XFX Pro 850W XXX Edition review

An 850W power supply is a great choice if you want to build a powerful PC and it’s unusual to find a decent, flexible one for less than £100. However, that’s exactly what XFX has managed with the Pro 850W XXX Edition.

This model is 80 Plus Silver certified, which guarantees efficiencies of at least 85 per cent. If you’re looking for a better price online, make sure you use the right part code, as XFX also sells an 80 Plus Bronze supply with the same name.

The supply did very well in our tests, with no problems detected. It also proved itself to be efficient beyond its specification, managing 86.25 per cent at 100 per cent load, 88.64 per cent at 50 per cent load and 87.07 per cent at 20 per cent load. Considering the price of the supply, that’s impressive.

This excellent-value PSU manages to beat its 80 Plus Silver certification for efficiency

As the supply is 160mm deep, there’s room inside for a 135mm fan, which can shift more air at lower speeds than a 120mm fan. It was certainly quiet in our tests, with only a tiny bit of coil noise when we listened very carefully. Installed in a case under your desk, you’re not going to hear anything.

It’s a modular design with the only captive cables for the motherboard, CPU and two 6+2-pin PCI Express connectors. You can add to these with eight Molex, eight SATA and two more 6+2-pin PCI Express plugs. In other words, there’s plenty for a high-end PC.

Giving the excellent balance of price, efficiency and flexibility, the XFX Pro 850W XXX Edition wins a Best Buy award.