Cases & PSUs

Corsair HX850 Professional Gold Review

vortez
July 30, 2012 7 Min Read
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The Corsair HX Series sees a boost up to 80 Plus Gold. Will this new PSU aka HX850 V2 provide much of an improvement over its predecessor?



Product on Review: HX Series HX850
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Corsair
Street Price: £140 (GBP) (At time of review)

The HX Series has been a mainstay for Corsair over the years but today sees the series receive a facelift from 80 Plus Silver Efficiency to 80 Plus Gold Efficiency. It’s quite clear that Corsair have been pleased with the success of this range and therefore feel it necessary to improve the energy efficiency for consumers.

Efficiency isn’t the only aspect to have been improved; the aesthetics have also been given a boost and as an entire package the new HX850 promises to bring a fresh lease of life to the HX series. Today we will be taking a look at the HX850, capable of handling NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossfireX. Let’s begin our analysis!



Corsair on the HX Gold Series
The Corsair HX 80PLUS® Gold certified modular power supplies offer quiet performance, with a fanless mode at low power loads, and the flexibility of using only the cables needed for a clean system build with optimal airflow.

Industrial-grade specs like a 50C power rating and upgraded internal components like high quality 105C capacitors back up legendary HX series quality, and provide you with peace of mind for a full 7 year warranty.

Technical Specifications

Warranty
Seven years
Dimension
150mm x 86mm x 200mm
Modular
Yes
Power
850 Watts
80 Plus Gold
ATX Connector
1
EPS Connector
2
PCI-E Connector
6
4 Pin Peripheral Connector
12
SATA Connector
12
Floppy Connector
2
MTBF 100,000 hours

Packaging, Bundle & Cables


The HX850 arrives in a rather large box which has been given special treatment. The design is eye-catching, professional and informative. There are a list of features on the front along with technical specifications on the sides and back.

Inside the packaging the PSU is protected with a clear plastic sheet, velvet drawstring bag and held in place via polystyrene padding.


Packaging for HX850


Also in the packaging are a variety of items included within the bundle. These items consist of:

• Documentation – instructions manual, warranty guide
• Cable ties with metal Corsiar case badge
• Modular cables in carry bag


The bundle includes an assortment of items


Upon opening the cable carry bag there are two varieties of cables, those with sleeving/netting and those with individual plastic insulation. The sleeved cables consist of 6x 6+2-pin PCI-E cables and the insulated cables consist of Molex, SATA, FDD and others.

All cables have been given a sleek, black appearance and even the sleeved cables are insulated within the netting to avoid colour from showing through.


The sleeved PCI-E cables



The insulated cables


Below is a list of the available cables with HX850. These cables also include the hardwired ATX 24-pin and EPS/CPU power.

Closer Look (External)


Compared to its predecessor (HX850 Silver) the HX850 Gold has been given some subtle modifications to its external housing. Each side features the model branding so that regardless of which orientation you go with the text will always be correctly displayed. Quality, look and feel of HX850 is professional and very good.


An overview of HX850


HX850 uses an ultra-quiet, 140mm double ball-bearing fan which from the outside has a circular fan grille with the Corsair logo in the centre. More on the brand/model later when we open the unit up.


140mm cooling fan with covered grille


Due to HX850 being a modular PSU there is a panel next to the hardwired cables for attaching specific cables that you require for powering the system. There are 4x blue slots for PCI-E and 6x black slots for peripherals/HDD.


The modular panel on HX850


On the alternate side to the cooling fan is the specifications label which details maximum load along with critical information such as ampage for the PSU rails. The +12v rail will be the rail most will be interested in due to it feeding through the power for the graphics card, the +12v rail has a burly 70A which is more than capable of handling two high end solutions – NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossfireX.

Also on the specifications label is the serial number and certifications/standards.


70A on the +12v rail

Closer Look (Internal)


**Opening a PSU voids the warranty – do so at your own risk**

Removing the covers from HX850 we get an overview of the internal layout. Everything is arranged in a very tidy manner but there is a distinct lack of heatsinks; hinting at the HX850 design being very efficient.

Along with other high-quality components Corsair have used dual 105C Japanese hold-up capacitors.


An overview of the internals



105C Japanese hold-up capacitors


The fan Corsair have opted for is produced by Ong Hua and specific model is HA1425H12B-Z, capable of up to 2800RPM. This fan is double-ball bearing and 140mm in size with 7 blades.


Ong Hua HA1425H12B-Z 140mm cooling fan

Testing Methodologies & Results


Our testing methodology for testing Power Supply Units is limited to the multi-meter to show each rails performance due to us not having access to an ATE load tester. We are making plans to invest in equipment as we were directed by Cooler Master when Simon visited their test labs in June 2010.

Although this does constrain us slightly we can still monitor fluctuations on the rails and give the unit a good assessment when we feature it in one of our builds. The way the testing will run is simple, voltages will be observed at idle wattage and then a single GPU will be installed within the system and a combination of OCCT and MSI Kombustor will be executed to provide simulation with just 1 GPU. This will be run for 10 minutes. We will also be adding in another GPU and configuring SLI in order to generate as much power consumption as possible. The CPU will also be overclocked to maximise power consumption and strain. This should give us a good indication of how the HX850 will perform under gaming stresses and beyond.

System Components
CPU Intel Core i7 3570K (with OC 4.5GHz)
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD65
Graphics NVIDIA GTX 480 X2
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz CL10
HDD 1x Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB
PSU Corsair HX850


As I mentioned there is no ATE load tester available so generating as much power as possible is key to observing the fluctuations on the rails.

For voltage tolerance levels, ATX specify that a 5% variable fluctuation is acceptable. (Form Factors – ATX Specification PDF – Page 10). So what this means is:

3.3V Rail – 3.135V – 3.465V acceptable
5V Rail – 4.75V – 5.25V acceptable
12V Rail – 11.4V – 12.6V acceptable

Idle test – The system settles in windows without any applications or stressing. 1 GPU (165W)
Single GPU – OCCT/MSI Kombustor run for 10 minutes (382W)
Dual GPU – OCCT/MSI Kombustor run for 10 minutes (683W)

Conclusion


Corsair have been on a mission revamping their most successful and popular offerings as of late and the HX series has been one such product to experience a facelift – the results are very pleasing.

We tested the PSU at just under 50% and 80% load and the results proved to be solid even when stressed with a dual-graphics card configuration. Voltage variance presented no issues and the noise levels were likewise of no real concern at 80% load.



Build quality is good and the changes with aesthetics between the older 80 Plus Silver Certified and the new 80 Plus Gold Certified, are a definite improvement. Modular cables are both sleeved and insulated and unlike other PSUs does not reveal coloured cables but instead remains stealthy and excellent for maintaining clean cable management within the computer chassis.

Priced at £140inc. VAT, HX850 is quite a costly investment but you do get a substantial return on your purchase though, there is no doubt this PSU is in a class of its own in terms of quality and performance.

HX850 is a successful revision of an already popular series. Aesthetics have been improved, as has the efficiency. Maintaining good cable management is also very easy thanks to the modular cables. Being impressed with the overall package the HX850 attains our Gold award.

Pros
+ Good build quality
+ Modular cables are completely black
+ Great performance
+ Fan stops spinning at if < 20% load
+ 7 Years warranty

Cons
– Price



Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

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