Corsair Power Supply Units Roundup

[burebista]

@XBit Labs.
Sorry Oleg, this is second strike after your last round-up where BFG ES-800 was smashed. Now it's HX1000's turn

The highest-wattage model was a bit of disappointment. Like Thermaltake’s power supplies based on the same platform, the HX1000W could not deliver stable output voltages. As a result, it could not deliver the promised 1000 watts of output power, either.

After SKYMTL says

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect product but this power supply is so damn close to perfection, reviewing it was an almost religious experience.

OW says

Well, I don't know about Corsair's standards, but they sure have met my own standards with this unit. It's going to take a whole lot to top this unit, and I think I'm going to be drooling over that 60 degree number for quite some time.

Paul says

The HX1000W features very good voltage regulation, excellent DC output quality, a good noise profile given the units capacity, and an amazing build quality that features solid capacitors on the secondary. With an MSRP of $279 the Corsair HX1000W is not only one of the best performing 1000w+ power supplies we have seen to date but certainly the best built consumer 1000w power supply in this price range, if not overall.

Lee says

The new HX1000W modular power supply is one of the best 1,000W PC power supplies we have tested to date. The HX1000W PSU provides excellent voltage regulation and delivers clean outputs with very good efficiency. As if that weren’t enough, the HX1000W does it’s job quietly, is 80Plus and NVIDIA Triple SLI certified, and comes backed with a 5-year warranty and 24/7 support. Highly recommended!

I probably take almost everything on XBit with a grain of salt. I'm disappointed.

[Travis]

This time the problem appears in two aspects: large 50Hz pulsation in +12V output (strange),
and out-of-spec +3.3V voltage under heavy load, not only under heavy crossload condition but under all heavy load condition (I don't know how the load is splitted between +5V and +3.3V).
I think in Paul's test the +3.3V regulation is only mediocre. However in Lee's test when 16A load is put on +3.3V under full load, the voltage only drop by 3%(=0.1V). Maybe something's wrong with the measurement or the +3.3V voltage feedback wire on ATX 24P connector.

So 2 questions are unanswered.

Oleg doesn't have to repeat what other reviewers have already said, but I'm interested in the reason why the results differed so much.

[Smirnoff]

They must have gotten a flaky unit, or then maybe they just did it wrong. I can't see why a HX1000 would behave like that, after seeing so many other glowing reviews.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

He possibly crossloaded the two 12V rails - this unit is sensitive to that. I had to completely isolate the two 12V rails from each other to test my sample, or I got out of spec ripple.

[Smirnoff]

Ok, but would that have any bearing on every day use? After all, he does say the user won't get a full 1000W out of the unit because of it.

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

Ok, but would that have any bearing on every day use? After all, he does say the user won't get a full 1000W out of the unit because of it.

Nope. The +12V circuits are kept isolated on a motherboard (why a PC won't post without a 4-pin or 8-pin attached because it can't get power from anywhere else) so they should be isolated during testing.

[Spectre]

The units that usual DC-DC VRM's typically have worse 3.3v and 5v voltage regulation than independently regulated units in my experience. As for the rest of his findings, I have to wonder how he loaded it and if he paid attention to what his total loads were per 12v power supply given the minor rails are regulated off of the 12v rails. After all that unit is just 2 12v power supplies (and +5vsb) in one housing.

[gemini]

talking about corsair, have any of you guys heard of the newly appeared corsair cx400? manufacturer maybe?
http://www.corsair.com/products/cx400.aspx

[Redbeard]

Originally Posted by gemini

talking about corsair, have any of you guys heard of the newly appeared corsair cx400? manufacturer maybe?
http://www.corsair.com/products/cx400.aspx

It's a Seasonic-built 400W unit, fairly similar to our existing products but with a few small changes. The primary caps aren't 105C, they're 85C, but they're still spec'd to reliable brands (Nippon Chemicon, Rubycon, etc). It's also rated at 40C spec, and should be fairly inexpensive.

It's basically designed as an entry-level unit for people who don't really need huge amounts of power.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by gemini

talking about corsair, have any of you guys heard of the newly appeared corsair cx400? manufacturer maybe?
http://www.corsair.com/products/cx400.aspx

Looks interesting. The webpage indicates a 3 year warranty and rated at 40c.