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The Truth about Corsair PSUs

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  • Power Supplies
  • Components
  • Corsair
Last response: in Components
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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 8:53:08 PM

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?

More about : truth corsair psus

a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:04:31 PM

Good , AXi , AX , HX , TX VER 2.

Rest aren't good.
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a c 130 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:05:12 PM

IIRC, you pretty much have to be up in the TX/HX/AX area. Some of the RMs are OK, but some aren't.

They test fine when new usually, but the caps will fail quickly sending ripple out of spec.

Second link in my sig is a good reference.
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Related resources
June 30, 2014 9:06:55 PM

TechyInAZ said:
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?


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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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:08:18 PM

RM aren't very good in my opinion.
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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:08:57 PM

ok thx!! I don't want to keep recommending crappy psus to peeps. what do yall recommend for good but cheap psus?

What makes a PSU bad?
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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:09:47 PM

VS SERIES CX SERIES CS SERIES GS SERIES TX SERIES VER 2 RM SERIES HX SERIES AX SERIES AXi SERIES

Good units highlighted.
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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:12:22 PM

SR-71 Blackbird said:
VS SERIES CX SERIES CS SERIES GS SERIES TX SERIES VER 2 RM SERIES HX SERIES AX SERIES AXi SERIES

Good units highlighted.


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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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:14:04 PM

Someone Somewhere said:
Most of what Corsair does wrong is cheap capacitors.

Generally, anything from Antec, Seasonic, or XFX is good. Look through the second link in my sig.

Read this: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Why-99-Percent-o...


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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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:15:19 PM

Poor construction , mostly using bad caps the motto for a lot of Corsairs.

The good companies use Japanese caps all through their units.
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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:16:37 PM

If you want to learn a lot about power supplies go over to jonnyguru the authority on PSU's.
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Best solution

June 30, 2014 9:18:18 PM

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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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:18:51 PM

SR-71 Blackbird said:
If you want to learn a lot about power supplies go over to jonnyguru the authority on PSU's.


Ok, THANK YOU ALL!!!! It's been a long long time since I've ever had to look up a computer part I actually don't know a lot about LOL.

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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:19:45 PM

kulmnar said:
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.


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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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:25:17 PM

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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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:26:55 PM

CX Series

CX Series PC power supplies are an excellent choice for basic system builds and desktop PC computer upgrades. CX Series PSUs are available in a variety of power configurations, and include features that are normally found only on premium power supplies. < Not true
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a c 2489 ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:28:42 PM

Corsair CX , VS should be completely avoided.
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a b ) Power supply
June 30, 2014 9:34:30 PM

SR-71 Blackbird said:
CX Series

CX Series PC power supplies are an excellent choice for basic system builds and desktop PC computer upgrades. CX Series PSUs are available in a variety of power configurations, and include features that are normally found only on premium power supplies. < Not true


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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a c 311 ) Power supply
July 1, 2014 7:45:48 AM

TechyInAZ said:
ok thx!! I don't want to keep recommending crappy psus to peeps. what do yall recommend for good but cheap psus?

What makes a PSU bad?


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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a c 130 ) Power supply
July 1, 2014 7:53:45 AM

Yup. And you can get better stuff from other manufacturers for much the same price.
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a b ) Power supply
July 1, 2014 12:03:16 PM

Someone Somewhere said:
Yup. And you can get better stuff from other manufacturers for much the same price.


What do you recommend?
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a c 130 ) Power supply
July 1, 2014 9:27:56 PM

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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