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What can I say about the Cooler Master 850W power supply?

For one, I was quite impressed with its stability during CrossFire testing. It isn't often that we see a power supply that has such minor variations between its idle and load phases. That being said, the Cooler Master 850W could defiantly tame even the most demanding of rigs. Whether it be CrossFire or SLI, the Cooler Master RS-850-EMBA screams "Bring it on!"

Now I did take a quick peek at the ATI CrossFire Certified Power Supply listings, but didn't see the RS-850-EMBA anywhere. In fact, I didn't see any Cooler Master power supplies in the list. Perhaps ATI is dragging its heels on certifying PSUs for its CrossFire platform. Regardless of whether or not the Cooler Master 850W is on some list or not, the simple fact remains that it passed our CrossFire testing procedures.  The Real Power Pro IS on the SLI certified list however for the G80 no less.

It's pretty silent, despite that little buzzing sound it was making. Though its larger size probably wouldn't bode too well in a mid-tower case design. I'm not saying it's impossible, just that a power supply this big demands a case to match. Hey, I'm certain that Cooler Master would have a big enclosure to fit this beast.

In the end, the Cooler Master RS-850-EMBA 850W power supply is a must for the true hardware enthusiast. If you're someone who lives for RAID arrays full of drives, dual graphics card configurations and a typhoon full of fans, then 850 watts is where you'll want to start. And if you're an overclocker, then you know how important proper voltages are.

The only consideration that has me thinking twice is the $260 USD price tag. That's the asking price for a really good motherboard, or a graphics card or some mid range processor. But in greater consideration, if one were to be building a rig with $1000 worth of graphics bliss, $500 in processor power, so on and so forth with the expensive parts, then shelling out $260 USD probably isn't too much of a big deal. Considering especially that you'd like all of those high end parts to run at their peak of performance.

For the most loaded of rigs, the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W RS-850-EMBA is the way to go.