Corsair HX1050 Professional Series Power Supply Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Corsair HX1050 Professional Series Power Supply Review - Corsair comes to us this time with a new entry into its Professional computer power supply series. Corsair claims this one is produced for enthusiasts and gamers that demand high performance, high efficiency, the flexibility of modular cables, and most importantly unflinching reliability. As always we will be the judge of those qualities.
 
I really like my HX1000, my voltages were reading a little high or low a couple of months ago. I was going to RMA it but I gave it a good cleaning with compresses air and it is back to normal now. I'd buy Corsair PSU's again for sure.

Nice review too.
 
Thx for the review :)

Any chance of getting an Hx650 for you to test. I find it odd that so few sites has reviewed that unit, when most pcs even don't need that much power.

Planning to replace my Hx620 for my new intel build so (approx 300W) so I would greatly appreciate if you could do a review of the Hx650.

Cheers!
 
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Paul, if you had the HX1000 and the HX1050 sitting next to each other, which would you choose?

And do you think Corsair is raising the bar, maintaining, or lowering it with their product refreshes?
 
I would say they seem to be just maintaining as overall the units I have seen so far have been mostly mixed in regards to the units they are replacing.
 
Any chance of getting an Hx650 for you to test. I find it odd that so few sites has reviewed that unit, when most pcs even don't need that much power.
Read a review of the HX620. The HX650 is basically the same thing with a 30W higher capacity and slightly better efficiency.
Paul, if you had the HX1000 and the HX1050 sitting next to each other, which would you choose?
I can't imagine why anyone would choose the HX1000 over the HX1050.
 
Paul, if you had the HX1000 and the HX1050 sitting next to each other, which would you choose?

And do you think Corsair is raising the bar, maintaining, or lowering it with their product refreshes?

This is an interesting question - we basically have 5 families.

CX - entry-level, inexpensive PSUs. Stable and reliable, but nothing too sexy.
GS - better quality, higher temp rated, still kind of price/performance parts. Mostly retail.
TX - most popular line, 50C rated, 105C caps, quality components, but slightly tighter than ATX spec requirements. Modular and fixed cable versions.
HX - Higher quality than TX standards internally, better efficiency, etc. Modular only.
AX - Cream of the crop, top-end parts. Tightest internal standards, fully modular, highest efficiency.

Out of those families, CX, TX, and HX are the only ones that have ever had direct replacements.

CX launched and people wanted better efficiency and warranty, so CXV2 was designed to fix that.

TX has had a couple of iterations - mostly to increase internal efficiency, lower noise levels, and make it more affordable and easier to manufacture.

HX has also had a couple of iterations - again, upping wattage, bumping up efficiency and other specs, and tweaking affordability (cost per watt).

In my opinion the HX1050 is superior to the HX1000 - you could argue that a few specs are better on HX1000, but overall the HX1050 is the superior product in my view.

So in my view, every new generation has been a better product than the one replacing it. Right now I feel like our biggest competition is the standard we've set for ourselves. I mean, if a PSU has 30mV ripple on the +12V rail at full load, how do you top that with the next generation?

There comes a point where tweaking voltage regulation and ripple/noise are basically just polishing the cannonball. And efficiency is quickly getting to that level too. So now we're tweaking usability, cables, fans and noise levels, all that stuff. Eventually we're going to be there, as well. So we've got to figure out something else.

I think Paul's review is very fair, and while I'm never satisfied with a Silver award personally, at least he expressed where he thinks we could improve.

So let me take this moment and ask you guys - what more can we do on the PSU front?

I mean, let's say two years from now, every product is 80 Plus Gold or Platinum, every product is less than 50% max ATX spec on all major specifications, what do you want? What does the power supply of the future look like in your head?
 
Thanks for that great reply Redbeard. I'm in the market for a new power supply and I've been doing a lot of digging around, reading reviews, looking at specs, history, build qualities, customer opinions, etc.

The reason I originally asked that question of Paul (thanks for the response Paul, much appreciated) was because after reading the review of the HX1050 I had a feeling the new model was more of an attempt to lower costs (to Corsair) and to get a shiny Silver/Gold 80Plus power rating on it than it was to improve the line-up. Now I'm NOT saying that is true, that was just my impression, hense my question.

