FSP's Hydro X series PSUs grab the gold

The power supply market grew a little bit bigger this week with the introduction of FSP's new Hydro X line. Each of the three models in the Hydro X series is 80 Plus Gold certified, part of which FSP attributes to its Eco-Minion controller.

In FSP's world, "computers spend most of their time sleeping." We beg to differ, at least when stating such a thing as a blanket statement, but there's a bigger point FSP is trying to make.

"When a PC is in sleep or idle modes, most of its functions are powered by the +5Vsb rail. The Hydro X series includes an Eco-Minion controller that enhances the overall performance of this rail," FSP explains. "Generally, PSUs achieve 75 percent efficiency at a low-power standby load of about 1A - the Hydro X series can achieve around 82.5 percent efficiency for low standby power consumption."

FSP says its Hydro X series uses premium components and Japanese-made electrolytic capacitors built to exacting standards. The insinuation there is that the caps won't bulge and leak.

It looks like FSP is aiming at modest builds with the Hydro X, which is available in 450W, 550W, and 650W models. These aren't modular PSUs, but they do feature some flat ribbon cables to help with tidying up your PC.

Each also use a single +12V rail design, with the 450W delivering 37.5A over the +12V rail, the 550W delivering up to 45.83A, and the 650W delivering up to 54.16A.

As a point of reference if you're building a gaming PC, Nvidia calls for a minimum 500W PSU for its GeForce GTX 970, which is the recommended card (on Nvidia's side) for use with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The Hydro X series will be available this month priced $90 (€80) for the 450W, $100 (€90) for the 550W, and $110 (€100) for the 650W.

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in Power Supplies
An image of a MSI power supply unit against a circular gradient blue background
MSI has gone so heavy with 12V-2x6 power sockets in its latest high-end PSUs that many AMD and Intel graphics cards have no way of being powered
Monster Hunter Wilds official art
A match made in heaven: Buy a 1600 W MSI power supply and get Monster Hunter Wilds for free
Two Thermaltake PSUs on show at CES 2025, one very large and the other very small.
Thermaltake's new 2000 W PSU is too powerful to be sold in the USA and comes with four PCIe 5.0 GPU power connectors
The Corsair Corsair RM1000x Shift Fully Modular ATX Power Supply on a teal deals background, with the Black Friday Deals logo in the top-right corner
If you're preparing for an Nvidia RTX 50-series upgrade I'd pick up one of these Corsair PSUs while they're cheap this Black Friday
Corsair RMx SHIFT power supply being installed in a gaming PC
Corsair announces its PSUs 'fully support the highly-anticipated next generation of graphics cards', showing how close we might be to the RTX 50-series line
An image of an MSI MAG A750GL power supply unit against a teal background with a white border
Building a new gaming PC with an Nvidia graphics card? This 750 W PSU is an ideal match and costs less than $70
Latest in News
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year