FSP Aurum CM Gold 650M 650-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review

Introduction

For those that haven't noticed, we've fallen a bit behind on covering what FSP has to offer. We recently covered the FSP Aurum Pro 1000W power supply which proved to be a good unit, but it just didn't seem to stand out in any way to make us really want it. Hot on the heels of it though is this lovely unit sitting on our test bench from the Aurum CM Gold series by FSP.

The Aurum CM Gold series is meant to retain all of the features that you would expect in a premium quality, high performance power supply. Unlike some of the other units on the market that do this, FSP has done so while trying to keep the size down without compromising anything.

They also seem to have done so while keeping the price from going through the roof. We've seen other units recently that were full of quality and small in size, but they also had quite a price premium for that. For this review, we are looking at the 650W model, the Aurum CM Gold 650M.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The FSP Aurum CM Gold 650M features four 12V rails. We don't see too many multi-rail units these days and when we do, it is usually only with dual rails. Here we have four and on a 650W unit nonetheless. That certainly makes this a rare bird.

Each rail is rated for 18A each with a combined maximum output of 50A or 600W. Both the 5V and 3.3V rails are rated for 26A each with a combined maximum output of 150W. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3.5A which is just a tad bit more than most units. Combined output for the minor rails is capped at 23.5W. Maximum combined output for the Aurum CM Gold 650M is 650W.

The Feature Summary is always the first place I go when something entails keeping quality without the price going up. There is one spot missing a green check mark on this one, and I find it not surprise that this unit is missing Over Temperature Protection. It isn't the end of the world, but OTP is almost just as important as any other protection. Protections aside, everything else looks good. All cables are fully sleeved. The natively wired cables are sleeved in nylon mesh, while the modular cables are sleeved to be flat. The Aurum CM Gold 650M is 80 PLUS Gold certified and FSP does rate it for 100% continuous output at 50C.

FSP has an MSRP of $139.99 on the Aurum CM Gold 650M. That isn't too bad but as always, a little bit of searching will yield some cheaper results. At the time of writing, Amazon comes in as the winner today listing the unit for $112.27 and free shipping. It's not the best price we've seen for a 650W power supply, but it is in the ballpark. FSP backs the Aurum CM Gold 650M with a five year warranty.