Reviews - Corsair CX430 430W power supply
Sample Provided by: Corsair (By jonny on Mon, Jan-03-2011)

Page 2 - Load testing

First, we'll run the power supply in an open air environment. The office is about 18°C this time of year. I've programmed the load tester to run 10 tests. 8 are gradual loads and two of them are what's called "cross loads". A cross load is when you load a particular rail or rails while leaving another rail relatively unloaded. Test 0 is with the power supply off, but a load on the +5VSB. This tells us how efficient the power supply is when the PC is "off".

Corsair CX430 COLD load tests

Test #

+3.3V

+5V

+12V

+5VSB

DC Watts/
AC Watts

Eff.

Power
Factor

Intake/
Exhaust

Simulated system load tests

Test
0

0A

0A

0A

2A

10W/
12.6W

79%

.53

18°C/
19°C

     

5.04V

Test
1

1.4A

1.4A

2A

1.5A

43.2W/
61.5W
70%
.94
18°C/
20°C

3.34V

5.12V

12.06V

5.06V

Test
2

2.9A

2.9A

4.5A

1.5A

85.8W/
110.1W

78%

.96

18°C/
21°C

3.33V

5.10V

12.06V

5.05V

Test
3

4.3A

4.3A

7.1A

1.5A

128.9W/
158.4W

81%

.96

18°C/
21°C

3.33V

5.08V

12.08V

5.05V

Test
4

5.8A

5.8A

9.7A

1.5A

172.8W/
209.2W

83%

.97

19°C/
23°C

3.32V

5.06V

12.10V

5.04V

Test
5

7.2A

7.2A

12.3A

1.5A

215.7W/
260.2W

83%

.98

19°C/
24°C

3.32V

5.04V

12.12V

5.04V

Test
6

8.7A

8.7A

14.9A

1.5A

258.4W/
313.8W

82%

.98

19°C/
27°C

3.31V

5.03V

12.01V

5.02V

Test
7

11.6A

11.6A

20A

1.5A

342.8W/
423.6W

81%

.99

19°C/
29°C

3.29V

4.99V

12.00V

5.00V

Test
8

14.4A

14.4A

25.2A

1.5A

427.1W/
538.5W

79%

.99

19°C/
26°C

3.28V

4.95V

11.98V

5.00V

Test
CL1

14.4A

14.4A

2A

0A

142.2W/
188.5W

75%

.97

20°C/
27°C

3.31V

4.86V

12.42V

5.06V

Test
CL2

0A

0A

28A

0A

305.5W/
371.3W

82%

.99

20°C/
28°C

3.32V

5.54V

10.95V

5.06V

Test 0 shows us this power supply is pretty efficient at stand by. Load test 2, 5 and 8 are 20%, 50% and 100% loads. These are the loads that need to be at least 80% efficient in order to get 80 Plus certification. Despite Corsair's claim that this unit is 80 Plus certified, we can see that at 20% and 100% load, we certainly are not at order over 80% efficient.

Our +3.3V regulation is good, the +5V dropped 3% which is border line and the +12V is good at only 1%. During our crossload tests, we see the +12V going out of specification on both the high and low side and the +5V increases to an out of spec voltage when unloaded. This tells us this PSU is group regulated before we even get to open it up. We don't ding power supplies for this behavior since these loads are very unrealistic, although I do like to see a power supply shut itself down when voltages go this far out of spec.

Let's see what the oscilloscope has to show us...

Oscilloscope Measurements for Corsair CX430

Test #

+3.3V

+5V

+12V

+5VSB

Test 1 (+5VSB Only)

Test 2

Test 3

Test 4

Test 5

Test 6

Test 7

Test 8

Test 9 (CL 1)

Test 10 (CL2)

It looks like ripple and noise is very well behaved here.

Now for the hot load tests. What we do here is take the heat from the load and pump it back into the power supply. Since this PSU is only a 430W, I don't expect it to get too hot. The more power you put out, the more heat you get.

Corsair CX430 HOT load tests

Test #

+3.3V

+5V

+12V

+5VSB

DC Watts/
AC Watts

Eff.

Power
Factor

Intake/
Exhaust

Simulated system load tests

Test
1

1.4A

1.4A

2A

1.5A

43.2W/
60.2W
72%
.94
24°C/
26°C

3.34V

5.12V

12.05V

5.03V

Test
2

2.9A

2.9A

4.5A

1.5A

85.8W/
108.8W

79%

.96

24°C/
26°C

3.33V

5.10V

12.03V

5.03V

Test
3

4.3A

4.3A

7.1A

1.5A

128.8W/
157.5W

82%

.96

25°C/
28°C

3.33V

5.08V

12.02V

5.04V

Test
4

5.8A

5.8A

9.7A

1.5A

172.4W/
208.5W

83%

.97

26°C/
30°C

3.32V

5.07V

12.02V

5.04V

Test
5

7.2A

7.2A

12.3A

1.5A

214.9W/
259.2W

83%

.98

28°C/
33°C

3.31V

5.05V

12.01V

5.03V

Test
6

8.7A

8.7A

14.9A

1.5A

258.4W/
313.1W

83%

.98

29°C/
35°C

3.31V

5.03V

12.01V

5.02V

Test
7

11.6A

11.6A

20A

1.5A

342.7W/
423.5W

81%

.99

31°C/
39°C

3.29V

4.99V

11.99V

5.01V

Test
8

14.4A

14.4A

25.2A

1.5A

427.0W/
540.2W

79%

.99

33°C/
43°C

3.28V

4.95V

11.98V

5.00V

Test
CL1

14.4A

14.4A

2A

0A

142.2W/
188.5W

75%

.97

32°C/
39°C

3.31V

4.85V

12.43V

5.06V

Test
CL2

0A

0A

28A

0A

304.2W/
370.0W

82%

.99

32°C/
38°C

3.32V

5.56V

10.90V

5.06V

Not much changes in our results when we run it in the hot box. The temperatures got a bit hotter than I expected, but the unit remained well behaved and the fan really didn't get too loud. So other than lack luster efficiency, we're finding the CX430 to be a pretty decent unit for the money. Let's open it up and check out the build quality now.



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