Conclusion
The ASUS ROG THOR 850W is the first ASUS power supply we have seen here at TheFPSReview and it is one of the very first from ASUS period. However, ASUS has been around for a very long time in the enthusiast sphere and has produced some of the highest quality components over the years. This obviously means they have the resources and the drive to do so in power supplies as well. However, has ASUS dropped THORs hammer on the competition today? Or have they just dropped the hammer? Let’s see.
Build Quality
Today’s ASUS ROG THOR 850W starts things off with a build quality that is excellent. From top to bottom, be it the exterior design, or the exterior integration, or the awesome platform used, or the extra bells and whistles included, the ASUS ROG THOR 850W hits just about every point needed to say it is excellent from the build quality perspective. The component selection, as yet another example, features Nippon Chemi-con, Nichicon, and Hitachi for standard electrolytics paired with FPCAP and Nippon Chemi-con solid capacitors. All is not perfect though, as this unit face plants when it comes to the cabling which is a disaster. However, it won’t kill the performance but, like the only “so so” manual, it is a bizarre misstep in an otherwise outstanding product. That misstep is especially baffling when you see this unit cap all of this off with a 10-year warranty which means ASUS thinks a lot of this unit. Just not a lot about those cables.
Load Testing
Today’s ASUS ROG THOR 850W provides us with excellent results. We saw voltage regulation of up to 0.09v on the 12v rail, 0.03v on the 5v rail, and 0.02v on the 3.3v rail. In addition to that, we saw efficiency that ranged from 89.34% to 92.00% efficient at 120v AC input, 87.61% to 91.04% at 100v AC input, and 90.18%-92.17%-89.23% in the 80 Plus tests. By themselves, these numbers would be excellent. However, in the context of other units, we see that this unit is mixed with the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W and that is one of the best 850W units on the market. So, that makes this unit one of the best as well in these aspects!
When we look at the Transient Load Tests results for the ASUS ROG THOR 850W today, we see that the results are excellent just like in our regular load tests. When directly loaded, the 12v rail showed a peak change of ~200mV and the 5v rail had a peak change of ~50mV. During the 12v load, the unloaded 5v rail saw a peak change of ~40mV. In absolute terms, these results are excellent and in relative terms, there are as well as this unit was mostly better than the excellent Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W. This unit is, therefore, one to look seriously at as it is two for two so far today in kicking butt in our tests.
DC Output Quality
The DC Output Quality results for the ASUS ROG THOR 850W were excellent. Is anyone starting to notice a pattern here? Anyone? Ok, moving on, we saw peak values of just ~20mV of ripple/noise on the 12v rail, ~15mV on the 5v rail, and ~15mV on the 3.3v rail. Obviously, these values are well within specification limits and excellent in absolute terms. In relative terms, these results make this one of the best 850W units out there and it does barely edge out the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W. That is very impressive as that unit was awesome.
Noise
Today’s ASUS ROG THOR 850W is not exactly a small capacity unit which means that quiet is normally not the name of the game. Like, may units, though, this unit has a large overhead fan type that known for being quiet, excellent efficiency, and ASUS claims that their proprietary heatsink designs mean that this unit can remain fanless longer than other designs. That is nice for day to day use of a couple of hundred watts, if true, which is where most people will see this unit. At the upper end of its power output range where most people won’t see this unit though, it was also very quiet as we had a very difficult time discerning it contributing to the noise output in our load testing environment even at full power. So, this unit seems to be very nicely behaved and should be a very good option for most users.
Final Points
The ASUS ROG THOR 850W is an excellent to outstanding unit today as ASUS has indeed dropped the hammer on the competition. The ROG THOR 850W gave us excellent build quality, excellent voltage regulation, excellent DC Output Quality, and excellent Transient Load results while also being very quiet. That is a seriously impressive run that leaves us with very few things to say other than, WOW and what is the price? Today, we find that the ROG THOR 850W can be had for around $209.99. That is a bit of a tough price to swallow based on just the performance numbers. Indeed, that OLED screen and all of the other goodies drive the price on this unit up. So, while this unit is a clean performance winner, it is a little tougher to call it a price winner with the added costs not being in aspects that make the unit perform better. That said, many people will see value in the OLED screen and the design of the unit. For those individuals, we can truthfully say that you will be getting one hell of a unit.
