FSP DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 850W Power Supply Impressions - Tiny SFX Powerhouse With Gen5 Connector (2024)

We have taken a look at various power supplies from FSP throughout this year and the company more recently announced that its latest ATX 3.0 / Gen 5.0 designs are now available in retail. Now, the company is shipping its first DAGGER series designs which feature a small form factor layout & make them perfect for your HTPC/SFF household. The company sent us its new DAGGER PRO 850W ATX 3.0 PSU which is a super tiny PSU but with very high-end power delivery capabilities.

FSP DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 850W 80 PLUS Gold PSU Specifications

So starting with our unit, we have got the FSP DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 850W which is an 80+ Gold design, offering lots of power in a tiny package while delivering great efficiency. It's a fully modular design like the rest of the FSP PSU we tested. This PSU is fully ATX 3.0 compliant and also features a Gen5 connector for the latest graphics cards.

Coming to the specifications, the FSP DAGGER PRO 850W unit we got offers a maximum DC output of 850W Watts with an active PFC design. It's an 80 PLUS Gold unit with efficiency rated at greater than or over 90%. The PSU is fully compliant with Intel's C6 & C7 power states. The PSU is fully IEC/EN 62638 certified.

Some protection features that you get on the FSP DAGGER Pro series PSUs include:

• Over Voltage Protection
• Over Power Protection
• Over Temperature Protection
• Over Current Protection
• Short Circuit Protection

The design is one of the highlights as FSP went with a smaller 125mm enclosure which should go well with SFF PC builds. The cooling is provided by a top-mounted semi-fanless fan. FSP ships the DAGGER PRO 850W ATX 3.0 PSU with a 10-year warranty and is currently listed for a price of $199 US over at Newegg.

Some main features of the FSP DAGGER Pro series include:

• Compliance with ATX12V V3.0
• Compliance with PCIe 5.0
• Efficiency ≧ 90% at typical load
• MIA IC (Multiple Intelligence Ability) chipset inside
• Semi-fanless design for silent operation
• Quiet and long-lasting 92mm ball bearing fan
• Powerful single +12V rail design
• Intel's Latest CPU ready
• Japanese electrolytic capacitors
• Full protections OCP, OVP, SCP, OPP, OTP
• 80plus_Gold
• ATX 3.0
• PCIe Gen 5

FSP DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU Unboxing & Close-Up

The unit we received comes in a black and champagne gold colored package with a picture of the PSU on the front. The front also lists several features such as the 80 Plus Gold rating, Dual 8-Pin CPU connectors, Japanese E-Cap, and a semi-fanless design.

The back side also offers a list of features which we have detailed above and we will get to more details in our tear-down in a bit.

Opening the package reveals an interesting label that reads 'Power Never Ends' which is the main motto of the FSP Lifestyle brand. Within the package, the PSU unit is held between foam packaging to protect it during shipping while the cables are supplied in their separate pouch.

The inside of the package also includes a warranty sticker, a user guide, and a manual book. The Hydro series comes with stickers so we kind of miss those in the DAGGER series as they can be a good decoration for the PSU or your case.

One of the more interesting accessories within the package is this right-angled connector that can be plugged into the 24-pin cable, allowing for easier installation to the motherboard.

Since the DAGGER series are smaller in size and designed around SFF cases, they may have issues in terms of compatibility with ATX cases. However, FSP resolves this by adding a bracket that can be attached to the back of the PSU for easy compatibility with other cases as well.

The PSU itself is packaged in a plastic cover. Looking at the PSU, we can see the use of conformal coating throughout the interior. This is a 125mm chassis which makes it small & easier to manage within crammed-up PC cases.

On the back, you can see the power plug and the power switch. Large exhaust vents can also be seen which is typical of a PSU and we can also note the "Power Never Ends" logo once again.

Now depending on how you use the PSU, the bottom panel reads the specifications and power ratings. The PSU is rated to output a maximum of 70.83 A and 850W through the 12V rails.

The sides of the PSU have a nice FSP DAGGER Pro logo which can be replaced with stickers within the packaging.

Coming to the connectors, there are two 8-pin CPU connectors, 1 PCIe 12+4 (12VHPWR), two PCI-e 8-pin connectors, an ATX 24-pin (14+10 pin) ATX connector, & two 5-pin connectors for peripherals.

The cables within the packaging pouch include the ATX 20+4 pin, a Gen5 connector, two 4+4 pin CPU connectors, 4 PCIe 6+2 connectors, 6 SATA connectors, and 2 MOLEX connectors.

Opening up the unit, we are greeted with a very high-end design making use of Nippon Chemi-Con & Rubycon capacitors. As mentioned above in the features, the PSU utilizes Japanese-grade capacitors which are rated at 420V and can sustain temperatures of up to 105C. The MOSFETs are a Vishay SiHG120N60E design that utilizes the FSP MIA IC (6600 APFC). The whole unit has high-quality solder.

Lastly, we have the fan which is a 92mm Power Logic PLA09215B12H design that comes with a dual-ball bearing mechanism. It's rated at DC12V (0.55A).

FSP DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 850W PSU Final Impressions

The FSP DAGGER series was one of the first PSU designs to cater to the SFX form factor and now, FSP is upgrading its DAGGER series with the new ATX 3.0 standard. This brings the latest PCIe Gen 5.0 capabilities such as support for 12VHPWR (Gen5) cables and more within the small form factor segment.

This was my first hand with a SFX supply and I was pleasantly surprised at just how much power and quality one could pack within such a crammed-up space. FSP didn't disappoint as this PSU uses high-end components and delivers a high power output of up to 850W which should be more than enough to power SFF/SFX PC builds. Luckily, I had a perfect solution to test it out which included a Minisforum BD770i MoTD (Mobile on Desktop) Mini-ITX motherboard which is equipped with an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX CPU and I equipped it with a GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition GPU. The combination ran great and I was far from touching the maximum 850W power of the PSU. The combo peaked out around 350W which is very impressive and shows just how much performance you can get out of Mini-ITX platforms these days.

The PSU also features a semi-fanless design which should mean that under 25C, the fan wouldn't spin at all (0dB) mode. In Quiet mode which is between 20/50% load, it spins with 20 dBA noise, and above 50% load, it will spin with more than 20 dBA noise output. Our observations showed that the fan was mostly spinning and there were only a few instances where it switched to the 0dBA mode. This is due to the high power density design and the crammed-up nature of this PSU which does push the temps higher but it shouldn't be a cause of major concern considering the peak temps are rated at 105C. You are also backed by a 10-year warranty.

Also, FSP ensures compatibility of its DAGGER PRO SFX series with ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX cases by including a bracket which is a big plus in my opinion. For a price close to $200 US, the DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 PSU is a nice option for SFF builders. Currently, the DAGGER PRO ATX 3.0 series only comes in 850W (Black & White) flavors but we can expect more configurations like the standard DAGGER PRO series (550/650/750W) in the future too.