The Truth about Corsair PSUs

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TechyInAZ

TechyInAZ

Titan
Jun 23, 2014
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Hey all! I've been recommending Corsair CX PSUs forever now since they are so cheap, however I've heard on multiple occasions that it isn't a good psu.

I would like to know which PSUs in corsairs linup are good and not good?
 
Solution
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Basically, poor capacitors and poor quality soldering lead to a PSU that is very sensitive to high temperatures. What this means is that for cheap PSUs, they can only deliver their rated wattage at a maximum of 25 or 30 degrees celcius. For more expensive PSUs, they can continue to deliver their rated wattage at up to 50 degrees celcius of internal temperature. Imagine running a cheap PSU in the summer, and then the PSU fails to deliver its rated wattage because it got hotter than 30 degrees. If you have a better quality PSU, the higher temperature would not lower its power output.
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Most Corsair PSUs are good. However, the CX series PSUs are made cheaply and should be avoided. The TX, HX, AX series are the ones you want.
 
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Got that.

but what makes a PSU bad, like what makes it cheap?

Also, what other PSUs (besides Corsair) do you recommend.

Sorry for my lack of knowledge on psus, it's just I know every other component of a PC far better than psus.
 
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Just what I was looking for thx!

I have a couple of other questions:

1, what does 80+ gold/bronze/platinum mean?
2, is EVGA a good psu brand?

EDIT: And one more, are the dual 12V rail psus the ones where your computer wakes up in less than a second?

I have a couple of old Corsair 750W TX psus (LOVE THEM! Keeps my Pentium D oc to 3.9ghz and gts 8800gts fed.) And my pc wakes up in a snap.
 
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Basically, poor capacitors and poor quality soldering lead to a PSU that is very sensitive to high temperatures. What this means is that for cheap PSUs, they can only deliver their rated wattage at a maximum of 25 or 30 degrees celcius. For more expensive PSUs, they can continue to deliver their rated wattage at up to 50 degrees celcius of internal temperature. Imagine running a cheap PSU in the summer, and then the PSU fails to deliver its rated wattage because it got hotter than 30 degrees. If you have a better quality PSU, the higher temperature would not lower its power output.
 
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Solution


I see thx! that explains why NONE of my workstations (built for clients) that have CX 430W psus haven't gone out, all the rooms are at a low temp. (except for one of those poor cx 430Ws, it got hit by a power surge.)

Now i'm debating who to pick as "best answer" since you all have such good answers.

I am also going to be building a new PC in less than a year, so I was debating whether or not just to use my old Corsair TX 750W PSU instead of spending $100 for a new 650W psu.
 
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The TX 750 will be fine. The corsair CX units are fine for casual gaming and are great for office computers / workstation but it is the users who overclock components on the CX power supplies.

The CX series and EVGA Bronze series are primarily there to prevent people from buying even more dangerous power supplies. Recommendations are also based upon what is on sale but keeping up with prices isn't too much fun, so double check pcpartpicker.com keeping in mind that some websites have shipping charges.

The EVGA 430B, 500B, CX430 and CX500 are for recommending to people who want a $20 to $25 power supply after rebates. The XFX TS 550 which is next in the list sometimes goes for $27 after $25 rebates.

Next comes the Seasonic made XFXs at 550 or 650 watts since they have quality capacitors and 5 year warranties and are on sale quite often. If they want a semi modular one then it is the Antec HCG 620m.

After that it is the EVGA G2 750, 850 or 1000 Watts since they have 10 year warranties and are made by superflower. The non-modular units start having way too many wires but I have XFX CORE 750 and I am fine with all the cables.

Corsairs are excellent at 750 Watts or higher but the prices are kind of crazy, but EVGA is coming out with 1300? and 1600 Watts power supplies.
 
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Ok, yeah the CX 430M works perfectly in workstations, however I wouldn't put a 750W CX in a high performance rig. With what you guys have told me.
 
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Hi - The use of cheap/inexpensive parts to achieve certain price points. Actually, sort of adds
credence to the "you get what you pay for" scenario.

However, as already mentioned above sometimes you don't get what you pay for, such as the RM
series using budget level caps in the secondary filtering stage, yet positioning & pricing the series as
"enthusiast" level (a step up from budget).
 
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In the case of the Corsair VS series, I'd be pointing people at Antec VP if they were really short on cash.

In the UK the XFX 450W is seriously cheap, and a good alternative to CX. In the US it's a bit harder; there isn't really any competition to the CX430, but some of Seasonic's low-output bronze ones are reasonably cheap. XFX Core 550W/650W for the rest, generally.
 
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