Corsair HX1000W PSU Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Corsair HX1000W PSU Review - Corsair has quickly become a mainstay among enthusiast PSUs. Today it breaks new ground by joining the 1 kilowatt club. Doing 1000w is easier said than done and doing it well is tough. Is the HX1000W worth your consideration?

With an MSRP of $279 the Corsair HX1000W is not only one of the best performing 1000w+ power supplies we have seen to date but certainly the best built consumer 1000w power supply in this price range, if not overall.

The quality 1 kilowatt market just got a lot more competitive. It will be interesting to see what happens to pricing once we see the HX1000W widely available in retail, which is still not stocking at any of our favorite retailers as of writing this.
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Another nicely in-depth review by the [H]! Ialso am curious what the actual retail price of this unit will be when it hits the virtual stores. Would buy one if I had a need for that much juice.
 
I like Corsair's mission. If you build quality, people will pay for it.

Love the HX models.
 
Can Paul comment on the noise of the 140mm fan compared to the 120mm of the HX620?

thanks
 
GJSNeptune said:
If you build quality, people will pay for it.
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I couldn't agree more, I'm becoming more and more of a Corsair fan.

That being said, we are suckers for big power. Such a small percentage of builds require this much juice... I can't help but think most are suckered into buying such bohemoth PSUs (the same way I got suckered into SLI) ;-)
 
Heh. Nice.

I like that blue. I wish the HX520 were blue. Glad I don't have a window.
 
Looks like a nice PSU.:cool:

I have the Ultra X3 1000W and bought it mainly for the modularity and compact size (plus it got pretty good reviews) and cost less than 250 dollars.

Looks like this will give most builders a run for their money.
Good review as always.
 
aldy402 said:
Can Paul comment on the noise of the 140mm fan compared to the 120mm of the HX620?

thanks
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Well since it is cooling a much larger capacity unit it is louder at loads above those seen with the HX620W, for loads in the same range I can't say directly as I no longer have the HX620W but my feeling is that it is not louder.
 
Falling Anvil said:
The second part of that is "and will pay less than with other brands for that quality" as well. ;)
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Not necessarily; I got the Thermaltake Toughpower 750W Modular for a lot less than you could get the virtually identical Corsair 750TX at the time, not to mention less than the 620HX, though now the situation's reversed. So it kinda depends on the situation. Corsair's still a good, safe bet for power supplies though. :)
 
You still gotta admit for what you get, the company tends to charge at the lower end of the scale for them. :)
 
Shop any other place then newegg for the corsair PSU's and you'll find them much much cheaper.

Nice review and hope to see these in time for my new build.
 
Question is, who needs these monsters anymore? Even a 9800 GTX SLi setup is fine on a Seasonic S12 650.

The Skulltrail Triple card server monster 9 hardrive crazies are probably a market minority.
 
Rocksta107 said:
Question is, who needs these monsters anymore? Even a 9800 GTX SLi setup is fine on a Seasonic S12 650.

The Skulltrail Triple card server monster 9 hardrive crazies are probably a market minority.
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I agree. But for some reason I still want one to replace my more than capable HX620.. ;)
 
Rocksta107 said:
Question is, who needs these monsters anymore? Even a 9800 GTX SLi setup is fine on a Seasonic S12 650.

The Skulltrail Triple card server monster 9 hardrive crazies are probably a market minority.
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Actually, now is the first time that the 1000W PSU can really be utilized to the fullest.

With 3-way SLI and 4-way Crossfire, we're looking at peak power draw of over 600W just for overclocked video cards in some instances. Add a quad-core processor that's overclocked, that can be another 150-200W. You could build a system right now that under full load might draw over 800-900W of power with off-the-shelf desktop parts.

You couldn't have built this system a year or two ago unless you went with a server board and a pile of hard drives, really.

That being said, the market for 1000W of power is obviously small, not many people spend $1500 on video cards alone. But from a design standpoint, we tried to determine how to best build a 1000W PSU, and then we did it the best way we could. We knew we wouldn't be the first guy with a 1KW PSU, but we figured we'd release the best one, and I think we did.

But then again, I'm obviously biased.
 
Paul, what is your opinion of the real benefits of ferrites on this and other PSUs?
 
Cable core ferrite beads don't do anything for the DC output quality, if that's what your asking. These ferrite beads are designed for higher frequency radiated electromagnetic emissions. At most they reduce any potential radiated frequencies from reflecting around inside your computer chassis... but the likelihood of those emissions being strong enough to have a negative impact on your computer is near nil. IMHO they should be a non-issue to you. If anything, as pointed out in the review, they only get in your way.
 
I was about to say from teh opinions I have gathered its mostly related to possible regulatory compliance but not neccesarily required for regulatory compliance and is really not useful to users....but looks like Menelmarar was quicker on the trigger.
 
Thanks for the review!

I didn't even know Corsair was releasing a 1000W model, but having used their HX520 in 2 computer builds, it's nice to know they're keeping the quality intact as they move onward, especially with quality, neatly wired modular power supplies being hard to find. I'm a bit torn on whether I prefer the sleeving to start outside or inside the chassis, but I won't fault a company for doing it either way, as long as it looks professional.
 
qdemn7 said:
Paul, what is your opinion of the real benefits of ferrites on this and other PSUs?
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Actually, that is a question I would like Corsair (or any other company that uses them) to answer.
 
