PSU tier list 2.0

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I spend a fair amount of time here helping people with their systems. One power supply series is so bad, that it is literally the most often problem people are showing up with. It is easily 10 times the trouble all other power supplies combined are.

And that is the Corsair CX power supplies. These things seem to work ok for most people as long as the load on the power supply is light. But within days of adding a video card that should still leave enough spare capacity to not be a problem, people start experiencing random power outages, which seems to corrupt the BIOS and boot sectors far more often than what should be happening.

I do not know how this list is maintained or what the rules are, but this series of power supplies needs to be dropped from Tier 3 to at least Tier 4, and if it was my choice, I would move it to Tier 5. Corsair has to know the problems that exist with these things, yet they just keep pumping them out. I used to have a pretty good image of Corsair, but if they will sell junk like this, I want nothing to do with them.
 
There has already been significant conversation on the placement of the CX series in this thread and the discussion in the version 1 tier list. It's been beaten like a dead horse. I'd suggest you read the discussions in their entirety. Corsair CX series units are in tier 3 because they are suitable for mainstream units which do not place a high demand on the supply. They work find when used as such and most of us simply notify users that we don't recommend them for use with gaming cards or overclocking. I'd suggest you do the same.
 
Well, in that case the wording of Tier 3 should be changed to say that. Right now it makes it sound like those are great units for everything but a bitcoin powerhouse or a really seriously overclocked system. And that is not what I am seeing.

I am seeing people that finally are upgrading from something like a 750ti to a 970, still 100+ watts spare capacity left, not over clocking at all, and boom, the power supply starts causing absolute chaos on their systems. And I am talking about corrupted BIOS's, boot disks that are no longer recognised, and so on. All because a power supply that Corsair sells uses crappy parts, and even this list is not warning people about these units.
 
I agree the wording should either be changed or a couple of those units dropped a tier, but criticism is easy for us when we're not the ones who've had to put the work in on that list in the first place. I'm ok with it where it is, but wouldn't mind seeing units like the VP-450 go back into a sub-category of tier 2 like it was before since although it has no PFC circuit, it's still more reliable than those CX units. And I'd also include the statement that those tier 3 units, while perhaps acceptable as a last resort for a gaming/overclocked rig, are not recommended choices for that purpose. Again, easy for us to say and there's always going to be somebody who dissents with where you put anything on a tier list so I don't think it's a giant issue.
 
@ markW - I think that the reason we see so many problems with these is related to how many of them are sold. Corsair sells so many of them that it's only logical that we'd see more people having problems. If the defective units found were disproportionate to the amount being sold then we might want to rethink the position on the tier list.
 

That is information we would never have. Only Corsair would have the numbers, and especially with a headache like the CX series they would never want the number of units sold vs the replaced units to be known in public.

In the case of the Corsair CX series, I find the parts in red below to be false.

Tier Three
Some Haswell compatible, some not (maybe unconfirmed). Still safe to use and stable, just lower quality components. Some capacitors maybe Japanese, but can include the Taiwanese capacitors. Not really ideal in serious overclocking or super-high load situations, such as a Bitcoin mining rig or a high end gaming system.

No 500 watt power supply should begin to randomly drop power when <= 400 watts is being drawn from it. And that is happening with these.
 
Do you have documented proof of that? I am in no way a proponent of the CX, CS, RM or VS units, CX in particular, and almost ALWAYS advise against them in new builds, but it would also be hard to go against the reviews of some very reputable reviewers in designating the units are even further down the food chain than already outlined.
 
Yes, I have seen problems with all of those series. But like I said earlier, the CX units that I have dealt with here are at least 10 times everything else combined, even the rest of the corsair models. And yes, I suspect the capacitors. But while I dabbled in electronics when I was younger, I am not an engineer. So I have to trust what these people are saying when they come here about what is going on with their systems. And there have been enough of these people all pretty much experiencing the same problems that I do trust them. A few of them have purchased Tier 1 or 2 power supplies as a result of what me and others have said to them, and things returned to normal for them.

When I started helping more awhile back, in my mind, Corsair was a company that I trusted and respected. Not because I had owned any of their products, but because of what I had heard about their products. I know every company has products that fail. it happens to the best of companies.

