Corsair CX-M Series 450 W

[crmaris]

The Corsair CX450M is an affordable PSU with good overall performance and build quality, suitable for non-demanding systems. The semi-modular cable design and compact dimensions will make your life easier during installation.

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[dirtyferret]

title, specs, and small image pic say 450w but main image displays the 750w

thanks for fixing the value and collusion page

@crmaris , you stated "The bulk cap is by Chemi-Con. Its capacity is not high enough to reach a 17 ms hold-up time.". If they stepped up to the 330 uf version would it get them there and if so what are talking about an extra 50-60 cents.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

title, specs, and small image pic say 450w but main image displays the 750w

thanks for fixing the value and collusion page

@crmaris , you stated "The bulk cap is by Chemi-Con. Its capacity is not high enough to reach a 17 ms hold-up time.". If they stepped up to the 330 uf version would it get them there and if so what are talking about an extra 50-60 cents.

50¢ on the BOM probably shows up as $1 or more on RRP, and that's significant in this segment of the market. Lots of little compromises like that is a big reason they can hit the price they are. I'm mildly surprised they were able to get to $50, all things considered.

 

[dirtyferret]

50¢ on the BOM probably shows up as $1 or more on RRP, and that's significant in this segment of the market. Lots of little compromises like that is a big reason they can hit the price they are. I'm mildly surprised they were able to get to $50, all things considered.

I figured an extra $2-3 in RRP although the 450w bronze segment is not as big as it used to be.

 

[Valantar]

Thanks for a great review - this is really a segment of the PSU market that needs all the reviewer attention it can get, seeing how these PSUs are what most PC builders really ought to be buying (given that most gaming PCs consume <200W under gaming loads).

One question, @crmaris: have you considered adding high current transient load testing to your PSU testing suite, in response to the behaviour of current GPUs? That would be an immensely valuable test IMO. Your current 50% load transient test obviously covers this somewhat, but the big concern would be someone with a power hungry GPU tipping power draw over the rated output of the PSU - which isn't too unreasonable these days. Something like a simple pass/fail test at 70% load + a 20A 12V spike would be rather interesting to see (even if most PSUs would no doubt fail!).

 

[crmaris]

title, specs, and small image pic say 450w but main image displays the 750w

thanks for fixing the value and collusion page

@crmaris , you stated "The bulk cap is by Chemi-Con. Its capacity is not high enough to reach a 17 ms hold-up time.". If they stepped up to the 330 uf version would it get them there and if so what are talking about an extra 50-60 cents.

still it would be lower than 17ms.

Thanks for a great review - this is really a segment of the PSU market that needs all the reviewer attention it can get, seeing how these PSUs are what most PC builders really ought to be buying (given that most gaming PCs consume <200W under gaming loads).

One question, @crmaris: have you considered adding high current transient load testing to your PSU testing suite, in response to the behaviour of current GPUs? That would be an immensely valuable test IMO. Your current 50% load transient test obviously covers this somewhat, but the big concern would be someone with a power hungry GPU tipping power draw over the rated output of the PSU - which isn't too unreasonable these days. Something like a simple pass/fail test at 70% load + a 20A 12V spike would be rather interesting to see (even if most PSUs would no doubt fail!).

I have already implemented the new ATX 3.0 transient tests, but I can only conduct them on compatible PSUs.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Not sure what good these are way to small for any real system so seems like wasted materials.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Hi,
Not sure what good these are way to small for any real system so seems like wasted materials.

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

 

[dirtyferret]

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

not to mention pretty much every at home and business PC in the world, APU gaming PCs, home theater PCs, etc.,

 

[damric]

At least it's not the pre-2015 models.

 

[thegnome]

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

Talking about low-power gpu systems? I doubt 450 would be enough for any higher end build of the spectrum

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Talking about low-power gpu systems? I doubt 450 would be enough for any higher end build of the spectrum

150W GPUs and under. Never had a need for more than that, nor for more than 125W of CPU. The 125W of headroom that a 450W PSU leaves in such a configuration is more than enough for rest-of-system plus overprovision (IMO). Naturally a build with 200W+ of graphics will want more. But this particular product is not designed for that.

 

[Denver]

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

Nvidia has left the group.
--

I agree this psu meets the need of 90% of PC gamers... the price and efficiency are also great

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

Hi,
Not sure what good these are way to small for any real system so seems like wasted materials.

Good to know my i3-12100F + GT1030 is an imaginary system

 

[ymdhis]

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

Man, I wish we still had a market for high-end low power PSUs. A 300W 80+ Gold or Platinum PSU would be a great deal for home servers. Especially nowadays with power costs going through the roof.

 

[mechtech]

Nice budget psu.

As per specs
ATX12V v2.4
I am assuming you tested to that 9 year old ATX specification?

Do you do any testing at 115VAC list inrush testing etc?

thanks

 

[Palladium]

This is landfill material for $50 when I can get the SF Legion GX Gold 650W for $66.

 

[lightning70]

I think it can power a 12100f and rtx 3050. The amperage it gives from 12v is nice.

