Corsair have revamped their TX series. We take a look at the TX850 V2 an 850W variant with SLI/Crossfire support.
Product on Review: Enthusiast Series™ TX850 V2
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Corsair
Street Price: £96.42 inc. VAT (At time of review)
Corsair’s TX series was extremely popular, winning multiple awards. Building on the successes of the TX series, Corsair have launched a new V2 range with a bigger – 140mm fan and better components such as Japanese capacitors rated at 105C. Rated at 80 Plus Bronze, the TX V2 has increased efficiency over its predecessor and comes with an impressive 5 year warranty – a firm stamp of confidence. The variant we will be taking a look at today is the 850W delivering a burly 70A for the +12v rail, delivering the performance capabilities for those seeking to SLI or Crossfire.
So lets begin our review of the Corsair TX850 V2 PSU.
Corsair’s take on TX850 V2:
The Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 power supply features a dedicated +12V rail, delivering up to an incredible 70A of continuous power, making it an ideal choice for powering your high-end NVIDIA® SLI™ or ATI CrossFireX™ gaming rig. With up to 85% energy-efficiency, low ripple and noise, and a quiet, thermally-controlled 140mm double-ball bearing fan, it sets a new standard for high-quality, affordable power supplies.
Technical Specifications
Warranty
– Five years
Dimension
– 150mm(W) x 86mm(H) x 160mm(L)
Power
– 850 Watts
80 Plus
– Bronze
ATX Connector 1
EPS Connector 1
PCI-E Connector 4
4 Pin Peripheral Connector 8
SATA Connector 8
Floppy Connector 2
MTBF
– 100,000 hours
Packaging & Bundle
The TX850 V2 is presented in an attractive yellow box. All of the essential information is on the back of the box. Inside, the PSU is encased in foam and then a sleeve.
The box – eye catching and informative
The bundle features an instructions manual, Corsair metallic badge, screws and cable ties for keeping things tidy within your case since this is not a modular PSU and all cables are hardwired into the unit.
The bundle with instructions manual, badge, screws and cable ties
Exterior
Our TX850 V2 has a very clean look to it and will combine well with the current trend of black interior cases. The specifications label list all of the rated values for the rails showing that the +12v has a dedicated line with 70A and a maximum of 840W.
The TX850 V2 with hardwired cables
Specifications label showing rail values – Ampage and Wattage
The unit features a 140mm Yate Loon fan with double ball bearing – we will take a close look at this when we open the unit up in the next section.
140mm Yate Loon – double ball bearing
Cables
The TX850 V2 has a plethora of cables hardwired to it. There is the obvious 24-pin ATX followed by.
2 x Molex each cable having 4 molex power connectors
2 x SATA each cable having 4 SATA power connectors
4 x PCIe each cable having 6-pin + 2
1 x EATX 12v the cable having 2 x 4-pin
Interior
Moving inside for a look at the actual circuitry. Japanese capacitors have been used throughout. These capacitors are known for being higher quality with 105C rating for better stability.
Japanese capacitors – 105C rating
Our unit has a single 12v rail allowing 70A. This will of course feed our graphics card. In the testing stage of this review we will see how the TX850 V2 performs when powering GTX 480s in SLI.
A single +12v rail with 70A
Enthusiasts and general users often worry about the safety of their components when a PSU blows, overheats or suffers over-power, and rightly so. Many cheap, no-frills units will take components with them should they decide to give up. Crucial to the protection of our system are a set of protective standards that the TX850 V2 incorporates. Some of which I will briefly cover. We have the protection for under and overvoltage. This ensures all rails remain within the specification of 3.3v, 5v and 12v. Voltages should not spike under or over the rated values. The same can be said for other protective standards within the TX850 V2, which has temperature protection to prevent the unit from overheating, short circuit protection for each of the rails and power protection should the unit output more than the stated maximum wattage (850W). It’s clear then we can place a good degree of confidence in this unit.
An overview of the internals
We’ve already mentioned the TX850 V2 features a 140mm fan. This is actually a Yate Loon D14BH-12 (double ball bearing). Rated at 48.5 dBA and 140CFM. Amongst cooling enthusiasts Yate Loon are renowned for having excellent pressure to noise performance results.
