Gigabyte is no stranger to PC components as the company has deep roots in the market with several reliable offerings. The new UD-850GM power supply is a solid option to consider if you're looking to build a mid to relatively high-end PC. It supplies stable, clean, and reliable power without breaking down or making too much noise by itself. We also like how compact the UD850GM really is compared to a lot of other similarly specced high-wattage power supply units. It's also a modular unit that comes with an 80 Plus Gold rating, which is what we expect from a PSU in this range.

You can easily pair this PSU with relatively high-end components for a solid gaming PC. We were able to run a test bench with Intel's new Alder Lake 12700K and RTX 2080 SUPER GPU and had no issues whatsoever. You may not have a significant headroom with an 850W PSU for future upgrades, though, so keep that in mind. That being said, 850W hits the sweet spot for a lot of PCs including the mainstream gaming rigs, and you can't go wrong with the Gigabyte UD850GM for $119.

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Navigate this review:

• Specifications
• Design & hardware
• Performance
• Should you buy it?

Specifications

Before we begin, let's take a quick look at the specifications of the Gigabyte UD850GM to find out what it brings to the table for its price

This particular power supply unit, as you can see, is suitable for ATX form-factor PCs. It comes with a single 120mm Hydraulic Bearing (HYB) fan for cooling and is rated for ~100,000 hours of Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), which is just about what we expect from most PSUs out there.

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Design & hardware

• Compact and fully modular design makes the UD850GM a great PSU to work with.
• The unit has a 120mm Hydraulic Bearing (HYB) fan for cooling and it keep the thermals in check for the most part.

One of the highlights of the UD850GM PSU is its compact form factor. Gigabyte has managed to reduce the length of this unit to 140mm, making it much more compact than a lot of ATX PSUs out there on the market. A typical ATX 850W PSU, in case you're wondering, measures around 160mm, so the UD850GM is definitely an improvement. This makes it very easy to install the UD850GM PSU in a lot of chassis without any clearance issues. Gigabyte has managed to reduce the overall size without making any compromises, which is great.

The UD850GM features a 120mm smart hydraulic bearing (HYB) fan. This 120mm unit is more than capable of keeping the internals cool, even when put under considerable load. We'll talk a bit more about the fan noise later in the review, but it's safe to say that it runs very quiet and you won't notice this PSU at all. The fan speed is also adjusted automatically thanks to the automatic power detection feature. It stops when the system is idle or under 20% load.

As is the case with all power supply units, the UD850GM unit itself is made out of metal. It's got an all-black paint job, so we think it'll look just fine with most PCs out there unless you're going with a white or pink PC case. The UD850GM is also fully modular, which means it's easy to manage the cable by adding only the ones you need for the build and leaving the rest of them in the box. For those of you who are curious, the Gigabyte UD850GM comes with the following cables inside the box:

• 1x 24-pin ATX
• 2x CPU (4+4 pins)
• 4x PCIe 6+2-pin
• 8x SATA
• 3x Peripherals

The included cables all have a decent amount of length, but unfortunately, Gigabyte isn't bundling cable combs with the PSU, so you'll have to buy them separately to keep everything looking neat and tidy inside the chassis. It's also worth pointing out that the UD850GM only comes with the standard PCIe power connector, not the +12VHPWR connector for PCIe 5.0 graphics cards. You'll have to buy the UD1000GM PSU to take advantage of the 16-pin power cable for the new and upcoming PCIe 5.0 graphics cards, so keep that in mind. Here's a quick look at all the connectors that you get with the UD850GM PSU:

Overall, we think Gigabyte has managed to do a pretty decent job with the design and the hardware. You're not particularly missing out on anything for the price. In fact, Gigabyte is offering a very compact PSU with a high-quality hydraulic bearing fan to keep the thermals in check. It is also fully modular, which means, it'll be easier to work with this PSU inside the chassis with minimal cable clutter.

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Performance

• The UD850GM comes with 80 Plus Gold rating for power efficiency.
• It manages to deliver steady power to all the components, even under extreme load.
• The PSU tends to get a little loud under extreme load, but it's not a deal-breaker as the temps are under the acceptable limits.

