Our testing methodology for testing Power Supply Units is limited to the multi-meter to show each rails performance due to us not having access to an ATE load tester. We are making plans to invest in equipment as we were directed by Cooler Master when Simon visited their test labs in June 2010.

Although this does constrain us slightly we can still monitor fluctuations on the rails and give the unit a good assessment when we feature it in one of our builds. The way the testing will run is simple, voltages will be observed at idle wattage and then a single GPU will be installed within the system and a combination of OCCT and MSI Kombustor will be executed to provide simulation with just 1 GPU usually another GPU would be added to the system in order to generate more power draw but since this unit is 650W there is no need to do this. 1 GPU generates around 420W whilst adding another and the total usage exceeds 750W. This should give us a good indication of how the FSP AURUM GOLD CM SERIES 650W will perform under gaming stresses with a single GPU – over 50% loaded.

System Components
CPU Intel Core i7 920 @ 4GHz
Motherboard ASUS Rampage III Formula X58
Graphics 2 x NVIDIA GTX 480 (SLI)
Memory 12GB Kingston HyperX 1800MHz CL9
HDD 2 x Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA-II
PSU FSP AURUM GOLD CM SERIES 650W

We all know how Fermi is notorious for its big power draw! As I mentioned there is no ATE load tester available so generating as much power as possible is key to observing the fluctuations on the rails.

For voltage tolerance levels, ATX specify that a 5% variable fluctuation is acceptable. (Form Factors - ATX Specification PDF - Page 10). So what this means is:

3.3V Rail - 3.135V - 3.465V acceptable
5V Rail - 4.75V – 5.25V acceptable
12V Rail - 11.4V – 12.6V acceptable

Idle test - The system settles in windows without any applications or stressing. 1 GPU (216W – 33% load)
Single GPU - OCCT/MSI Kombustor run for 10 minutes (420W – 64% load)



The AURUM CM GOLD does an exceptional job throughout the voltage variance testing, all of the rails – 3.3V, 5V and 12V remain in the realm of ‘acceptable’ according to the ATX standards.

At 64% load the 120mm cooling fan did generate a considerable amount of noise. We’ve tested quieter units than this before.