NZXT C850 SFX Gold ATX 3.1 Power Supply Review

TweakTown Rating: 95%

Our Verdict

The NZXT C850 SFX Gold is an exceptionally efficient and well-built ATX 3.1 power supply that justifies its premium North American price tag with top-tier performance.

Pros

• 80 PLUS Gold / Cybenetics Platinum Rated
• 10-year warranty
• Shorter cables for SFX builds
• Pre-installed cable combs
• 100% Japanese capacitors

Cons

• A tad expensive in the Americas
• Only a single CPU 4+4 pin cable
• No rear power rocker

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

NZXT is primarily a PC component company that has traditionally made only PC cases and CPU coolers. NZXT re-entered the ATX PSU arena in 2018. Now trying to round out their product portfolio, NZXT has sent over their newest PSU, the C850 SFX Gold. In the Americas, the MSRP is $199.99; in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the MSRP is €159.99.

So, why don't we see how this SFX PSU from NZXT stacks up?

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* Prices last scanned 3/16/2026 at 3:02 am CDT - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Packaging

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The box is in the traditional NZXT colors, white and purple. The C850 SFX Gold is pictured alongside badges for 80 PLUS Gold certification, a 10-year warranty, ATX 3.1, a 12V-2x6 connector, and Japanese 105 °C-rated capacitors.

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The backside flips the font to white, with a purple background. This being NZXT's newest SFX PSU, they are focusing on next-gen power, small form factor, quiet operation, and durability. Also present are the efficiency chart, AC Input & DC Output ratings, and lastly the fan specs.

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Moving to the flap before you open the exterior packaging, we see the included cables, which note that this SFX PSU uses a 12V-2x6 to dual PCIe 8-pin cable to support various GPUs from either NVIDIA or AMD. Again, the 80 PLUS Gold badge, along with a QR code to download the manual.

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Opening up the box, show how neat NZXT has packaged the C850 SFX Gold with the PSU nestled between two form-fitted pieces of corrugated cardboard on the left. To the right are all the modular cables neatly tucked away in the purple nylon bag.

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Another view of the included purple nylon bag, which is really nice for storing any unused cables, just in case you need them later.

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Removing the cables from the purple nylon bag, we have:

• AC power cord
• 24-pin ATX power cable
• 4+4-pin CPU power cable
• 6+2-pin PCIe power cable
• 16-pin (PSU) to dual 8-pin (6+2) PCIe power cable
• 16-pin (12+4) 12V-2x6 PCIe power cable
• SATA cable (2)
• Peripherals cable
• #6-32 screw (4)

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And finally, we have the packaging for the C850 SFX Gold itself. As mentioned earlier, NZXT has placed the C850 SFX Gold in a nylon NZXT-branded bag, inside two pieces of corrugated cardboard, to ensure safe transit.

Outside the NZXT C850 SFX Gold ATX 3.1 PSU

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With all the shipping materials removed, a better view of the exterior of the C850 SFX, getting a feel for just how tiny SFX PSUs are.

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A subtle detail is having the name embossed on both sides, along with a faint NZXT logo.

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The business side of the C850 SFX has all micro connections, except for the two 12V-2x6 connectors. The 24-pin motherboard connector is split into a 10-pin and an 18-pin connector, as usual. Next are two 6-pin peripheral and SATA connections. The bottom has two 8-pin CPU and PCI-E connections, the 12V-2x6 connections, and lastly another 6-pin peripheral and SATA connection.

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The underside of the C850 SFX includes all the AC input and DC output information, which is the same as on the back of the packaging.

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And lastly, we get a view of all the ventilation the C850 SFX has, which also houses a 92mm fluid dynamic bearing fan. The rear of the C850 SFX has more ventilation, and the AC power input; no power rocker is present. Bummer.

Inside the NZXT C850 SFX Gold ATX 3.1 PSU

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Here is the 92mm fluid-dynamic bearing fan, made by Ong Hua. This fan is PWM-controlled, runs at 3500 ±10 % RPM, has a CFM rating of 57, and is rated at 41 dB(A). This 92mm fan does have a Zero RPM mode, which only spins up when the internal temperature reaches a certain threshold.

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Looking inside the C850 SFX, we see a single 560?? 105C Rubycon capacitor, which is in fact a Japanese brand. Other capacitors found to be used are Nichicon models rated at 1000?? at 16V, again rated for 105°C.

Installation, Testing, Finished Product, and Final Thoughts

Ryan's Test System Specifications

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Using the PSU test bench, the CPU, being an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 cores with 32 threads), was set to 1.32V vCore (the voltage supplied directly to the processor) to keep the CPU cores well above 5GHz. The Ryzen 9 7950X CPU maintained well over 5GHz throughout the test period, while the wattage peaked at 222 watts, averaging around 214 watts. The AM5 motherboard used here is the X870E AORUS Pro from GIGABYTE (AM5 being the socket type that determines CPU compatibility), while the test RAM is from Corsair, specifically, the Dominator Platinum RGB that runs at DDR5-7200M/t (DDR5 is the latest memory type, 7200 denotes the speed in megatransfers per second).

The NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE test GPU (graphics card) was power-limited at 30% via the NVIDIA App to control the GPU wattage. On average, the NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE drew about 101 watts; it peaked at 102 watts, while the rest of the system used around 85 watts. The total power drawn from the wall was measured using a Killawatt P3 digital electrical usage monitor (a device that measures electrical consumption), which showed a total system wattage of 424 to 436 watts during testing, with an average of 430 watts drawn from the C850 SFX. The 400 total watts from the 430 averaged watts pulled from the wall equated to 93% efficiency at a 50% load, which definitely exceeds the 80 PLUS Gold certification requirements (80 PLUS Gold is an efficiency standard indicating the PSU wastes little power). Very impressive.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version v8.20.8100 for over 18 hours; the ambient temperature was 18 °C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v8.40-5900, TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.69.0, and CPU-Z 2.18.0.x64.

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Wrapping up this review of the NZXT C850 SFX Gold ATX 3.1 PSU is a well-made SFX ATX 3.1 PSU that, quite honestly, is under-rated for the power efficiency it delivers. Having extras like individually braided cables with pre-installed cable combs, all Japanese capacitors, and a long 10-year warranty means NZXT is standing firm behind this SFX PSU. The pricing is a tad high for the Americas, but, really, given the actual efficiency you get, the C850 SFX could have been rated 80 PLUS Platinum. Remember, peeps, a good PSU is an investment. Don't skimp out on power.