Why bad opinions on Corsair CX series, especially CX430?

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

Checked out some reviews on HardwareSecrets and JonnyGuru for the CX430, and they're of the opinion that this PSU is a fairly decent model to put in your build. So why do people here have negative opinions about this PSU? I personally use it, and so far I haven't had any issues with it. Perhaps the important bit here is that I have had it since November, so around 11 months, but for that period I didn't find any flaws with it, and a definite improvement over my older generic 450W power supply. I am running a Core 2 Duo e4600(65W) CPU and a Gainward GTX650(64W) GPU off of it.

MeteorsRaining · Oct 3, 2014

The PSU is fine as long as its not under heavy load, where the cheap capacitors used come into limelight. They easily melt on high loads, resulting in the negative reviews. You're only pulling around 150W off the PSU, if you planned on putting a 250-300W load, it'd cause ripples, on 350W+ loads, it'd just fail.

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

It has been shown to deliver consistent 430W in reviews.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Corsair-CX430-V2-Power-Supply-Review/1284/7

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

The CX Series uses cheap capacitors , I personally had two CX 500 's fail on me in under 6 months.

Only the VS series is lower quality in the Corsair lineup.

GhislainG · Oct 3, 2014

It's fine for your system and you shouldn't worry about it as it will last for a long time. If you had a powerful system drawing 400W or more at peak, then you'd want to buy a more efficient and powerful PSU.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

Here are the 5 models with the highest return rates during the time period: 2013.

- 3,64% Corsair Gaming Series GS600
- 3,59% Corsair CX500 V2
- 3,59% Corsair CX600 V2
- 3,39% FSP (Fortron) HEXA 500
- 3,31% Seasonic S12II-520

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

What kinds of load were you providing to the PSU?

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

So the S12II-520W isn't good? I was considering that for my next build.
Which Seasonic should I go with then? I'm planning a 970 and a i5-4670k.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

The S12II-520W is a decent supply but not great , I only buy EVGA models that are made by Super Flower.

MeteorsRaining · Oct 3, 2014

SeaSonic made XFX pro 550W would be a good choice.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

Super Flower is number 1 on the market.

EVGA , B2 , G2 , P2 , and T2 are made by them and are the best out there.

MeteorsRaining · Oct 3, 2014

Yep, was just suggesting a 'SeaSonic' PSU as OP asked

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

XFX only sell graphics cards in India that are considered crap.
I have Corsair, Antec, Seasonic as my choices(besides a lot of Z's that we're seeing in another thread).

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

The Seasonic G series is real good.

MeteorsRaining · Oct 3, 2014

Not the best quality wise, but even Antec VP550P would do the job.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

My last 3 supplies are 2 - 850w EVGA G2's and 1000w P2 EVGA.

nukemaster · Oct 3, 2014

The problem with cheap caps is they tend to fail with time/load and heat. Not all 85 or 105c caps are rated for the same run time either.

Reviews may not push them hard long enough to show this.

A case with a bottom mounted power supply and power friendly systems can still live quite a long time on these less than ideal power supplies.

In the end, you have a very power friendly system. I have been running my i5 750 + gtx 650ti(started with a 5770) system for over 4 years on a 300 watt(22 amps @ 12 volts) power supply.

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

So what should I be looking for in a system with a i5 4670k(I don't overclock, but the 4670 isn't available) and a GTX 970(probably overkill, but who can tell?) system? Should draw around 240W combined excluding everything else on the +12V rail, right? So technically, even a S12II 430 is enough.
Is the S12II 520 enough for such a system? I might want to overclock the GPU though.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

650w .

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $49.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 17:56 EDT-0400

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

I'm not looking to add another 970 in SLI if that's what you're assuming.
Also, XFX power supplies are not available.
Only Corsair, Antec, Seasonic.

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

Seasonic 650.

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

S12II 620 will do?

Dark Lord of Tech · Oct 3, 2014

Sure that would be a good range to be at.

cst1992 · Oct 3, 2014

OK great.

Steve James · Nov 2, 2014

got a brand new CX430 (V2.3) recently for only $15 after rebate and I knew they weren't just giving these things away, there had to a be a catch. I opened it up and I was right, it's full of Capxon and Jun-Fu capacitors. The primary power cap is a Nippon Chemi-Con but it's only 185uF which is too low for 430 watts. So it was designed to die after the warranty expires under normal loads. If you use this for gaming it will probably last a year if you're lucky. There is no heat sink on the bridge rectifier and I wouldn't be surprised if it caught on fire while playing Battlefied. What's also disturbing is the 3300uF cap that powers the CPU and other things. It's a Capxon GF series and they are well known for being terrible caps. I'm surprised Corsair is still using those. I immediately yanked out all those junk caps and put in Nichicons and Panasonics, and also put a heat sink on the rectifier. This is a great power supply if you upgrade it. I would only buy it on a MIR. no way would I pay $45 for it

Why bad opinions on Corsair CX series, especially CX430?

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