500W to 550W: 12 Power Supplies Compared
by Christoph Katzer on February 20, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Corsair CMPSU-520HX - Overview
We never had the opportunity to review Corsair's renowned 520W HX series, so we asked Corsair to send us a sample. The 520HX was one of the first power supplies to come out of Corsair, and it paved the way for what we see today. At the time, Corsair was only using Seasonic units, but many of their recent offerings are now manufactured by CWT.
The 520HX comes in the ubiquitous black color scheme, with distinctive yellow stickers on most of the sides. Each Corsair power supply model has a distinctive color, which allows you to easily distinguish between the various units and wattages. Since this is an older Seasonic design, the housing is typical of Seasonic units from a couple years ago. The cable harnesses are flat, which is actually pretty cool since you can fold them up and talk them into various nooks and crannies and avoid impeding airflow.
Seasonic offers their Energy+ series utilizing the same design, and those are some of the better performing Seasonic models. The design is very solid but does have a few minor problems with voltage regulation. A Hitachi capacitor is used in the primary, which is somewhat unusual -- most companies use Nippon Chemi-Con now for whatever reason. The secondary is full of Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors, which is nice to see since Seasonic manufactured power supplies frequently used Ostor or other inexpensive capacitors instead.
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just4U - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Excellent!! I am curious as to how those solutions compare to standalone "standouts". I think the days where we see some no name powersupply that isn't very good in systems (as a general rule) are gone. That's been replaced (in North America) now with seeing solutions by Antec, Fsp, ect as the standard. So the comparison's are of interest.vailr - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
Any idea when any "Gold certified" ~500W PSU's will be available (on Newegg, or another online vendor)?Such as:
Thermaltake W0338 TP-500AH3NCG 500W
Seasonic SS-550LT 550W
Channel Well PUK500V-G 500W
Discussed here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...
Christoph Katzer - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I think we will see first units in summer.Mastakilla - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I'm looking for a cheap 450W - 550W Powersupply (cheap but still a bit decent, around 50 euro), so I was really interested in this article...Unfortunatly the only PSU in pricerange, the Artic Cooling, is unfindable in the Benelux (EU). Also the next in price (Tagan Superrock), which actually is too expensive already, is unfindable here...
so I still don't know what to get
Kiijibari - Sunday, February 22, 2009 - link
Buy an Enermax 525W, they were tested earlier here on anandtech and are very good PSU.They should be available easily in Europe :)
cheers
Kiiji
Mastakilla - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Thanks for the tip, but those enermaxes are again waaaaaaaay above budget (89+ euro!!)The Corsair CX400 is 43 euro
That Artic Cooling 550W is 68 euro (shipped from DE)
I'm looking for something in between... (around 50-55 euro)
like a decent 450-500W Powersupply...
MadMan007 - Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - link
Corsair VX450 or HX450 (we unfortunately do not get the HX450 in the States :( Sad because it's 80+ Bronze)Kiijibari - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Sounds like you are looking for a (very) good *and* cheap PSU.That is imo impossible. You either get cheap China crackers or good, expensive ones.
Do you *really* need ~500W ?
If not then try the Enermax 425W. That is my last idea, otherwise I would suggest to raise your budget :)
cheers
Kiiji
Mastakilla - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
no, you're wrong...the Corsair CX400 apparently isn't that bad and is VERY cheap...
I'm willing to pay a little more for a little better, but it seems like paying a little more will only get me worse :(
Paying A LOT more does get better though, but then I'm over my budget for the pc i'm composing...
Christoph Katzer - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
Try Caseking.dehttp://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/Netzteile/Arct...">http://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/Net...0R-80Plu...