Corsair HX650w 650W ATX PSU
Introduction & Specifications
Published: 15th January 2010 | Source: Corsair | Price: £93.40 |
Ahh...it's good to be back in the reviewing seat again. After almost 3 months of coding the new Overclock3D website (which I hope you like), the itch for testing PSU's to within an inch of destruction needed to be scratched. And what a better place to start than Corsair's HX650w...that, *ahem* has been sitting at the OC3D offices since October (sorry!).
Truth be told, I actually started this review a while ago. So these random mumblings are really just a filler for the original text which told you all about how the HX650W is the successor to the original HX620W, how it was released pretty much on its 3rd birthday, and how the original unit achieved an almost iconic status among the enthusiast communities who recommended it for its stability, silent operation and cool modular cables.
But, let's get back on task. The recently announced HX650W is what we're talking about here, and although the unit clearly sports an extra 30w of power over it's predecessor, this isn't what it's all about. So what better place to start than the specifications pulled straight from Corsair's website to try and clear a few things up:
- Guaranteed to sustain its full rated wattage at an ambient temperature of 50°C - Up to 85% energy-efficiency under real-world load conditions*
- Single +12V rail design providing up to 52A
- Multi-GPU ready
- Active Power Factor Correction (PFC) with PF value of 0.99
- Supports ATX12V 2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 standards. Backwards compatible with ATX12V 2.01
- Auto switching circuitry for universal AC input from 90-264V
- Over Current/Voltage/Power Protection, Under Voltage Protection and Short Circuit Protection provide complete component safety
- Dimensions: 150mm(W) x 86mm(H) x 150mm(L)
- MTBF: 100,000 hours - Safety Approvals: UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TÜV, CCC, C-tick
Looking through the list, a large number of the specifications can be matched to those of the HX620W. For example, both PSU's are exactly the same size. Both have the same list of safety features including OCP, OVP and OPP, and both are guaranteed to deliver their full output at a toasty 50°C. But, similarities are not what we're interested in here, so what about the improvements?
Well firstly, there's 80PLUS Bronze certified efficiency up to 85%. This is 5% higher than the rated efficiency of the HX620W and certainly brings the unit up to more modern standards. I do say that between gritted teeth though, as it still falls short of the ~90% efficiency achieved by the HX750W and HX850W units which i was hoping the HX650W would mimic. Then of course there is the single +12v rail rated at 52A. But yet again, don't get too excited as the HX620W was capable of delivering 50A on a single +12v rail, despite having 3x 18A rails on paper.
| Corsair HX650w Rail Layout | ||||||||||
| DC Output | +3.3V | +5V | +12V1 | +12V2 | +12V3 | +12V4 | +12V5 | +12V6 | -12V | +5VSB |
| 24A | 30A | 52A | - | - | - | - | - | 0.8A | 3A | |
| Max Power | 170W | 624W | 9.6W | 15W | ||||||
| 650W | ||||||||||
The +3.3v and +5v rails also mimic those of the HX620W which isn't exactly surprising as I doubt Corsair wanted to make the HX650W any less powerful in this area than it's predecessor. But never less it's worthy of note that the combined 170W output of these two rails bests the comparative 150w output of the HX750W and HX850W.
So we're off to a bit of a slow start with only a few minor differences apparent on paper between the units new and old. Maybe the dissection over the next few pages will reveal more...
Most Recent Comments
nice review jim, im upgrading my psu pretty soon and these corsairs are defintely the way 2 go but i was going to get the HX750 one since its more future proof
The corsair HX series PSU's are quality products. You really can't go wrong with any of them.
1) Form and fit (not afraid of a little metal work, however)
2) cable management (more along the lines of reach and airflow than aesthetics), and
3) the PSU's ability to handle Stepped Approximated Sine wave or Pulse Width Modulated sine wave UPS's (battery side only, not AC side).
These Dells are notorious for crashing when presented fake sine waves from their power sources. Any idea if the Corsairs care if it's a pure or fake sine wave? Ever test that? If interested pick up an APC BX1300G and see if your PSUs puke when it goes into battery mode... I'd be real interested in the result!
Great report, Jim.
Cheers, BZ
To be honest I have little (read:no) experience with aftermarket PSU's in Dell machines. The last I heard tho was that they switched around certain cables on the ATX connector so that only their PSU's would work and anything else would go *bang*. Not sure if this is still the case though?
All the recent Dell machines I have replaced PSUs in have had standard ATX (albeit crappy) units in them. I would think yours is no different, the only issue I can forsee is if there is enough room in the case for a new one, since Dell OEM PSUs tend to be on the short/small side and the Corsair units are a little bigger. Remember you'll need some cable clearance too. The only newer Dells that I've worked on with non-standard PSUs were smaller form factor machines, which is almost to be expected, though even some of the larger towers (probably not XPS) have been more narrow than normal.
Never seen a Dell with the ATX connectors switched round wrongly yet, I would hope that they'd also change the plug so that a standard one simply wouldn't fit in that case, who knows if they do or not.
I can see many complaints on the net about your PSU having problems like you mentioned, but no issues with Corsair units in the same way, so I would think a decent quality unit would solve the problem or not present the issues you are concerned about.
Remember, if you buy a unit from the internet, you can use the Distance Selling Regulations to get it returned if you find out it won't fit, but you do only have 7 days to do that and obviously you mustn't damage it.
Hope that helps.
I have a Corsair HX620 ready for RMA (still) and by the sounds of how they operate I may get back one of these newer units, glad to hear it's at least an improvement on the old one.
Thanks for the feedback and sharing your observations/experience. I've been inside the XPS tower - it seemed pretty roomy, bet then again I wasn't trying to replace the biggest blob inside the box at the time. Based on your and Jim's reply I guess the best thing to do is get a multimeter out and check everything before trying to slip it in place. Agree - not changing the plug while messing with polarities and voltages would be criminal. I'm building my next box...
Thanks again both. I'll report back after the Corsair arrives (tomorrow as scheduled).
Cheers,
BZ (from across the pond - Northern Virginia, USA)
It seems that starting after September of 1998 Dell defected from the cause of industry standardization and began using specially modified Intel supplied ATX motherboards with custom wired power connectors. Of course they also had custom power supplies made that duplicated the non-standard pinout of the motherboard power connectors.
An even bigger crime than simply using non-standard power connectors is that only the pinout is non-standard, the connectors look like and are keyed the same as is dictated by true ATX. There is nothing to prevent you from plugging the Dell non-standard power supply into a new industry standard ATX motherboard you installed in your Dell case as an upgrade, or even plugging a new upgraded industry standard ATX power supply into your existing Dell motherboard. But mixing either a new ATX board with the Dell supply or a new ATX supply with the existing Dell board is a recipe for silicon toast. How do you like your fried chips, medium or well done?
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