Sentey Golden Steel Power GSP850-SM 850 Watt Power Supply Review

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Introduction

What we have on the bench today is a power supply from a company that most of you have probably never heard of. Sentey is a company whose headquarters resides in Florida with an operations center in California and manufacturing in China. The company is also expanding distribution centers in Latin America and is poised to make quite a name for itself. Currently the company offers a wide selection of computer cases, coolers, video cards and power supplies.

The Sentey power supply that we are taking a look at today is the 850W model from the Golden Steel line of PSU's. Taking a look at the specifications and pictures reveal some similarities to a few power supplies we have seen in the past and with good reason. Hopefully the GSP850-SM we have in our hands is prepared for the task at hand, as it is quite an unforgiving one.

Keep on reading to find out just how Sentey's Golden Steel Power 850W power supply performs.


Specifications, Availability and Pricing



Sentey's GSP850-SM comes swinging out of the box with a massive singe 12V rail rated for 70A. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 24A each and have a combined total output of 120W. This is a tad lower than we are used to seeing for an 850W power supply, but should still do just fine.



The GSP850-SM has a pretty decent list of features going for it, especially from a company that you've probably never heard of. With the exception of the 100% continuous output at 50C and over temperature protection, the power supply is loaded with everything else.

Surprisingly enough, getting your hands on a Sentey power supply is easy if you are shopping online. Newegg and several other major e-tailers carry the brand and have it in stock. Newegg seems to have it the cheapest for $159.99 with free shipping. While it isn't the cheapest deal on the planet, it is a little bit sweeter when you figure in that it comes with a whopping seven year warranty.

The Packaging

The GSP850-SM comes in a black and gold package. The front clearly displays the wattage, warranty, 80Plus certification and lots more.



Over on the back we see some features of the power supply as well as the available connectors.



One side of the box is a repeat of information, but the other side contains the I/O specifications for all of the GSP PSU's. It looks like they use the same box for all four models. The top and bottom of the box do not contain any useful information.

Inside the Box

This is the GSP850-SM as packaged. It is also surrounded by a ½ inch of foam on all six sides while in the box.



The product logo is on one side.



While the other side contains the I/O specification label.



Looking at the back reveals a familiar grill and ActivePFC logo. Looking back, this unit appears to be a derivative of either the Super Flower Golden Green 800W or NZXT HALE90 850W power supply.



The bottom even has the same warranty sticker that the other two power supplies share.



More similarities here with the eight universal modular connectors.



Imagine that. Even the included modular cables are of the flat ribbon variety. This should turn out to be a good power supply if it is what it appears to be.



Also included are the user manual and warranty card.

Cabling Arrangement & A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement



Connector availability for the GSP850-SM is excellent. Not only does the power supply offer both ATX 4+4 and EPS12V connectors, but it offers a great selection of modular cables for peripherals. Not only are there a total of 10 SATA, seven Molex, and six PCI-E connectors, but the modular cables vary in length and number of connectors so that you can reduce even more cable clutter. Topping it all off is the inclusion of a Molex to FDD connector instead of forcing you to have it on one of the modular cables.



Single 12V rail. Moving on.


A Look Inside



Surprise! It really does look identical to that of the NZXT HALE90 850W power supply. It is a very clean design with decent cooling.



Primary capacitors are Japanese manufactured Nippon Chemi-con caps.



The secondary capacitors are the same as above. High quality Japanese capacitors rated for 105C throughout the entire power supply.



Sentey has slapped their sticker on the fan for this power supply, but you can almost be certain that it is a Globe Fan since this power supply is pretty much a carbon copy of the Super Flower Golden Green design.

Test Results & Final Thoughts

Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are higher than that of the Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W power supply, we can test it to the maximum.





As we expected, the GSP850-SM performed quite well through all of our tests. Voltage regulation was almost identical to that of the other Golden Green based units that we have reviewed here at TweakTown; perhaps a tad bit better. It would be nice to see the voltage regulation be a little tighter at lower loads as that is more than likely where the largest performance gain could be made for this power supply design. That said, everything is well inside specifications for the voltages on the GSP850-SM.

Noise measured on the 12V rail is what we would consider good. While it certainly isn't the best that we have seen, it is far from the worst and well within ATX specifications. Ripple started out measuring 21mV peak to peak on the 12V rail and as the loads increased on the power supply, so did the noise that we could see. Eventually the power supply ended up showing us a maximum of 49mV peak to peak under full load.

Efficiency for the Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W power supply is excellent and right where it should be. As an 80Plus Gold rated power supply, the unit should be 87%, 90%, and 87% efficiency at 20%, 50%, and 100% loads respectively. The GSP850-SM excels at meeting these requirements and is well deserving of the rating.


Final Thoughts

As this is the third unit that we have had on our test bench here at TweakTown based off of the Golden Green power supply, it is safe to say that any power supply based off this design is going to be a winner so long as it isn't overpriced. Just as these units have done in the past, the Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W power supply performs quite well. Voltage regulations are within 3%, efficiency is excellent and ripple on the 12V rail is good. Sentey has even gone above what its competitors offer on the Golden Green based power supplies be giving a seven year warranty over the usual five.

Normally there is something negative to say here, but we are struggling to find something. What it comes down to is that we have a company that most have never heard of rebranding a power supply of proven quality, upping the warranty on it, and selling it at a fantastic price of $5 more than their competitors who use a shorter warranty. That extra $5 is well spent for the peace of mind the additional two years of warranty bring and the Sentey GSP850SM is well deserving of your money if it fits your build.