DeepCool PQ850M 850W 80+ Gold Modular PSU Review

Specifications

AC/DC:

The PQ850M has strong specifications that place it on the top of the list for 850W 80+ Gold units. The +12V line can deliver up to 840W by itself, which suggests that the 850W, even though not recommended, can be reached for continuous long work. It’s hard to reach that in any modern computer with a single graphics card, and it’s plenty of power even for GeForce RTX 4090 and the i9 13900K CPU. In our tests with the RTX 4080 and Ryzen 9 7950X, we could barely pass 700W after overclocking.
A good reason to pick a stronger PSU than we need is the heat and related fan speed. The PQ850M can work in two modes, one is fully automatic without a fan-stop feature. Another one is a fan-stop mode up to about 30% load. 30% is about as much as the PSU will use during mixed-load work or more office work, so we can expect that the fan will spin only when we start doing more demanding work like rendering or playing games.

The package and its contents

The package is a typical-size box. It includes a power supply, modular cables, a user manual, screws, cable strips, and a power cord. Simply, everything we need for the installation, and some more.

The exterior of the box says everything we may need about the product. The front shows a picture of the PSU, while on the back are more detailed specifications. It would be better if the font were darker, so it was easier to read, but in general, it’s still good.

The PSU has a compact size considering it’s an 850W unit. 150×140×86mm is a size that will fit every ATX PC, especially when all cables are modular and we don’t have to plug all of them if we don’t need them. In modern PCs without additional devices, we won’t need all the SATA/peripheral cables and, in some cases, also one CPU 8-pin and one PCIe cable. On the other hand, there are plenty of connectors for a large PC setup with dual graphics cards and multiple SSDs/HDDs.

The design seems simple but is original and, in its simplicity, looks fantastic. I especially like the fan grill, which is built into the case. You won’t find anything similar in competitive PSUs, and it looks great for any custom builds.

The cables are just the right length. 20/24-pin ATX cable has 610mm, which is relatively standard, while 4/8-pin CPU cables are already 650mm long. It makes them easier to go around the motherboard. PCIe cables for graphics cards are 750mm long. All three PCIe cables have a single connector with 6+2 pins. It would be better if there was one more connector in case we wish to install two graphics cards. However, barely anyone decides on two or more graphics cards in modern computers, and a single connector per cable looks better and is also safer for high-wattage graphics cards. For example, all the RTX 4080/4090 and new Radeon 7000 series cards are recommended to plug into separate cables.

Cables are not braided, which would look better but probably would raise the price, and most users won’t like that. We are still happy to see that all of them are black and flat.

The PSU is not officially PCIe 5.0/ATX 3.0 unit. It still works without issues with all new graphics cards, as all of them use standard connectors (AMD and Intel) or have adapters included in the graphics card package. Our setup had no problems with the RTX 4080 graphics card, even after overclocking when the graphics card wattage was going close to 400W.

Next, we will look closely at the PSU’s interior and its performance.