivered over 1,200 watts before shutting down.
• high grade Japanese capacitors
• highest grade fan.
• tough finish.

Cons:

• mixture of flat and sleeved cables.
• not the prettiest looking unit.
• availability in UK is poor as we go to press.

KitGuru says: The FSP Aurum PT 1000W is a fantastic power supply, and a good indication that FSP can compete with the big boys in the high end.

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