Yate Loon 140mm double ball bearing 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. After this another graphics card will be added to the system giving the setup a dual GPU configuration and again the stress tests will be applied and after 10 minutes voltages monitored. In both instances the CPU will also be overclocked to maximise power consumption and strain. This should give us a good indication of how the Corsair TX850 V2 will perform under gaming stresses and beyond. This is a severe load test indeed and a good representation of real-world analysis.
System Components
CPU Intel Core i7 920 @ 4GHz
Motherboard ASUS Rampage III Formula X58
Graphics 2 x NVIDIA GTX 480 (SLI)
Memory 12GB Kingston HyperX 1800MHz CL9
HDD 2 x Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA-II
PSU Corsair TX850 V2
I deliberately configured SLI within this test system to give the PSU as much of a draw as it could take. We all know how Fermi is notorious for its big power draw! 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 (217W)
Single GPU – OCCT/MSI Kombustor run for 10 minutes (421W)
Dual GPU – SLI is setup for 2 x GTX 480. OCCT/MSI Kombustor run for 10 minutes (752W)
Firstly, its good to see that all the voltages are within the ATX standards for tolerance levels – being within 5%. The 3.3V rail typically used for low powered peripherals did not sustain any significant voltage fluctuation at all. Just 0.02v difference with 2 GPUs loaded plus the system. The 5V rail similarly had very little oscillation. This stayed within 0.04v. The one we really want to pay attention to though is the 12V rail. This is the rail that provides the juice for the graphics card and needs to be able to sustain plenty of voltage load not just for one GPU but for two. Here the performance is once again solid. Bear in mind that MSI Kombustor is a comprehensive and thorough stress testing tool and puts enormous pressure on the GPU’s. The results are pleasing – just 0.05v difference between idle and using just the 1 GPU and then with 2 GPUs being fully loaded we have 0.07v difference between idle. This is within the specifications and under 50 and 88% load can be deemed as excellent. The TX850 V2 holds out very well.
These results clearly show that a sustained stress on the PSU causes very little fluctuations and the consumer can rest assured there will be no sporadic performance hits. We have a reliable PSU in the Corsair TX850 V2. During the tests the Yate Loon 140mm fan delivered a quiet cooling solution. Even under 50 and 88% load the noise levels from this unit were not disruptive by any means, clearly Corsair have done well in opting for the Yate Loon fan.
Conclusion
Often one of the most overlooked components, the PSU should be deemed as the backbone of any system and therefore choosing one carefully is of utmost importance. We’ve all heard of the horror stories some have had when opting for cheap no-frills units to power their system. These lacklustre options can destroy any number of components within a system should they decide to blow. Always trust in a reliable brand, like Corsair.
The TX series has in the past had plenty of accolades associated to it for its excellent design and price-point. This new V2 series certainly carries on this scheme by offering solid performance, low noise levels and an attractive price-tag.
During the performance tests we pushed the unit to 50% and 88% load, monitoring the voltage fluctuations during this time. The voltages across all rails whilst sustaining this consumption remained within the ATX specifications and furthermore without any significant voltage increase or decrease meaning this unit will be reliable even under the most severe of load stress. This unit can deliver SLI performance (and Crossfire) with ease.
One of the aspects that some may have a qualm about is the lack of modular cabling within this series. Modular units are proving to be very popular, especially as the push nowadays within the community is to have the inside of the case as pristine and tidy as possible.
Priced at around £95 inc. VAT the TX850 V2 represents a good value for money solution for the enthusiast. Units from other brands at this price-point are under the TX850 V2’s specification.
The TX850 V2 is a quality unit with 5 years warranty that shows Corsair’s confidence in their own product. Based on our experience of the unit and considering the price-point, this PSU comes highly recommended.
Pros
+ Excellent performance under 50% and 88%
+ 140mm Yate Loon fan for low noise
+ Reasonable price-tag
+ Massive 5 years warranty
+ Lots of safety protection standards
Cons
– Lack of modular cabling
+ Excellent performance under 50% and 88%
+ 140mm Yate Loon fan for low noise
+ Reasonable price-tag
+ Massive 5 years warranty
+ Lots of safety protection standards
Cons
– Lack of modular cabling
