Early Verdict
A decent performing PSU with a pretty high warranty period for this category and enough wattage to meet the demands of a strong system. However it is outperformed by the CX650M which is equipped with the same amount of EPS and PCIe connectors and costs less. Only if you need more SATA and peripheral connectors the CX750M should be preferred over the smaller model.
Pros
- +
Price
- +
Full power at 46°C
- +
Ripple suppression
- +
5VSB efficiency
- +
4x PCIe & 1x EPS connectors
- +
Warranty
Cons
- -
Efficiency
- -
Sleeve-bearing fan
- -
Hold-up time
- -
3.3V rail performance in Advanced Transient Response tests
- -
Inrush current with 115V input
- -
Distance between peripheral connectors
- -
Fan speed at light loads could be lower
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Corsair CX750M Power Supply Review
All of Corsair's CX and CX-M units are made by Channel Well Technology, an OEM that keeps close ties with the company. Basically, the CX and CX-M models are based on a custom platform made specifically for Corsair. It's even probable that Corsair's PSU engineering team helped CWT with the design. And that's why you won't find this platform used anywhere else except in Corsair products.
The CX750M and flagship CX850M use a different platform than the other CX-M power supplies, including the recently-reviewed CX650M. Moreover, Corsair upgraded the CX-M family last year by increasing the capacity of certain models (the CX600M became the CX650M, for example) and upping the temperature rating from 30ºC to 40ºC.
The CX750M features 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency and, in order to keep production cost down, semi-modular cabling with only the pair of absolutely essential cables (ATX and EPS) being native. Even if you hate native cables, it's hard to get around the fact that you'd need those two in any build.
In our opinion, the new CX-M line's most significant advantage compared to the old versions is its higher temperature rating, which means higher-tolerance parts are used to improve reliability. This also extends lifetime, and Corsair responds by giving the new CX-M models five-year warranties instead of the old three-year coverage. That's a big deal in this budget category, and it must be creating headaches for the competition. We'd suggest they collectively match Corsair's warranty, but of course their platforms need to be reliable enough to support such a move.
Specifications
Besides its 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency, semi-modular cabling, and 40°C temperature rating for continuous full-load delivery, the CX750M also sports compact dimensions, given its 16cm depth.
Corsair's suite of protection features is fairly basic. The CX750M lacks over-current protection for the +12V rail, along with over-temperature protection. The company claims this model is covered by OTP, but we failed to find evidence of it during our tests, even when we applied a particularly taxing thermal load to the secondary side. We believe OTP is immensely important to PSUs with temperature ratings lower than the ATX specification's recommended 50°C. Moreover, we've seen a lot of PSU failures owing to a lack of OTP.
The CX650M uses a 120mm fan, while the CX750M employs a 140mm fan provided by Yate Loon. The D14SH-12 is a sleeve-bearing fan, and given the lack of a semi-passive mode, we can't help but wonder whether it will survive the five-year warranty period in systems that run all day. Corsair must have looked into this before upping its warranty duration, though.
Power Specifications
| Rail | 3.3V | 5V | 12V | 5VSB | -12V | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. Power | Amps | 25 | 25 | 62 | 3 | 0.8 |
| Watts | 130 | 744 | 15 | 9.6 | ||
| Total Max. Power (W) | 750 |
The single +12V rail is quite strong, boasting 62A maximum current output. The same goes for the minor rails with 130W max. combined power. Finally, the 5VSB rail provides enough juice to meet most demands. On top of that, its OCP triggering point is set high, so it will handle easily transient loads.
Cables And Connectors
| Native Cables | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Cable Count | Connector Count (Total) | Gauge |
| ATX connector 20+4 pin (580mm) | 1 | 1 | 18AWG |
| 4+4 pin EPS12V (640mm) | 1 | 1 | 18AWG |
| Modular Cables | |||
| Description | Cable Count | Connector Count (Total) | Gauge |
| 6+2 pin PCIe (600mm+150mm) | 2 | 4 | 18AWG |
| SATA (450mm+120mm+120mm+120mm) | 2 | 8 | 18AWG |
| Four-pin Molex (450mm+100mm+100mm) / FDD (+100mm) | 2 | 6 / 2 | 18AWG |
Corsair's cable length is satisfactory and the distance between PCIe and SATA connectors is sufficient. However the four-pin Molex connectors are too close to each other; the components that need them are typically installed farther apart. This could be a problem.
We'd also prefer if Corsair provided the FDD connectors in adapter form. At least the number of PCIe and peripheral connectors is pretty high, especially for this price category. It would be nice if there was a second EPS cable you could use instead of the PCIe one. That'd facilitate compatibility with high-end motherboards requiring more than one EPS connector.
Power Distribution
Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.
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