Corsair AX750 80 Plus Gold: Putting Corsair's Best to the Test
by Martin Kaffei on November 30, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- PSUs
- 80Plus Gold
- 750W
Conclusion
The Corsair AX750 is the best PSU Corsair sells at the moment, and it shows. It has no problems reaching 80 Plus Gold levels, and with 230VAC it even exceeds Gold requirements. 91% at 50% load is not too shabby.
When you open the Corsair PSU you can see a clean Seasonic design with all solid capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con, a well chosen line filtering stage in the entrance (Delta), and many surface mounted devices on the PCB. A modern Champion IC in combination with an Infineon switcher are a very common picture for high-end PSUs and deliver a proven quality. ZVS and DC-to-DC are the reason for the high efficiency. Corsair is using the best modern technology, and the AX750 delivers.
Throughout the review, we could only come up with a few minor points of criticism. First, the fan connector could be glued down. Second, the fan grille on the nice black case protrudes a little. About the only real potential concern is trying to utilize all of the Molex and SATA connectors in larger tower cases; you'll want to check the case layout before going that route, although that's definitely a niche market. When that's the worst we can come up with, there's obviously very little wrong with the AX750.
At 10% load Corsair reached 82% efficiency, which is nice to see. Similarly, there is almost no ripple or noise on the rails--+3.3V for example is always under 13mV. The other rails have slightly higher results, but in all cases they're under 20mV. The voltage regulation for +3.3V and +5V could be a little bit better, as both rails drop below 3.60%, but realistically the 12V rail is the important criterion and +12V is just 0.25% under the optimal value.
The delivery contents include 12 SATA connectors on four cables (more than the older Seasonic X-750) and four 6/8-pin PCIe connectors with a black sleeving. The 60cm primary cables are sufficient for most cases, you get two floppy-adapters (just in case), a bunch of cable ties to help you clean up the installation, and flat peripheral cables.
As already mentioned in the introduction, you have to pay more for the older Seasonic X-750 than for the new Corsair AX750. Corsair offers the same quality with flat cables for a lower price. The OCZ Z-Series 80Plus Gold OCZZ850M is no match for Corsair as well, because the efficiency is lower and the soldering quality worse. One potential contender we see is the upcoming HCP series from Antec, which will start at 750W. Otherwise we have to wait for the Seasonic X-760, which should be available shortly.
What we can tell you is that right now, the Corsair AX750 provides a great set of features in a stylish package for a very good price. Yes, you can find less expensive options, and if you get a good sale price you can even get a quality PSU for under $80. However, realistically you're looking at spending over $100 if you want 80 Plus Gold, and not all Gold PSUs are created equal. Silence, performance, quality, and an attractive price make the AX750 very difficult to beat. This is easily one of the best power supplies on the market right now, and for that we're presenting Corsair with our Gold Editors' Choice award. You can get similar performance and quality, but the pricing is usually higher and unless you like waiting to see what the competition can bring to bear, this is a great high-end PSU.
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TheShortOfIt - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
Well the AX750 is a great PSU.. I bought it in Germany for 135,- EUR cheapest price on internet... thats 175 US$ - lol.. If I would get them for 115$ - I would buy a second one as spare :D -iamkyle - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
Any chance we could get the efficiency and regulation levels in a comparison bar graph like some of the other sections? It would be so much easier to compare the PSU with some of the other units that AT has reviewed in the past!King.Koba - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
The best deal for a quality 80 Plus Gold PSU atm is the Seasonic X-750 which is on sale for only $120. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...King.Koba - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
I meant to say X-650*Phoenixlight - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
"A few weeks ago Corsair presented their newest PSUs, the AX series"More like a few months ago...
yati - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
I have been running a AX750 for about a month now. It is awesome. I have an oscilloscope and have test some basic parmeters. Ripple and voltage is almost identical to Anands.This PSU is a very good deal when you factor in:
1) Gold Cert. Efficiency
2) Nice all black cables, no rainbow colors cables sticking past the sleeve like other power supplies.
3) The $20 rebate that has floating around.
4) The insane 7 year warranty that even Seasonic doesn't offer.
I don't know why some people get all butt hurt when they already own a X-750 or HX850.
Both are great PSU. Almost all PSU from Corsair or Seasonic are winners.
That other guy getting technical that the AX750 is not "the best" compared to the AX1200 is a nut head. AX series is suppose to be Corsairs top of the line series. Tx , Hx, then Ax. Is it better than a HX850? Yes in some areas and no in others.
iamezza - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - link
I think the main reason we don't see more high-quality, high-efficiency PSUs that are lower power is because it's much harder to make a low power PSU that is very efficient at lower loads.And it's kind of ironic because the 80 plus standard is there to try and encourage efficiency but the standard mandates that the PSU has to be very efficient at 20% load. For a 750W this is a quite reasonable 150W load, but for a 400W PSU this is a very low 80W load. It's ironic because if we could actually buy lower power PSUs they would actually be more efficient for most PC's because most PC's don't need more than 250W-300W max.
PeterSF - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - link
I was looking at Newegg's deals on PSU's last Friday, and saw the X750 with the previously mentioned $20 discount at $169.99, but they also had a promo code for an extra $50 off (no longer valid).The Corsair in this review is based on its successor, the X760, as stated.
Researching, it seemed like many people thought the X750 was the best 750W PSU out there. Granted it's about to be succeeded by the X760, but for $120 with promo it was a steal, and I was surprised it didn't sell out at that price.
UPS just delivered it and I'll be opening the box next.
Like this reviewer, and another said, 750W should be adequate for even crossfire or SLI rigs, although I wouldn't try to drive 2 GTX 580's with it.
I have 3 Seasonics now, including a 330W and my main rig's modular 500W; neither have ever let me down. Also a Silverstone silent 300W I bought a while ago, which I may use again in an HTPC.
Apparently the X750 is silent before reaching a certain power draw, as the Sanyo Denki PWM fan doesn't even spin at low loads. Some people think it is defective for this reason, and one even RMA'd it before realizing his mistake.
I found a handy tool to calculate your PSU requirements here (not sure if links are allowed as it's my first post) but google PUSengine and you'll find it.
http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
ruzveh - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - link
To the writer,I dont know whether the following test is true or not. Most of the website that has tested This AX Gold series PSU shows efficency reaching 93% in some cases and only in one case the efficency drops to below 90% in their AX850. Now i really dont know whether this is the fault of 750 that it is falling below 850model or ur test is wrong. I request u to Please test the AX850 model to get the clear picture overall.. I recently bought this AX750 bcoz saving elec. is my duty towards nature :)
Martin Kaffei - Thursday, December 2, 2010 - link
I'm not sure which tests you are talking about, but our measurements are correct. The measured value is relative to the test methodology. It depends, if you use a Chroma, SunMoon or PC; 20°C, 25°C or 50°C; ATX loads or more on the +12V rail and so on.Even if everyone would use the same chroma with the same temperatures it depends, how many cables there are from the PCB to the testing station. Fox example jonnyguru measured only 89% at 115VAC, while we had more than 90% with the same power grid.
In addition we didn't show every decimal place. The maximum efficiency is a little bit over 91%, so we are very close to other tests.