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- Date:
- Wednesday, May 27, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Corsair HX850W Power Supply
Another week and another company coming in trying to show authority in what is probably the hardest PSU segment to hit a home run in; the 850 watt computer power supply. One has performed great, a few have done OK; where does Corsair fit into the mix?
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Corsair HX850W is the packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing and use more efficient.
The packaging of the Corsair HX850W fits in with the trend of all of the other Corsair units we have reviewed to date, however it recycles the accent color blue used on the HX1000W which happens to look well with a ASUS P6T6 motherboard. At this point, I guess this means we aren't going to see Mauve used for a unit anytime soon. As usual the packaging for the HX850W carries a fair amount of information about the unit that resides inside including the connector count, power label (which will be broken down below), fan noise level graph, an efficiency graph, and a number of marketing points. The efficiency graph and text indicates the unit peaks at just below 90% efficiency at 50% load at 120v which would certainly be impressive if true. However, the box lacks an 80Plus logo and the 80Plus website does not yet list the HX850W as being certified for any level of Climate Savers. I would imagine that this likely due to the unit being extremely new to the market (as in launching today).
Moving on, we notice that the unit’s packaging now advertises solid polymer capacitors, and DC-DC VRM's which we have seen previously in the HX1000W. Also included on the box, is a listing of all the connectors that the unit has complete with pictures in case they are confusing to you. Now different from the previous Corsair units we have reviewed is the fact this unit lists a warranty length of 7 years which is an excellent extension, however it does still trail some units Lifetime warranty. Still it is easy to say that 7 years IS a lifetime in this market.
The Corsair HX850W is a single 12v rail power supply from CWT and it shares this 12v arrangement with all of Corsair’s previous power supplies that we have reviewed (except for the HX1000W) including the TX850W. That single 12v rail is rated at 70A which makes it good for a possible ~99% of the unit’s total DC output capacity. To go with this 12v capacity the HX850W has upped the ante from the TX850W by including six modified 8-pin PCI-Express connectors. Continuing in this tradition of "oneupmanship" over the TX850W, the HX850W has twelve Molex connectors for peripherals and twelve SATA connectors good for powering your RAID array. Overall this setup is well appointed and gives this unit, in theory, a greater range of support than the TX850W as we would expect from the HX line which Corsair has positioned as their flagship line of power supplies.
Once we open the packaging of the HX850W we see the usual assortment of items including the power supply in a pouch, cables in their pouch, mounting screws, user manual, zip ties, and a case badge. The user manual is the same for both the HX750W and the HX850W and comes in eight languages spanning about five pages per language. The manual includes the power table, installation instructions, cable count, and warranty information. This is some of the desirable information in a manual, especially the warranty information, but it really isn't as complete as some other manuals we have seen that include all the electrical specifications and the pinouts. Additionally, we have lost the cable length measures in this manual which had been present in the TX850W manual. With the TX850W the manual was an area that Corsair was starting to lag behind certain members of their competition and with the HX850W this gap only grows larger today.