A Closer Look:

This has to be one of the very few power supplies that I've seen to arrive shrink-wrapped - a measure which I suppose is helpful to tell if the product really has been opened, as well as keeping the greasy fingerprints off of the box of, and subsequently the power supply inside. After all, in a product such as this which will weigh so heavily on visual impressions at the start, it's important that each user receive their unit in pristine condition - something which the thick but soft foam padding, plastic bag, and cardboard inset will surely help out.

In terms of power supply boxes, the ES800 comes parceled up in something of rather standard fare; and though the graphics are tasteful, the colors modern, the picture of the unit on the front of the box pristine - and the specifications listed across the back most helpful; it just seems a little plain. Then again, it's all the information that you could possibly want, and will need from a power supply, so it's very good to see BFG covering the information bases well here.

Now, though the unit's packaging may seem a little plain, what lurks inside the box is actually much, much more impressive. If you were to ignore the silky smooth, perfectly reflective finish, or the fact that the sleeving scoots all the way into the housing, there would still be things to make note of. The very first of which is the BFG logo on the side of the PSU - with the rising popularity of cases with an inverted power supply, many units end up with the manufacturer's logo upside down - not in the case of BFG. You'll always see the crosshairs facing the right way up. It's small touches of detail like this, and the switch marked as On / Off rather than 0 / 1, which show the thought put into this unit. Hell, even the fact that there are 5 velcro ties in the package to help route cables is a nice touch.

One of the benefits of owning any well made, modern high end power supply is the bevy of connection options open to the user. While the inclusion of only 6 SATA, as well as 6 Molex connectors is a bit of a downer, considering the popularity, availability, and ease of adding modern drive, it's balanced off by the two included 6+2 and 6 Pin PCI-E connectors. Along with these, there is a 20+4 Pin connector for the ATX plug, though oddly enough an 8 pin and 4 pin power connector available for the motherboard - why BFG chose not to split these two plugs up is beyond me - perhaps to alleviate the frustration that comes from the two little plugs breaking apart in closed quarters. Also included as perhaps a tribute is a single mini Molex or "floppy" power connector - which is now, finally, starting to see it's final days.

Performance:

System Spec:
- Intel E8400 @ 4GHz 1.42v
- ASUS P5K-E WiFi AP @ 479FSB
- 4x1GB Kingmax Mars DDR2-1066 @ 1129, 2.1v
- 2x ATI Radeon HD4850 @ 650/1075
- 5x Hard Drives, and a Bevy of Fans.

In order to adequately test the performance of a power supply, you need two things - a test you can always repeat, and a method which neatly categorizes all data collected during the run. Thankfully, we have both. Testing is performed by simultaneously running 3DMark '06 and OCCT 2.0.0a over the course of a 30 minute test. In order to keep the videocards under load, the Canyon test in 3DMark2006 test is given 19 loops, at the stock settings - this drops back to the desktop just in time for OCCT's monitoring phase. The result of this are graphs which show how the voltages of the PSU's rails - 12v, 5v, 3.3v and vCore fluctuate - and naturally, the less they do this, the better. That being said, it's time to go onto the hybrid graphs!

Conclusion: