It’s common knowledge among PC enthusiasts that most hardware companies that sell PSUs don’t actually make products. Instead, we rely on platforms and designs developed and manufactured by Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs). Engineers employed by various client brands make changes and upgrades to the original design, but often these changes are limited to aesthetic changes and different fan uses. So many of his PSU designs derived from these ODMs are basically copies of the original platform’s topology and recommended electronics. In other words, there are dozens of his PSU vendors out there, but the entire PSU industry is built on a handful of companies.
Over the past decade, several ODMs have decided to set up their own retail divisions. The most prominent examples are SeaSonic and FSP Group, which release new retail products each time they upgrade their core design. FSP Group recently made a long-awaited update to its retail line-up, unveiling some fresh products. A few months ago on the top end he had a look at the Hydro PTM Pro 1200W ATX PSU. This is an upgraded version of the proven true flagship platform that has been in use for nearly a decade. In today’s review, a very powerful 850W SFX unit, dagger pro.
By traditional metrics, 850 Watts is a lot for a typical Small Form Factor (SFF) PC, but the ever-increasing demand for compact yet powerful PCs is driving the demand for high performance SFX PSUs. continues to increase. This is mainly caused by the game market. This is because top-of-the-line graphics cards have significant power requirements (450W for the RTX 3090 Ti, for example). On paper, the FSP Dagger Pro 850W is less impressive by today’s standards, being 80Plus Gold certified and lacking in luxury features, but its small dimensions make up for it.
| FSP Dagger Pro SFX 850W Power Specifications (Rated @ 50 °C) |
|||||
| rail | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5 Vsb | -12V |
| Maximum output | 20A | 20A | 70.83A | 2.5A | 0.3A |
| 120W | 850W | 12.5W | 3.6W | ||
| total | 850W | ||||
| AC input | AC100-240V, 50-60Hz | ||||
packing and bundling
The FSP Dagger Pro comes in a relatively large and very sturdy cardboard box that you can easily assume is for an ATX unit. Inside the box is a small PSU in a very thick expanded foam container. The artwork might be a little overkill, but it’s not too extravagant because there’s a lot of information printed on all sides of the box.
FSP kept the bundle pretty basic with just the usual AC power cable, common mounting screws and a small manual in the box. A notable addition to the bundle is an SFX to ATX adapter that allows the Dagger to be mounted in ATX compliant cases, allowing the user to switch between his ATX and SFX cases at will.
The Dagger Pro is a fully modular PSU, so all cables can be removed. This includes the main 24 pin ATX cable. All cables are ribbon “flat” type with black wires and connectors. It is worth noting that there is a mix of cables with SATA and Molex connectors.
| FSP Dagger Pro 850W | ||
| connector type | hardwired | base unit |
| ATX 24 pin | – | 1 |
| EPS 4+4 pin | – | 2 |
| EPS 8 pin | – | – |
| PCI-E 6+2 pin | – | Four |
| PCI-E 8 pin | – | – |
| SATA | – | Five |
| Molex | – | 2 |
| floppy | – | 1 |
FSP Dagger Pro 850W SFX PSU
exterior
Despite the unit’s massive power output, FSP engineers managed to maintain the standard SFX form factor dimensions of 125 x 63.5 x 100 mm / 4.92 x 2.5 x 3.94 inches (W x H x D). It was successful and made Dagger Pro fully compatible. SFX compliant case. The Dagger Pro’s chassis is sprayed with textured black paint.
The left and right sides of the chassis have stickers with company and series logos. The top is covered with a sticker that lists the unit’s electrical specifications and certifications.
One of the major drawbacks of SFX PSUs is that the 120mm fan doesn’t fit within the dimensions of the standard SFX form factor. So FSP had to use a slim 92mm fan for the Dagger Pro. Anyway, despite its extremely compact dimensions, FSP managed to place a small on/off switch next to the AC cable receptacle on the back of the PSU.
The front of the Dagger Pro has connectors for modular cables. The chassis itself is printed with the same gold and subtle lore as the rest of the artwork. The connectors are keyed so you cannot insert the cable into the wrong connector.
internal design
The 92 mm low profile fan responsible for cooling the Dagger Pro 850W is supplied by Power Logic. Power Logic is a relatively well-known fan manufacturer and their products are often used in his GPU coolers. It features a simple yet reliable double ball bearing engine with a top speed of 2500 RPM.
Naturally, there are no third-party ODMs behind the creation of the Dagger Pro, as FSP independently designed and built this unit. The inside of the unit is pretty, but it’s clear the designer spent hours trying to fit everything within his standard SFX proportions. The filtering stage starts at the back of the AC receptacle and extends along the sides of the chassis. There are a total of 2 Y capacitors, 2 X capacitors, and 3 filtering inductors. There are two rectifier bridges, simply connected together without a heatsink to cool them.
Size limitations forced designers to use three APFC capacitors. Their total capacitance is 420 uF. All three capacitors are supplied by Nippon Chemi-Con. There are two primary-side inverting MOSFETs that form the heart of the half-bridge design, feeding a fairly small proprietary transformer.
The secondary side MOSFETs are located under the main PCB and are thermally connected to the PSU chassis. This is a common practice in very compact designs like this. A vertical PCB on the side of the unit holds the DC-DC converters for the 5V and 3.3V voltage lines. Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon supply electrolytic capacitors, while Teapo supplies polymer capacitors.
