This PSU is quieter than the Silverstone SFX-L ("long") PSUs which fit a 120mm fan. How? The fan in this PSU is *off* at ordinary loads. I'm not sure yet what would even cause the fan to come on: I've run for 10 minutes with a 980ti and i5-6600K both maxed out and the fan didn't turn on. I might have to wait until summer.
Since it's standard SFX size you've got more room to maneuver in the cases which support SFX-L. The modular cables are not super soft, but they are flexible enough to route without having them fight with you. My only objection to the cables is that the clips don't seem to latch as positively as others. This PSU has two separate 6+2 pin PCIe power cables which both run all the way back to the PSU. The Silverstone I replaced had one heavier cable with dual 6+2 pin headers on one end which was a little nicer to deal with.
In a Silverstone Raven, the internal power routing for the input power can't quite reach the connection on this PSU without unhooking it from its internal clips so it can cut the corner in the case. The PSU's connection is at the far end relative to the cable routing, and the connector is upside-down compared to what the case was designed for, requiring an extra loop.
This PSU did not come with an ATX adapter plate, so you can't put it in a larger PC case.
Overall I'm very happy that this PSU is available now: The Silverstone SX500-LG I replaced made horrible chirpy sounds at low loads because it tried to drive the fan a little too slowly. The SFX-L (larger, square, fits 120mm fan) was also much harder to work with.
I have an Alienware X51 R2 that came with an OEM Nvidia GTX 760Ti and a 330 watt external power brick, everything worked well until I bought a
new Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB Founders Edition, the power brick was more than enough but when I was gaming my PC temperature shot up to 79 Degrees Celsius for the CPU and up to 83 Degrees Celsius for the GPU, that is when I knew I had to transfer the system to a new case, so I bought the smallest most inexpensive case I could get which is the Cougar QBX Kaze and transferred the system to the case including the daughter board so I could use the external power brick because it was still sufficient and I didn't want to put a big brick of a PSU in the case to take up space and slow down airflow. But after using the PC like this for a few months a new problem popped up, the power cord of the external PSU kept slipping out every time I went to unplug or plug a USB device in the back, the reason is because the case wasn't made to use this type of PSU. This is why I decided to buy the right PSU and I chose the Corsair PSU because it was semi modular and cost much less than a SFF Modular PSU, after installing it everything works well and I had totally forgotten about it until I received an email asking about the item. Any product that has been forgotten because it works so well is a GREAT Product and my new temperatures are 25 degrees cooler for the CPU and about 15-20 degrees cooler for the GPU and the system is almost silent.
6/5/2018 Fit perfectly in my compact tower, performed as expected for exactly 23 days, then complete failure. I would press the power button and my LEDs would flash and click twice and it would shut down within a second. Confirmed the failure with a local repair center, and confirmed it was not due to heavy load (my build only required 300-350 watts).
6/19 The RMA process via the Corsair website was fairly straightforward albeit frustratingly slow, but I now have a new PSU. Fingers crossed that this one lasts longer than the first. To be fair, I give the WORKING PSU 5 stars, I love it, it is quiet, and fits perfectly in my custom build, but I docked a star because of the inconvenience of having to get a replacement so soon after my initial purchase.
This PSU is high quality.
It is modular which is nice to help with cable management and/or simply not needing some power wires for your application. The PSU box is nice as well, it comes shrink-wrapped. Inside you will find the PSU and the cables with a few pages of literature. The conduit on all of the wiring is a nice touch too. I assume to guard against things, such as scratching, heat, and maybe static electricity build-up. Nonetheless, the conduit looks nice and helps with routing for an orderly build if wanted. One thing to note is that the the wires are a little stiff immediately after un-boxing.
Upon installation, it fit well properly into the bottom mount of my case. One thing to note is that initially the PSU screws seemed hesitant to go in, but I suspect this is because of paint in the threads or tight tolerances in the threading, but a tight fit is good just do not over-tighten or risk stripping or caving in the case plate.
All in all, high quality modular PSU for the price point with many plugs. It easily handles an i5, 1050 Ti, and three drives!
I bought this power supply because I had a computer that would not power on when the power button was pressed - I suspected the power supply was the issue.
Once I installed this power supply the computer worked again. I also noticed that the coil whine the PC used to always have was gone! I could not hear it at all! So apparently the old power supply was going bad for a while. The power supply this replaced was a 10-year old Antec.
The best thing I like about this is the fact that it is modular. This makes the cable management so much better. I no longer have the "rat's nest" of wires sitting in the bottom of the case anymore, since I do not need the pci-e or 4-pin peripheral connectors in the computer this is installed into (on-board video with all SATA drives and fans driven by the motherboard). The wires are the perfect length too.
For the price I bought it of less than $50, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this power supply, it cannot be beat! The added bonus is the high efficiency 80-plus bronze rating, and Corsair name brand. You can expect this to last a long time.
The other plus is that it matches the color scheme of my case and motherboard which is white and black (please see picture)!
This is just powering a no-frills, non-gaming, non-overclocked PC with integrated graphics, so I can't really speak about its power handling capabilities.
