# Corsair VX450W



## W1zzard (Sep 6, 2007)

Corsair's brand new VX450W power supply comes with a maximum load of 450W. While this may not sound much it is absolutely sufficient to power most of today's systems. The PSU has a very high efficiency of over 83% which allows the fan to run slower because there is not so much excess heat to get rid of. In our fan noise testing this extremely silent unit leads by a large margin over all other PSUs tested so far.

*Show full review*


----------



## WarEagleAU (Sep 10, 2007)

Great price for a PSU that could prolly handle 600w totals. Thanks W1zz.


----------



## hat (Dec 25, 2007)

Got it now, it's great.


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 25, 2007)

Yep, great PSU.
The 550w version i have has even better efficiency with the same noise. It has 2 pci-e conncetors and being £10 cheaper than a hx520 i really dont understand why people dont go for it more.


----------



## hat (Dec 26, 2007)

modular, dual 12v rails


----------



## btarunr (Dec 26, 2007)

That's the best 450W PSU I've seen in a long time....the efficiency is totally off the charts. This PSU easily out-does several cheap 600W PSUs.

Awesome review, W1z!


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 26, 2007)

hat said:


> modular, dual 12v rails



http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu5.html#sect1

Multiple rails has always been a marketing gimmick. Heres a section from an xbitlab review. Xbitlab are probably the best and most comprehensive reviewers of PSUs.



			
				xbitlabs said:
			
		

> Dual +12V output circuits
> In good old times PC power supplies used to have one power rail for each of the output voltages (+5V, +12V, +3.3V, and a couple of negative voltages), and the maximum output power on each of the rails was not higher than 150-200W. It’s only in some high-wattage server-oriented power supplies that the load on the +5V rail could be as high as 50A, i.e. 250W. This situation was changing as computers required ever more power and the distribution of power consumption among the different power rails was shifting towards +12V.
> 
> The ATX12V 1.3 standard recommends a max current of 18A for the +12V rail and this is where a problem occurred. It was about safety regulations rather than about increasing the current load further. According to the EN-60950 standard, the maximum output power on user-accessible connectors must not exceed 240VA. It is thought that higher output power may with a higher probability lead to various disasters like inflammation in case of a short circuit or hardware failure. Obviously, this output power is achieved on the +12V rail at a current of 20A while the PSU connectors are surely user-accessible.
> ...



An easy way to tell when there arent actually independent 12v rails is where if you add up the amperage of the 12v rails and then multiply it by 12, it doesnt add up to the stated combined power output of the rails.

If we take the corsair 520w for example







IOf we add up the 12v rail, we get 54A. Yet the combined power output of the 12v rails is 480w. This means the combined amperage can only be 480/12 = 40A. If these were truly 2 independent rails this would not happen.


----------



## Xolair (Dec 26, 2007)

Yeah, I have this PSU and it's great. Could have a bit more power, but meh, I bet it's still enough for my current card.


----------



## btarunr (Mar 26, 2008)

I bought it for my brother's machine. Woot: 5 yrs warranty + authorised service-center in my city.


----------



## Soylent Joe (Jun 9, 2010)

Oh wow, this unit is almost 3 years old and I bought a brand new one yesterday. Loving it so far, kicks ass just like all other Corsair products.


----------



## Delta6326 (Jun 9, 2010)

i love this! that cable length is awesome because with my current psu i had to use 2 different sata cable because i couldn't reach the hdd and dvd. and that little psu rocks! perfect for a htpc or a lower end computer

Just a example i bet it could easily do more than its rated speed


----------



## Flanker (Jun 12, 2010)

i know someone who uses this PSU for E8400 and 5870, running with no problems at all.


----------



## guitarfreaknation (Jun 12, 2010)

This calculator is a bit off. lol


----------



## Flanker (Jun 12, 2010)

guitarfreaknation said:


> This calculator is a bit off. lol


well they do sell psu's...


----------

