Epilogue
The Chieftec VEGA M 850W is a decently performing unit that can be a good choice in the 850W category, mainly thanks to its attractive price in the European market. To the best of my knowledge, this product is not yet available in the US market, and I don’t have any information on when it will be available. The assets of this product include: good ripple suppression, increased hold-up time, high power factor readings, and the highly efficient 5VSB rail. Moreover, the protection features, OCP and OPP, are appropriately set, which is a rare phenomenon, unfortunately for the majority of the PSUs I test. Lastly, the PSU’s output noise is kept low under light and moderate loads, allowing users sensitive to noise to include it in their buying list safely.
Moving on to the negative aspects, the performance of the 12V rail in terms of load regulation and transient response needs improvement. This rail is the most important of all, so it is crucial to have the best possible performance. Moreover, efficiency at normal and light loads is not competitive compared to similar wattage and spec units. Additionally, I got high inrush and leakage current readings. Lastly, the two EPS connectors on the same cable are not a safe option, as under some extreme usage scenarios, the single connector on the PSU side could become damaged, unable to handle the high loads that these connectors can deliver.
All in all, the Chieftec VEGA M 850W is a decent-performing PSU, available at a reasonable price in the EU market.
Before investing in a new power supply, read my Best ATX v3.x PSUs article to check all alternative PSU offerings. You help me a lot by using my affiliate links, which don’t increase the price of the product. I receive a commission from Amazon every time you do it, which can make a significant difference for me, especially now that I am working independently, exclusively for my media, rather than for someone else.
- Delivered full power at 47°C
- ATX v3.1 and PCIe CEM 5.1 compliant
- Protection features that are properly set
- Quiet operation under light and mid loads
- Decent build quality
- Within 1% load regulation at 5V and 3.3V
- Good ripple suppression
- Highly efficient 5VSB rail
- Increased efficiency under super light loads (2%)
- Well-performing APFC converter
- Long enough hold-up time
- Alternative Low Power Mode (ALPM) compatible
- FDB (Globe Fan) fan
- 12+4-pin PCIe connector set at 600W
- Efficiency under normal and light loads could be higher
- Loose load regulation at 12V
- Average transient response
- High leakage currents
- High inrush currents
- Increased vampire power consumption at 230V
- No fan failure protection
