Bought Corsair CX600M.. good/bad idea?

[Freddy1765]

I'm probably just suffering from some kind of buyer's remorse-inducing post-rationalization, but after ordering this PSU yesterday I've read some more reviews and comments on amazon/newegg that aren't entirely positive.
It seems people label it as "budget", "low quality parts" and suffering from frequent coil-whine. Could someone reassure me that it's a decent unit, or if not, convince me I ought to return it ASAP and get a different one?

Only gonna be powering a Gigabyte 670 and 2500k @ 4.2, just bought it since my current one is getting old and only has 34A on 12V rail (might not be enough for future upgrades).

 

[lehtv]

It's decent as long as you don't get coil whine which can be annoying. But I have to ask - how much did you pay for it? There could be better alternatives in terms of value for money and it could be worth your while to return it and order something else.

Wondering why you're upgrading now in order to benefit future upgrades? Why not upgrade the PSU along with those future upgrades?

 

[Freddy1765]

I paid something like $85 for it (I live in Denmark though, so that may not mean much in terms of what $85 buys in the US). In comparison, the Corsair TX650, which is apparently higher quality, was about $20 more.
My system isn't that old, bought the 670 like 4 months ago, and the CPU is from May of last year. Bit too soon to upgrade either of those since they're performing very well, but as it's quite expensive to upgrade everything all at once, I'm just trying to replace parts one at a time. My current PSU is about 3 years old so seemed like the best thing to replace (again, since it probably doesn't have the capacity for a more power hungry CPU/GPU).

EDIT: Found an article on Tom's Hardware about who actually manufactures various PSUs. The XFX Core Edition Pro650 is only $10-11 more than the Corsair I bought, and is made by Seasonic. Was pretty excited about the semi-modular CX600M, but if I'm gonna worry constantly about it breaking or being faulty on delivery, perhaps it's worth it getting a marginally more expensive one from a better OEM.

 

[dma0991]

I would say that the CX series is decent in terms of quality but having bought the Corsair CX500, I wouldn't buy another. There's a persistent ticking noise that I presume is caused by the fan, probably a faulty sleeve bearing or a faulty fan motor. If I had to spend more money on my next PSU, it'll be Seasonic or Silverstone.

 

[Freddy1765]

Makes good sense. I'd really like a semi-modular one though, since I don't use most of the connectors anyway, but they're quite expensive..
Does any GPU use 2x 8pin PCI-e or are they all 6+8? I won't use more than a single GPU, so 2 PCI-e connectors is just fine.

 

[lehtv]

Can you link to an online shop that you use

 

[Freddy1765]

http://www.edbpriser.dk/hardware/stroemforsyning.aspx?nf=price:[500;700]§&qt=Fql
It's in Danish, though. If you have a good suggestion it might be easier to find it on Newegg or something, then I can check local retailers.

EDIT:
Think it's gonna be either a Corsair TX650 V2, Seasonic S12II 620 Bronze or XFX Core Edition PRO650W. All of them appear to be built by Seasonic and are within $10 of each other. Modular adds quite a but to the cost, which just doesn't seem to be worthwhile.

 

[lehtv]

What do you mean? Modular units can be had for only a little more. I'd get either PCP&C MK III 600W (lowest 646 kr) or XFX 650W XXX (lowest 648 kr). Both are built by Seasonic, semi-modular and have 5 yr warranty, but the PCP&C unit is white which looks awesome in a white case, while the XFX has four PCIe connectors for SLI/CF compatibility.

A reasonable upgrade: Antec EA550 Platinum 686 kr. You don't need 650W of power so the 100W lost doesn't really matter, but the higher cost gets you three grades higher efficiency, it will pay the difference in cost back over time while heating up your case less. It should be up to 93% efficient in 230-240V network. On the downside, it's not modular, and it's only covered by 3 year warranty as most Antec units, although you can definitely trust the quality (built by Delta).

 

[Freddy1765]

Is that Antec listed as having four 12V rails, each with 30A? Sounds weird. That XFX looks neat, appears to be SeaSonic built, which is apparently always good.

 

[lehtv]

Yes, each rail is rated for 30A, but the overall +12V is rated for 516W or 516/12=43A. This is typical for Antec's Delta-built units, and it's done for additional safety. It means that Over Current Protection applies to each rail separately, while Over Power Protection kicks in if the combined load is too high.

For the end user, it almost never matters whether the unit has one or several +12V rails, except in cases where each rail is extremely weak for the combined +12v rating, but that's rare and not the case here. You can read more about rails in this article by JonnyGuru

 

[Freddy1765]

Yea I've read that amount of rails rarely matters, was just wondering about the amount of amps. 43 makes 9 more than my current PSU, which seems like nice headroom for upgrades.
So many choices.. I'd all but settled on the M12ii620Bronze from Sea Sonic. That XFX is cheaper though, perhaps that's the way to go. The modular design is very appealing considering how few connectors I actually use.

