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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kmmatney - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Just get an adapter to convert a 4-pin Molex to another PCI power connector. From the specs: ""For a system using a single Radeon R9 270 graphics card AMD specifies a minimum of a 500 Watt or greater system power supply. The power supply should also have a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 28 Amps or greater and have at least one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors"So it's not 500W, but does have the recommended amount of current available on the 12V line, and I'm sure will be fine due to the quality components inside this PSU.
der - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Will this replace the legendary Corsair 430W tho?meacupla - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Why do you think it wouldn't be able to?Or any other decent PSU for that matter?
Ashinjuka - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Just want to add my voice to the chorus of readers thanking AnandTech for listening to us and reviewing more realistic, less "halo-y" power supplies. Keep up the great work!Samus - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I'm sure I speak for many people when I say great review and thank you for listening to the AT readers who have requested reviews covering non-1KW+ models.The CS450M represents a PSU I think most people here would end up buying for PC's they build for family, friends or even businesses.
Keep'em coming.
Xanavi - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Built a Z97/4690K/GTX960 powered by the CX430 v3, it's been great so far!ImSpartacus - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
What an awesome review.It's nice to see Anandtech vet a psu that goes on sale a ton.
I know I would consider this psu for any future gaming builds that used single 6/8 pin gpus.
Keep it up. I'd love to hear more about the awesome psus in the ~500w range that most people shop for.
haukionkannel - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Well, even to HTPC usage would be ok with this card. Quite nice!nmm - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
So glad to see this review! I've bought 2 of these PSU's (for 27 bucks each after rebates), one in a HTPC I built for my parents and one that's sitting in my closet as a spare. I figured this review might not turn out so well for me since I was able to pick them up for so little, but wow am I pleasantly surprised! I hope you guys manage cover a lot more of these mid-range items that are likely to show up in your typical sub-$1000 PC's. I have no interest in 700+ watt PSU's, and I don't even know anyone who uses one. Hope to see more like this!Peichen - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
I would have bought this unit a month ago when it was on sale for $27 if it came with CS550M's cable set. The larger unit has 2x 3-SATA cables and 2x 6+2-pin PCI Express cables.