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Corsair's PSU engineering team continues delivering good products. The HX1000i uses a semi-digital platform provided by CWT, featuring top-notch quality and high-end parts. Nowadays, it is not easy to find electronic components, especially MCUs and Japanese capacitors, at reasonable prices, because of the pandemic and the excess demands of the electric cars industry.
With the cost of electricity going through the roof, in Europe at least, we expect a decline in the sales of electric cars, so shortages in electronic parts might cool off a bit, which will help the IT market. On top of that, the sky-high cost of electric power will also push the sales of highly efficient PSUs (Platinum and higher). The HX1000i has high average efficiency, and its capable PF converter significantly minimizes energy losses.
We expected a bit higher overall performance from the HX1000i, and the lack of a 12VHPWR connector is a con. Nonetheless, Corsair will rush to update the platform to render it ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 ready, and we believe that it will also provide a PCIe 5.0 cable to users that got the initial version. We are in a transition phase right now, and it would be wise to invest in a PCIe 5.0 compatible PSU to be as future-proof as possible.
The MSI MEG Ai1000P is a good alternative, featuring the highly desired PCIe 5.0 connector. Nonetheless, NVIDIA's stated that the RTX 4000 GPUs won't require ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 ready PSUs to operate, which will be a relief for users that don't want to change their PSUs.
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Disclaimer: Aris Mpitziopoulos is Tom's Hardware's PSU reviewer. He is also the Chief Testing Engineer of Cybenetics and developed the Cybenetics certification methodologies apart from his role on Tom's Hardware. Neither Tom's Hardware nor its parent company, Future PLC, are financially involved with Cybenetics. Aris does not perform the actual certifications for Cybenetics.