My other question would be that since now the HX line isn't top-of-the-line anymore, does it have a purpose vs the AX line? I have to be honest, I don't see why I'd consider the HX line over the AX line. It seems like a lessening of the HX line. It was the best you had, now it isn't, so what's the point? Do you start to skimp on the parts of the HX to keep it "good enough" while not really espousing the build quality principles that started the HX line when it was balls-out the best you could do?

Now that other companies have stepped up their game to compete with Corsair, what is Corsair doing to stay ahead of the game? As for that question and what else can be done on the PSU front, I'm curious about the Newegg reviews that mention noise/squeals/or failures after a short time/and painful RMA processes. How does Corasir deal with issues customers find that aren't discovered by your internal testing or professional reviewers? Most of these reviewers are probably getting products sent directly to them from Corsair or cherry-picked, bypassing much of the chance of shipping/handling damage. So, if it's due to shipping damage, what can you do to minimize that? I'm sure there's a million ways for a product to get damaged on its way from China (or wherever) to warehouse, to Newegg, to maybe another warehouse, to the customer. I can tell you, I've turned on a new power supply before and had it arc and catch fire while inside my computer and that's just something you don't want your customer to associate with your product. (Don't worry, that was an Antec) Not only is the customer screwed while trying to RMA a new prodcut, they have secondary damage and time wasted. What I'm getting at is, look at the other aspects of the power supply that we as the customers experience: did it arrive without damage? if there's a problem can I get cross-shipping? is your RMA process a pain in the ass just to save money? (like EVGAs is becoming...) is it going to have to be serviced a dozen times under that extra long warranty and end up costing us a fortune? (like a KIA, or the Antec crappy caps issue) because you skimped on something to save a few pennies that could come back and bite us in the ass a year or 2 from now? (why I'm worried about the "new" HX). Can the warranty transfer if we sell it? (7 years is a long time)

When I saw the reviews from [H] and jonnyguru of the internal build quality of the AX1200 my jaw dropped. It was amazingly clean and well layed out. The output power specs were quite excellent as well. It's at the top of my list. I've just got those nagging Newegger complaints eating away at my confidence. Not to mention, you've got competition directly from SeaSonic themselves and possibly others as I finish my research on what is the absolute best out there. Their 1000W beast coming out this week is going to give you a run for the money.
 
My only real concern with the HX1050 and many other PSU's lately is the use of a single very high current 12V rail. I mean 87.5A is a lot to have in one place don't you think? I mean couldn't that melt stuff if there was a serious problem? I like the two 40A 12V rails on the HX1000.
I'd also like to see them begin using 100% modular design for the HX series, the PSU's cost enough that 100% modular should be included.

I mean 87.5A is more than some basic arc welding machines. Or am I thinking about it wrong?
 
I mean, let's say two years from now, every product is 80 Plus Gold or Platinum, every product is less than 50% max ATX spec on all major specifications, what do you want? What does the power supply of the future look like in your head?

Hello sir, and here you go:

1'st Gold and Platinum only -> semi-fanless operation on even the lower mainstream parts -> 80mm external exhaust fan on all of them(being semi-fanless and highly efficient the fans should stay below 1.5k rpm at all times) -> intake grille near/around the modular panel should have removable dust filter/s.

2. All aluminum casings doubling as heatsinks(which combined with the 80mm fan means the position of the PSU has no bearing on cooling efficiency)

3. Full modular panels on all units(excluding the value/low end oriented parts), and complete cable sets in different dimensions available for purchase for all of them(for mITX cases, standard and XL towers).

4. High quality platinum/gold units in the 150-300W area(for APU systems and alike)

ps. On the external exhaust 80mm fan, I hate dust, and 120/140mm fans/fan grilles are dust vacuums, and it doesn't matter what quality dust filters your case has, the dust will always get in for they're not sealed enclosures. Putting an exhaust fan on a PSU instead of an intake allows you to also put proper filter/s on the intake grille which will filter the air already filtered to some extent by the case fans.
 
Ive been running this PSU for a few months with no problems and no complaints (not that my setup stresses it), and I thought the price jump from a corsair 850 was actually a no brainer for future upgrades.

Thumbs up Corsair!
 
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