But what I have seen from these Corsair CX units, you could not get me to buy anything from Corsair today even if you paid me to take it. I feel like they have to know there are serious problems with these CX units, and they just keep pumping them out, and people probably see Corsair as a respected company like I did, and they buy the unit expecting it to be a good quality power supply. And then later on, they save up enough money to finally get a better video card, and the power supply blindsides them.

And even for the few people that do come here to check this list before they buy one of these units, they would clearly get the wrong impression of these units. I mean these units are anything but safe and stable. They cannot even function properly when there should still be 100+ watts of spare capacity in far too many cases.

The biggest problem though is that what we are telling people about these power supplies is not being backed up by the Tier 3 description in this list. For these CX units, the Tier 4 description would be much more accurate. And it would backup what we are telling them in the forums when they come for help.
 


These statements I can agree with wholeheartedly. Aside maybe from Corsair's cases and memory, which I've not had any significant issues with nor seen any unusual patterns regarding aside from extremely low end cases, which is what you expect when you pay less than 30 bucks for a case.

I will not buy, nor recommend, any Corsair CX, CS, RM or VS unit for the exact reasons you've outlined and the extremely high number of threads which I've seen resolved due to the replacement of one of those units. AND, the fact is that in most those cases, the units were not more than a year old, and most were far less.
 


What exactly keeps the C series among others from being tier 4? As far as I understand they should be.
 
I can't answer that, as this is not my tier list. Dottorent has better answers than I do. Mostly, likely the fact that JonnyGuru and other sites haven't said it's a total POS, which isn't surprising since Jonny works for Corsair. I don't think that's reflected in Dottorents tiering though as other review sites have given the units somewhat passable grades as well. I fully believe Corsair sends them hand picked units, plus, I think if a review of those units was done after they were used for about six months, we'd see terribly different scoring in those reviews.
 
I think this could make for an industry changing article if Toms were to tackle it head on. Something where various brands and models of power supplies were tested after being used for 6 months to a year to see what happens and how things change, and include the good, the bad, and the really nasty uglies!
 
Seems likely and Jonny working for Corsair is not going to help the review ether. It will make it too biased. If you watch linus's review he idols Corsair CX Builder as the ultimate power supply. I do feel bad for people that get them and try to overclock or run stressed apps and then the PSU dies or another part is not working properly. By all means the only thing from what I can see that is "decent" about it is the fact that it is semi modular and looks decent. But looks can kill as everyone knows from the diablotek POS review: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=187 & http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=164 & http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=204 & http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=174.... so on. After reading these crappy reviews I would not be the first to say lets get a SeaSonic or even a bad looking Antec. The CX seems to rise everyone's hopes then after getting it and actually using it their hopes drop. False advertising on Corsairs part gets their C series, RM, and VS units on my never get list. You never might know the quality they would spit out.
 
Linus is well paid in sponsorships and goodies. He's unlikely to knock anything that doesn't fall apart right out of the box. Can't stand that guy, professionally speaking. On a personal note he might be the nicest guy you ever met but I rarely trust his "opinions". He does very good at making complex concepts understandable for noobs though.
 
I "dislike" the idea of getting paid to do reviews. It is too biased. Linus is too much of a "sheep" to see the difference.

Also I do enjoy some of his videos and basic reviews. It goes back to some un-boxings but for quality and actual tests I do not trust a thing. I do like some of his videos like the Xeon vs i7 video like the one I had included in my tutorial: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2716807/guide-cpus-common-misconceptions.html
 
I just went and read the review on JonnyGuru.com for the Corsair CX750M...

It is amazing that for a unit that shut all the way down in the hot box, had horrible soldering, second tier capacitors, yet can be described as being "a decent performing 650 watt unit with a 750 watt number on the side. But this unit is not targeted at us enthusiasts, it's aimed at the budget crowd."

This thing was total crap when it was brand new. But he tried to find a way to make it smell like roses.

How much would the industry change if these reviewers would call a total piece of crap "a total piece of crap"? As long as they keep trying to find ways of making junk sound good, the companies will gladly keep making them.

I just lost all faith in what JonnyGuru.com posts on power supplies.
 


uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
wow is only what I can say.
 
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