EDIT:
That PCP&C seems pretty neat as well. KitGuru's review of it is very positive; only fan noise seems to be an issue above 450W. What kind of CPU/GPU combo would reach those power levels? Provided the rest of the internals are 3 case fans, a CPU fan, 1 HDD and one SSD.

 

[lehtv]

Well I guess you'd need either dual GPUs, or a very heavily OC'd single GPU setup with the CPU also overclocked and fully loaded.

 

[Freddy1765]

Alright. Seems I can't go wrong with any of your suggestions, thanks a bunch for your time. Now all that's left is getting a refund on the Corsair and flipping a coin to decide on an alternative!

 

[lehtv]

You're welcome . What is your motherboard though? If it supports SLI/CF, it might be a good idea to get the XFX which has four PCIe connectors. If it's a single GPU board and you don't really plan to utilize dual GPUs in the foreseeable future, I think the Earthwatts Platinum unit would be a great idea. Platinum 550W for the price of a bronze 600-650W is pretty good IMO

 

[Freddy1765]

I think there might be a 2nd lane running at 4x, but no I don't plan on using multiple GPUs, rather just upgrade to a better card
It seems the Platinum one isn't carried by the shop which had the lowest price, so it's actually a bit more than the XFX from a different retailer - and the 650W platinum is only another 50 kroner compared with the 550W, odd. Apart from higher efficiency, it doesn't have anything particular going for it, does it? Perhaps I just fail to see the benefits of Platinum over Bronze.

 

[lehtv]

No, it doesn't. It's just a reliable no-frills highly efficient unit.

The obvious thing with high efficiency is that you use less power. The unit is "greener" and reduces your electricity bill. In this case, since the Platinum unit isn't much more expensive, it'll pay itself back within a few years, maybe sooner if your electricity is expensive.

The other consideration is heat generation. This is a real problem only for units that are not even 80 Plus rated, or very powerful units used in very power hungry rigs. But for a moderate load like a single GPU rig, you can definitely say that 80+ Bronze is sufficient.

But why settle for Bronze if you can get Platinum? Bronze is usually between 82-87% efficient, while platinum is 90-94% or so. Depending on load. Basically that means platinum units create only half as much waste heat. A 250W load (typical for gaming) would generate 40W of waste heat in a Bronze unit, but only 20W in a Platinum unit. This means the unit will run cooler, quieter or a combination of both, and add less to the temperature inside the case.

 

[Freddy1765]

Sounds like a good deal to me. May as well get the 650W as well, since it's almost the same price as the 550, and about $16 more than the XFX. Lower case temp is always good.

 

[Rezist]

I have the CX600M and it is not audible in my R4 case. I paid 60$ CDN for it. I will say I think Corsairs PSU quality has dropped in the last few years.

 

[lehtv]

Why do you think that?

 

[bryanl]

I would say that the CX series is decent in terms of quality but having bought the Corsair CX500, I wouldn't buy another. There's a persistent ticking noise that I presume is caused by the fan, probably a faulty sleeve bearing or a faulty fan motor.

Ticking noise from a fan is caused by a thrust washer. Unplug the AC power cord and pull and push on opposing fan blades with a nonmetallic tool to move that washer.

 

[Rezist]

Just the wait of the unit and the thiness of the steel mesh on the back.

 

[Torn Mind]

The question that needs to be answered is what missing components are that that is causing the weight difference. 4.55 lbs is not exactly a featherweight although not that heavy either. Something like a heatsink could add weight while a different capacitor will make little difference in weight.

 

[Rezist]

Well I'll just add that I feel my CX430 was a sturdier unit then my CX600M. But that said my CX600M is quite and has given me no reason to question it. It also isn't being pushed all that hard either. A CX500 would have easily worked but I don't it's PCI-E's were 6+2 pins but rather straight 6 pins.

 

[bryanl]

Weight is a reliable indicator only for power supplies of the same power rating, efficiency, and fan size. A large fan and high efficiency allow use of smaller, lighter heatsinks without any sacrifice of quality.

 

[Freddy1765]

So in the end, I ended up with the XFX ProSeries 650W XXX edition (semi-modular), which is all well and good, apart from the fact that it's a bit noisy, easiest the loudest part of my system both at idle and load. I don't really want to return it since sending it back is out of my pocket, and the PSU itself is just fine. How tricky is it to just attach a different fan to it, and is that likely to solve the problem?