 

[Valantar]

I think it can power a 12100f and rtx 3050. The amperage it gives from 12v is nice.

A 3050 - even a factory OC'd one - consumes ~160W in torture tests. A 12100F system (not just the CPU) consumes ~120W, or ~190 if bclk OC'd. So, this PSU has 100W to spare even with both of those parts pushed quite far, under torture workloads - and gaming workloads are much, much lighter than this, with that combination of hardware likely staying closer to 200W than 300w in gaming. (Also remember that those "full system" power draw numbers include PSU losses, so actual DC loads are ~10% lower). And, crucially, lower end GPUs don't tend to have the same spiky power profiles as their higher end siblings. This PSU can easily power a regular Ryzen 5/i5+ mid-range ~200W GPU build. Easily. Most people don't use their PCs for Prime95+FurMark, but for games and applications that don't put 100% load on all components at the same time.

I have already implemented the new ATX 3.0 transient tests, but I can only conduct them on compatible PSUs.

Honestly, I would like to see those tests on non-compatible PSUs too, or at least something resembling such loads. Testing if a product actually meets a spec is one thing, testing for real-world performance comparisons across generations is another, and I'd say the latter is just as valuable as the former. I'd be really, really interested in seeing transient power sweep tests on non-ATX 3.0 PSUs, something like 70-80% load + transient loads of increasing magnitude until the PSU shuts down or voltage drops below what is acceptable. It'll take quite a while for ATX 3.0 to permeate the market, and this would be a very useful test for figuring out which PSUs are best able to handle spiky GPUs regardless of this spec. I've seen 850W PSUs struggle to power an RTX 3080, and 600W PSUs powering a 3090 just fine, so there's definitely a lot of variability here.

Here's an idea: maybe do a "pre-ATX 3.0 transient handling roundup" where you run transient power sweep tests like what I outlined above (but no other tests) on whatever PSUs you have available? That would lay some important and really useful groundwork for gauging the actual gains from the ATX 3.0 spec being implemented, while keeping the workload ... well, maybe manageable?

 

[THU31]

I really do not like these cables with two 8-pin connectors.

Why? Because some people will try to run 200+ W cards with this class of PSU. Say a 1080 (Ti), 2070, maybe even a 3070. And they will run into problems.

I did that myself back in 2017 when I connected a GTX 1080 to a Corsair RM650 using just one cable. I was having random blue screens which completely went away after undervolting the card. Later I realized I should have used two separate cables.

It does not really matter that 450 W does not meat the minimum requirements for a given graphics card. If you can physically connect it, some people will do that.

I hope ATX 3.0 finally solves these connector issues (I really hate the split 6+2 connectors as well) and all graphics cards will feature the same 12-pin connector (with some monsters having two of them, I guess).

 

[Valantar]

I really do not like these cables with two 8-pin connectors.

Why? Because some people will try to run 200+ W cards with this class of PSU. Say a 1080 (Ti), 2070, maybe even a 3070. And they will run into problems.

I did that myself back in 2017 when I connected a GTX 1080 to a Corsair RM650 using just one cable. I was having random blue screens which completely went away after undervolting the card. Later I realized I should have used two separate cables.

It does not really matter that 450 W does not meat the minimum requirements for a given graphics card. If you can physically connect it, some people will do that.

I hope ATX 3.0 finally solves these connector issues (I really hate the split 6+2 connectors as well) and all graphics cards will feature the same 12-pin connector (with some monsters having two of them, I guess).

This is more down to wire gauge than doubled cables being inherently terrible. Doubled cables with high gauge wire are inherently terrible, but with sufficiently thick wire, it's perfectly fine. This uses 16AWG for the main stretch of its PCIe wiring, which should handle 300W just fine - that's just 4.2A/wire after all. Voltage drop shouldn't be too bad. 18AWG could be trouble though.

 

[ThrashZone]

450W is enough for possibly every system I've ever built. 350 would be enough for most.

Hi,
Yep well wouldn't work out well ocing on two of my systems might not go well on a 5930k and 980ti either

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Hi,
Yep well wouldn't work out well ocing on two of my systems might not go well on a 5930k and 980ti either

Not unless your goal was to wreck an innocent PSU.

What I meant by "for most" was for most of the systems I've built; folks around here are generally served by something a tad beefier.

 

[Valantar]

Not unless your goal was to wreck an innocent PSU.

What I meant by "for most" was for most of the systems I've built; folks around here are generally served by something a tad beefier.

A lot of people around here won't even look at a sub-750W PSU, which is just silly. A good 450W unit is all the vast majority of gaming builds need - the ones with $2-300 GPUs, mid-range CPUs, a drive or two, a few fans, etc.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

A lot of people around here won't even look at a sub-750W PSU, which is just silly. A good 450W unit is all the vast majority of gaming builds need - the ones with $2-300 GPUs, mid-range CPUs, a drive or two, a few fans, etc.

But not a 350W, which I think is what I'm getting called out on.