Cougar CMX-1000

Well, I had bought this Cougar CMX-1000 back in December when The Egg was pimping it
hardcore. Figured I'd give it a shot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817553004&Tpk=cmx-1000

Looks fantastic, doesn't it?

Fast Forward to now:
-- I am on RMA#2 with HEC group.

First time i RMA'd it --- it was hooked up into my main gaming rig:
i7-920 @4.1ghz
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
h70 cooler with much stronger fans (i forget what fans i wound up using)
Antec DF-85 with all case fans flying. (no side fan as there is interference with the h70's radiator)
12gb 1600 G.Skill Pi
2x EVGA 470 GTX's
2x MicroCenter SSD's in raid-0 (with the upgraded firmware for non-suck)
1x 1tb Seagate somethingorother
1 DVD-Burner
1 Blu-Ray Burner.

Now-- -that setup MAY have been a little much for it. The way i had the cables configured:

24-pin Mobo and 8-Ppn Mobo and PCI-E 1 (gtx#1) and PCI-E 2 (gtx #2) Seemingly run off Rails 1-3
all perifs and fans run off Rail #4
Rail 5 was the secondary connector for GTX #1
Rail 6 was the secondary connector for GTX #2

Rails rated as per manufacturer
Rails 1-4 are rated 24 amps EACH
Rail 5 and 6 are rated 28 amps EACH

Not knowing how Rail 1-3 are split (according to what non-modular cables are routed to which rail -- that is) I don't see an issue, really, with my selection of cable layouts
Fast Forward to 2 months after install -- Pop went the Power supply. Contacted HEC Group (who were fantastic) about sending a new one out to me. A fully sealed RETAIL box (not a refurb) arrived at my door!

I decided not to put the cougar back into my main gaming rig (temp replacement was a Corsair tx950 -- awesome non-modular unit) and replaced it with the Silverstone 1000w fullly modular unit -- got a good deal from The Egg on this unit with sale and a coupon code.

I decided to throw the Cougar CMX-1000 into an upgrade build i was doing for the wife:
i5-760 @3.3ghz (i believe that was the OC)
MSI Mobo from the Newegg Black Friday specials The USB3 one
8gb 1600 ram (G.skill Ripjaw X)
Cogage TrueSpirit cooler with Dual fans
Antec 600 case
XFX Radeon 4890
1 500gb hdd
1 320gb hdd
1 dvd burner

I decided to hook the cabling a little differently this time:
ran the 24 pin and 8 pin Mobo cables
ignored the non-modular PCI-E cables
All perifs and fans off of Rail #4
One PCI-E cable off Rail 5
Once PCI-E cable off Rail 6

During the burn-in phase, the machine would reboot randomly. I set the machine back to stock clocks on everything, and tested further. The machine would boot partially, and reboot. Swapped in an old school video card that needed one PCI-E connector, and the machine booted. Swapped back in the 4890 and the machine booted. Ran some Intel Burn Test to see if it was stable at STOCK CLOCKS. The machine shutdown during the tests, and summarily would not turn back on.
Ripped the Cougar out of the case, replaced it with the TX 950 that i have as a backup (gotta love that PS -- really gotta) and went and hooked the Cougar up to the Antec Power Supply tester i bought. Dead as a cockroach that was sprayed with Raid and then stepped on.
I contacted HEC group again, and they responded with this gem:

It does appear that the power specifications of the Cougar 1000CMX were exceeded either in whole or the rails separately. This power supply has no issues from our tracking history.

We can do a UPS Prepaid label for you to return the power supply and ship you another similar new unit.

The only equivalent substitute for exchange would be the XPOWER1080.

As the use of our products are beyond our control, the terms would be you will receive a sealed, new unit of either the Cougar 1000CMX or the XPOWER1080 and for all future RMA if any, we will pay for replacement shipping only according to our RMA policy.

Please let us know what you wish to do.

Thank you

HEC GROUP USA

Click to expand...

(see, I told you they were nice people --- not rude at all and willing to do an "upgrade" of sorts)

Let me BOLD this part that irks me:

It does appear that the power specifications of the Cougar 1000CMX were exceeded either in whole or the rails separately.

Click to expand...

What I don't get here is, and using build #2 as the reference:
does a STOCK CLOCKED 4890 use more than 56 amps?
does an OC'd i5-760 use more than 24A? (assuming 1 rail used)
does a stock clocked i5-760 use more than 24A? (assuming 1 rail used)

I don't see how I could have exceeded the rails in build #2. My main Gaming rig -- yes, but the Wifey's machine? Herp Derp? I just don't get it. Is it possible I got 2 terrible CMX-1000 Power Supplies?

Now..... I really don't know what to do about a replacement. Do I take another CMX-1000? Do I take their "upgrade" and hope for the best?

Their upgrade: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339035

Doesn't seem too spectacular. Less rails -- less amps per rail 1 and 2.
I'm almost half tempted to take the CMX-1000 as a replacement, and send it in to the [H] for a review, and let Kyle and the crew have fun with it. I certainly don't trust it in any of my machines, as it failed in TWO entirely seperate builds.

Sooo... Comments, Questions, Answers are all welcome here. I'm at a loss.....

Lol... that's why you don't buy HEC

That XPower 1080 looks to be a 800 watt power supply based on the label, with the peak wattage of 1080 watts. It's not an upgrade at all, it's a downgrade. Clearly says on the side label "800 watts output, 1080 watts MAX output." The max wattage of each rail added up is 944 watts, so it is a 800 watt power supply, not a 1080 watt at 40 C continuous as claimed in the title. And it loses the 80+ bronze certified that the Cougar had (for whatever that means in an HEC unit).

I say you take the CMX-1000 and flip it over to Kyle and the rest. It's better than the xpower1080 based on the specs. And there is no way you should have overloaded those rails, even in your gaming build.

Neither of your systems drew more power than that PSU should be able to provide according to its specifications. The fact of the matter is that HEC PSUs are not particularly great to begin with, although the issues you had are abnormally bad. I suggest you have them send you a brand new unit of the same model, and see if it works. If not, then there's nothing you can really do about it, but either way, the CMX 1000 is a better quality PSU than the XP1080.

Thanks for the replies guys --- I am relieved that I was correct in thinking that my machines aren't pulling that much power to pop a "supposed" 1000w Power Supply. I'm gonna have to take them up on the direct replacement --- and really am at a loss as to what to do with the damn thing after.... I'm just going to have to contact Kyle to find out where to send it. I really can't fathom selling it to someone.
I'll just chalk this up to trying things out of the norm and move along gracefully!

Back when gpu mining bitcoin was hot, i had three 7970's on an HEC 1000 modular and it ran 24x7 rock stable for probably 10 months.

weirdest thing though, when i put it into certain systems it just refuses to boot at all. no power, no life, etc. almost like certain motherboards didnt make contact with it properly. I sent it back RMA and got a replacement did the exact same thing, only worked with certain boards (it never randomly rebooted though) Now i have a NXZT hale 82w modular doing the same thing, rma 3 times