Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Bottom Line
If you don't have increased demands from your power supply and want to spend the least amount possible, the Corsair VS450 deserves a consideration. For starters it managed to survive all of my tests, including the super tough protection features testing, although I should note that I decided to terminate the over power protection evaluation earlier, once I saw bottom low voltages at +12V. The fact is that with $40 (£31) you shouldn't be extra picky, especially when it comes to a power supply.
It was a nice surprise to see a longer than 17ms hold-up time, given that in the majority of budget power supplies the bulk caps are undersized to restrict the cost. Moreover, the power ok signal is accurate. Corsair provides a three-year warranty to this product, so naturally its engineers have faith in this platform. Inside, only Teapo caps are used, which in general are considered of good quality.
If you install this unit into a chassis with a good airflow and manage to keep the internal temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius, it will easily outlive the provided warranty. However the quality of your mains grid plays a significant role in this, as well. If the power quality in your area isn't high enough (lots of power cuts and/or brownouts), then you better use a quality UPS to power not only the VS450, but every electronic device you have. Voltage surges and brownouts are a leading cause of PSU failure.
Given its budget orientation, the Corsair VS450 is a decent product. Personally I wouldn't buy such a low efficiency power supply, but there are still users out there that don't want to invest more, so there is a large market for low-efficiency PSUs. If you want something more efficient, costing only a few bucks/pounds more, you should take a look at the Corsair CX450 or the CX450M which comes with modular cables.
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: All Power Supply Content
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.