Feature Product
- 80 PLUS Bronze certified: High efficiency operation for less excess heat and lower operating costs.Compatibility supports ATX12V 2.4/2.3/2.2/2.01 and EPS12V 2.92 standards
- Thermally Controlled Fan: Silent operation at low and medium loads. Fan size is 4.72 inch
- Semi -Modular: Make your builds and upgrades easy, with clean, great-looking results
- Five year warranty: Your guarantee of reliable operation that will last across several system builds
Description
CX Series Modular power supply units are an excellent choice for basic system builds and desktop PC computer upgrades, offering high reliability, low noise, and easy installation. The flexible modular cabling system lets you use only the cables you need, and 80 PLUS Bronze certified efficiency means less excess heat, lower noise, and lower power bills. The large-diameter, thermally controlled fan makes the CX Series Modular quieter at idle, and reduces noise even when you're pushing your system hard. The matte black finish, black-sleeved cables and black connectors help give your system a restrained, high-tech look.
3765 reviews? Wow, with that many its very unlikely this will ever get read. I have no idea how to rate a power supply, either it works or it doesn't (or it makes noise as some have complained. Anyway,I plugged mine into a brand new build and it failed to start the computer. Electronic tester revealed that the CPU 4 pin plug was dead. Nothing to do but return it. I asked for a replacement and got one with no hassle and they even paid the return shipping. PSU testers are real cheap and its highly recommended you get one so you don't end up tossing a perfectly good unit away just because your machine won't power up. There are lots of reasons other than the psu
I performed a power supply test on the power supply, and it took a few tries to get it to work. It turns out that you really need to push the power cord connector as hard as you can into the power supply. The metal contact is about 70% in the socket, so if you only plug it in normally, there is no metal-metal contact. The connectors are a little painful to plug into the motherboard. You also have to jam them in very hard since some of the contacts for the plugs are not at the same position. The power cable for SATA should also have the connectors pointing at different sides so that it does not need to be extremely and roughly twisted just to get them into the SATA devices. It took a while for me to figure out why I was not getting any power to the motherboard, but eventually after examining every component of the power supply, I figured out that I wasn't jamming the cables hard enough to get some contact.
I can't believe how small this thing is (and how quiet!). I love the modular cables! (though I wish the SATA power cables we individual rather than daisy chained. They work but its a mess in there).
Powers my system like a champ. I have seen no signs that it can't handle the load.
Intel Core i7-6700k 4.0 Quad Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-z170n-Gaming 5 Mini ITX LGA1151 MoBo
Corsair Vengeance LPX32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3000 Ram
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.s-2280 SSD
Intel 530 Series 240GB 2.5 SSD
Intel 120GB SSD
EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SC Gaming ACX 2.0 GPU
I know saying this for a PSU seems odd but the packaging was amazing. The cables are in their own nylon bag, the PSU was in a velour drawstring bag and everything was packed in dense foam padding. The PSU is well marked as to where things go and comes with a set of black screws. I was impressed at this point. Once I had it installed and the motherboard cabled up, I powered things up for the first time. This Corsair RMx power supply Is absolutely silent when just using my Hackintosh for work stuff. Once I start using much more CPU and need more juice the fan starts to run but its still very quiet. This is really an amazing PSU. I would (and will) recommend this RMx series to anyone and if I need to build another PC, I WILL be buying one of these.
I build a lot of PCs.
Things I like about this power supply:
* Cosair name: They have never let me down. EVGA and Rosewill have. I can tell you Rosewill has good customer service, but only because I have needed. I can't tell you how Corsair's customer service is because I have never needed it.
* Price: I think $49.95 is a good price for a power supply of this quality, efficiency rating, and wattage.
* The sleeving quality is excellent. Between the all black wires, the appropriately flexible all black wires, and the proper use of shrink tube, the parts that are visible in the final build look perfect.
* I prefer having the ATX power connector be all 24 pins together as in this model rather than having a group of 20 and a group of 4 as many other power supplies have. This makes installation easier (especially when you have a tight case fight as in a mini-ITX or even some microATX builds) and makes one fewer things that can go wrong in the future. I have seen plenty of "dead": PCs that only have a lose 4 pin portion of the ATX portion.
* Same as above for the CPU power connector, except it is all 8 pins here as opposed to the more common 4+4 configuration. Note: If you are going to use this power supply with a motherboard that only requires 4 of the pins, make sure there is clearance for the unused pins.
* It can be hard to find a power supply in this wattage that has two 6+2 PCIe power connectors as this one has. Of course, if you are using both of these, add up your power budget carefully.
* This power supply has two separate SATA power cables, each with three connectors along with a completely separate molex chain. Some power supplies have mixed SATA power and molex which I don't care for as much. This supply will power up to six drives; more than most power supplies in this range.
* The 12V rail has plenty of amps; many to all cheaper ones don't.Corsair CX Series 550 Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Non-Modular Power Supply (CP-9020121-NA)Corsair CX Series 550 Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Non-Modular Power Supply (CP-9020121-NA)
* Packaging quality was excellent.
Things I don't like about this power supply:
* It is not modular. This means that there will be excess cables that you need to tuck away at the end of your build. Not a big deal to me, but make sure you have the clearance for the unused cables in your build.
* It does not use the highest quality capacitors available. This is also minor; it is not reasonable to expect at this price. Of course, in a low abuse, high endurance application at a modest price, this is the way to go. But, if you really want the longest lasting possible, pay more money and look elsewhere for your power supply choice.
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