In order to test the UD850GM PSU to see how it holds up in the real world, we paired it with a modest test bench running an Intel Core i7-12700K, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GPU, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and a single M.2 SSD stick.

The Gigabyte UD850GM, as we mentioned earlier, is an 80 Plus Gold rated PSU which is what we recommend picking up for your PC. Sure, an 80 Plus Titanium PSU is going to be far more energy-efficient but those are usually reserved for high-end PSUs that also cost a lot of money. According to Gigabyte, the UD850GM features a single +12V rail to provide the best power output, stability, and compatibility. There are competing PSUs out there with multiple 12V rails for additional safety, but that's also usually reserved for high-end PSUs.

Efficiency Requirements for 80Plus Certification:

As for the testing, we were able to run different batches of both CPU and GPU stress tests to see how the PSU handles the load. We ran a series of Cinebench R23 test in loop and the suite of 3DMark benchmark to test both the CPU as well as the GPU. The idea is to push the limits of the components, forcing the PSU to operate at max load. The UD850GM managed to run all of our tests at without any issues. The +12V line was able to hold a steady 12V+ reading during full load and large fluctuations, so the system suffered from no stability issues or random reboots during the test run.

We used AIDA64 to measure the voltage readings while the PC was idling and under load.

We did notice that the fans kick in almost immediately, spinning at full speed to cope with the thermal load. That's completely normal for PSUs with automatic power detection feature. As for the temperature reading itself, we were able to record a temperature of around 55°C under full load, which is just about what we expected. The PSU noise peaked at around 45 dBA at max load. it could've been quieter but remember that we were also pushign the system to its limits while testing. It's also worth pointing out that the fan idles at less than 10% loads, and it makes almost no noise whatsoever.

Gigabyte has also added a lot of protection to ensure your system is operating stably at all times, with one of the most important ones being the “Over Power Protection” (OPP). The OPP safety feature is designed to shut down the unit when the power load exceeds the wattage the unit was designed to operate within. We weren't able to push the limits beyond 850W with our test bench, but the built-in OPP safety feature will prevent causing any damage to your components if the peak wattage can exceed the intended usage range.

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Should you buy the Gigabyte UD850GM PSU?

The Gigabyte UD850GM stands as a great option for many PC builders in 2022. We think the 850W spec hits the sweet spot for many builders, and the UD850GM comfortably sits in this space with its $119 price tag. But who is this PSU really for?

Who should buy the Gigabyte UD850GM PSU?

• Those who are looking to build a relatively high-end PC in 2022 with some powerful components
• Those who want to build a mid-range PC, but want enough power headroom for future upgrades.
• Those who want to buy a compact and fully modular PSU for their first PC build.

Who should not buy the Gigabyte UD850GM PSU?

• Don't buy this if you're building an extreme PC with powerful components like an RTX 3090 Ti and a Core i9-12900K CPU.
• Don't buy this if you want to upgrade to the next-gen PCIe 5.0 graphics card as the UD850GM still rocks the standard PCIe power connector, not the +12VHPWR one.

All things considered, it's safe to say that Gigabyte has a great mainstream PSU in the form of the UD850GM in 2022. Its compact and fully modular form factor makes it an ideal choice for many PC builders right now. Based on our testing, we also found it to be quite reliable in terms of the steady power supply even under heavy load. The 120mm fan also does a pretty good job of regulating the internal temperatures, while keeping the noise output low.

There's no shortage of 850W PSUs out there on the market right now, but we think the Gigabyte UD850GM PSU stands out with its form factor and palatable price tag. It goes head-to-head with other options in the market including the Corsair RM850X. The UD850GM is better as it'll fit into more PC cases and also has longer cables than the 850X. Not to mention, it's also relatively cheaper which means you can spend the extra on some other components including the CPU cooler, a good quality PC case, and more.

It misses out on the warranty front as Gigabyte only offers a limited 5 year warrnty as opposed to 10-years that you get with the competing products. It also varies by region, so keep that in mind.  If you're interested in checking out some other PSUs, then be sure to stop by our collection of the best power supply units to find more units from other manufacturers including Corsair, EVGA, and more.