Thanks for the review guys! :)

I'm in the market for a 1000watt PSU to drive a couple of 9600GTs, Quad and multiple hard drives. I've used the HX620s in new builds and they have performed well. Still, its going to be a toss-up between Corsair, OCZ and Thermaltake.
 
AceGoober said:
I'm in the market for a 1000watt PSU to drive a couple of 9600GTs, Quad and multiple hard drives.
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Unless there's something else big you're not mentioning, a HX620 should be plenty for that setup; I only got a 750W because it was actually cheaper than the HX620 at the time.
 
The reason for the beads isn't necessarily that they provide a cleaner output or anything, they're there mostly to reduce radiated emissions. According to our engineering team, the likelihood of the radiated emissions from the PSU being strong enough to cause interference is low, but with the ferrite beads the likelihood is almost nil.

So it's not to clean the power output to from the PSU to the components, it's to prevent any possible EMI interference the PSU could cause with neighboring devices.
 
Redbeard said:
The reason for the beads isn't necessarily that they provide a cleaner output or anything, they're there mostly to reduce radiated emissions. According to our engineering team, the likelihood of the radiated emissions from the PSU being strong enough to cause interference is low, but with the ferrite beads the likelihood is almost nil.

So it's not to clean the power output to from the PSU to the components, it's to prevent any possible EMI interference the PSU could cause with neighboring devices.
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Then they should be on every cable and the PUC platform shouldn't have been certified without them as it has been ;)

And like I said in the review Corsair has not advertised their function, its been everyone else..............
 
The review and even the website aren't clear on the fixed (non-modular) cables.

Which ones are fixed, and is the EPS 12v capable of splitting into a 4pin or is it solid 8pin (and the other EPS 12v?)
 
Deusfaux said:
The review and even the website aren't clear on the fixed (non-modular) cables.

Which ones are fixed, and is the EPS 12v capable of splitting into a 4pin or is it solid 8pin (and the other EPS 12v?)
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There is a fixed 24pin ATX, 8 pin EPS, and 2 modified 8 pin PCI-Express cables. The fixed EPS splits, the modular I'll have to check.
 
And modular to boot. That'll be on my list next time I'm going PSU shopping.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
Then they should be on every cable and the PUC platform shouldn't have been certified without them as it has been ;)

And like I said in the review Corsair has not advertised their function, its been everyone else..............
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There's some correlation to which cables produce the most power and are the longest. From the comments I was given, the longer the cable and the more power running through it, the more likely it is to cause EMI issues. Since the PCI-E cables are among the longest and GPUs draw the most power, I imagine that had something to do with it. I'll ask for sure when I get back to work tomorrow.
 
Redbeard said:
There's some correlation to which cables produce the most power and are the longest. From the comments I was given, the longer the cable and the more power running through it, the more likely it is to cause EMI issues. Since the PCI-E cables are among the longest and GPUs draw the most power, I imagine that had something to do with it. I'll ask for sure when I get back to work tomorrow.
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Ok, well you might point out to them that they forgot them on the fixed PCI-E cables and the EPS cables. I would be interested to see if that is the case why they omitted them there.
 
love my HX620W.. the HX1000W will definatly be my next psu for the next build.. i love modular, a main reason i didnt care for the TX750W..

i dont have any molex in my case, 1 sata(powers 3hdd)/2pcie is all that i have hooked up.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
There is a fixed 24pin ATX, 8 pin EPS, and 2 modified 8 pin PCI-Express cables. The fixed EPS splits, the modular I'll have to check.
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follow ups!

2 "modified" 8 pin PCI-E -sorry are these the kind that can split at the very tip to be 6pin?

EPS splits - but where? at the PSU end? halfway up the cable? near the connector end?


I really dislike how the HX620 forces you to have fixed 4pin AND 8pin EPS connectors. in the end you'll always have one long ass cable you're not using. ruins the modular aspect
 
^ hehe... I had no idea PSUs worked like that...Here in the US then we'd be plugging it in 240Vac, would that mean even more efficiency? </greed>
 
PsyKo[H];1032398529 said:
^ hehe... I had no idea PSUs worked like that...Here in the US then we'd be plugging it in 240Vac, would that mean even more efficiency? </greed>
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Don't get me wrong, this isn't really directed at you PsyKo. It's more I get so tired of people thinking that something is going to suddenly cut their electric bill in half. So don't take the following personally or anything.


Your going to spend 270ish dollars on a PSU and probably 2K on the computer setup that needs it, the PSU is alread 80% efficent, lets say it goes up to 90%, running it at 1000W 8 hours a day 7 days a week for 4 weeks that'll make a diffrence of .... 28 kilowatt hours per month, I pay something like .10cents per kilowatt hour. So... that gives a monthly bill change of $2.80 assuming some really unrealistically high numbers above.

Oh, at idle that comp probably only pulls 200watts at most, so if you play (like actual gaming not surfing the web) 4 hours a day and leave it on the other 20 hours downloading stuff or whatever it's the same math.

I can't bring my self to bother when it's something like that. I work to hard to worry about trying to change my electric bill by $2.80. :D
 
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