The Corsair CS450M PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on June 10, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- PSUs
- Corsair
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- 80Plus Gold
Hot Test Results
Going by the results presented in the following tables, the Corsair CM450M offers good power quality. It is not going to break performance records but the CM450M performed well considering its price range. The maximum ripple on the 12 V line was 72 mV at 100% load, a good figure considering both that the design limit is at 120 mV and that this is a unit rated for operation at 40°C. The same goes for the 3.3V/5V lines, which reached a maximum ripple of 30 mV and 34 mV correspondingly. Voltage regulation is fair, at 2% for the 12V line and just a little higher for the 3.3V/5V lines.
| Main Output | ||||||||
| Load (Watts) | 91.52 W | 226.95 W | 337.9 W | 447.81 W | ||||
| Load (Percent) | 20.34% | 50.43% | 75.09% | 99.51% | ||||
| Line | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts |
| 3.3 V | 1.77 | 3.4 | 4.42 | 3.38 | 6.63 | 3.36 | 8.84 | 3.32 |
| 5 V | 1.77 | 5.16 | 4.42 | 5.12 | 6.63 | 5.07 | 8.84 | 5.01 |
| 12 V | 6.28 | 12.16 | 15.69 | 12.07 | 23.54 | 11.98 | 31.39 | 11.92 |
| Line | Regulation (20% to 100% load) |
Voltage Ripple (mV) | |||||
| 20% Load | 50% Load | 75% Load | 100% Load | CL1 12V |
CL2 3.3V + 5V |
||
| 3.3V | 2.5% | 12 | 20 | 26 | 30 | 26 | 32 |
| 5V | 2.8% | 16 | 20 | 28 | 34 | 28 | 30 |
| 12V | 2% | 20 | 32 | 50 | 72 | 60 | 34 |
Once again, we need to mention that this is a PSU rated at 40°C and we perform our testing at temperatures higher than 45°C - we could reduce the ambient temperature of our hotbox testing but we chose not to do so as the results would then not be comparable to those of our previous reviews.
High ambient temperatures, even if they are above the unit's rated temperature, do not seem to affect the CM450M significantly. On average, the energy conversion efficiency is reduced by about 0.5%. The efficiency loss is slightly higher as the load increases, reaching a maximum of 0.74% reduction at 100% load. It is nothing short of a miracle for this PSU to be capable of such performance with an ambient temperature higher than 46 °C.
Once again, the low output and high efficiency of the CM450M allow it to maintain fairly low internal temperatures. The maximum internal temperature is just over 71°C at maximum load, with an ambient temperature of 47.2°C. The cooling fan is partially to blame for that, as it now begins to increase its speed faster and reaches a higher maximum speed as well. Nevertheless, the CM450M does operate silently when lightly loaded, even under those adverse conditions.
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jann5s - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
+1 on "Thanks for reviewing more a more reasonable PSU!"alin - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I agree!!! Thank you for this review and others like this.DanNeely - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
"With the exception of the sleeved ATX cable, of the cables are "flat", ribbon-like, with black wires."I've seen this in a number of other PSUs and it's always annoyed me. IMO the main functional advantage of flat cables is that they're easier to bend for routing purposes; but 6/8 wire round cables are still relatively easy to manage. The bloated dinosaur that's the 24pin ATX cable is another story entirely and getting it through tight spaces or sharp bends is a major pain.
meacupla - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
I like ribbon cables, but I don't like the 90deg sata connectors found on some of them.The bending and stress on the cables ends up being worse than straight connectors, as the distances between connector vs. the distance between drives is never a perfect match.
romrunning - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Thanks, E., for your review of a decently-sized PSU for a regular budget build! It's really nice to see a review that I can actually use.I would second the comment that it would be nice if you were able to get a retail unit or two to see if it scores similarly to the review unit you were provided. Perhaps Purch can provide a monthly allowance for the retail purchase of units to ensure review units aren't just cherry-picked for the reviewer.
romrunning - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Typos - the conclusion erroneously calls this model the "CM450M" a lot.hans_ober - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Nice review!Would be nice if you could do a roundup of cheap 300-500W PSU's
Antec, EVGA, Seasonic, Corsair + a crappy one (for fun).
A roundup of competing products would be nice
YoloPascual - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Corsair should sell this at 50-60$, at 80$ it is eaten by the competition.rocktober13 - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I purchased one earlier this year for a home server for $40 after rebates ($60 with $20 mail in rebate). This model is always on sale with mail in rebates from newegg. I have seen it as low as $35. I was skeptical about the performance, but after the review it looks like great value. Thanks for the very useful review.JesusVanDam - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
The CS450M only provides 1 6+2 pin PCI-E cable? That's really disappointing. I'm running an R9 270 and it requires 2 6 pin cables.