Question Is Corsair a reliable PSU?

[13Gigatons]

I've mostly used eVGA but see some Corsair semi-modulars are on sale and I'm looking for some feedback?

 

[13Gigatons]

EVGA N and W series

Currently have a EVGA W series: P/N: 100-W1-0600-K1

Is it gonna blowup?

PS: 2 years running so far....

Still being sold: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-w...us-power-supply-black/8511029.p?skuId=8511029

 

[UsandThem]

Currently have a EVGA W series: P/N: 100-W1-0600-K1

Is it gonna blowup?

PS: 2 years running so far....

That's why EVGA named it the "W" series........as wait and see.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you at least get a decent bronze or gold rated unit? When they are on sale, I've seen decent units for $25 - $40. I understand not springing for a pricier unit for a budget PC, but in 2021 most those bottom-of-the-barrel units like the EVGA W series are not a very attractive option IMO.

 

[13Gigatons]

That's why EVGA named it the "W" series........as wait and see.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you at least get a decent bronze or gold rated unit? When they are on sale, I've seen decent units for $25 - $40. I understand not springing for a pricier unit for a budget PC, but in 2021 most those bottom-of-the-barrel units like the EVGA W series are not a very attractive option IMO.

It's installed in an old computer....just grabbed it off the shelf...impulse buy.

 

[jonnyGURU]

could i ask about OEMs? everyone seems to go w/seasonic. but i wonder if channel well at times or RSY and even andyson gets the short end of the stick as far as reputation. for bonus appreciation: which one(s), in your opinion, seems to have the more "exciting" innovations?

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many OEMs are better than Seasonic. Seasonic is good if you're lazy and don't have a bunch of engineers to make sure you get what you need/want because you just tell them to "slap a label on it" and that's all they're willing to do. But they outsource so much, like PCBA. Heck... sometimes, because their factory is so small (2 lines) they outsource their own production.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Channelwell seems to be one of those brands that can be pure garbage...or excellent quality and bulletproof.
I have a CWT in my pre-built desktop. I've had zero problems. I had expected it woyld be one of the crappy models, so I bought a Seasonic 750 watt PSU for a replacement...haven't taken it out of the box.

All of CWT's products are "safe". In fact, from a quality control standpoint, you're probably better off with it that the Seasonic.

 

[jonnyGURU]

It's installed in an old computer....just grabbed it off the shelf...impulse buy.

If it's installed in a potato and working, then just leave it. At least you're not powering a high end graphics card with it.

 

[BoomerD]

All of CWT's products are "safe". In fact, from a quality control standpoint, you're probably better off with it that the Seasonic.

 

[fralexandr]

Hah, I have a ~10 year old pcpower and cooling silencer mk iii 600w, which i think is a seasonic? That failed a year in because somehow a part was installed in the wrong orientation? RMA'd it and it's been working fine.

Also have a corsair vx450 that's still working and is ~13 years old, no problems with that one yet.

 

[BoomerD]

Hah, I have a ~10 year old pcpower and cooling silencer mk iii 600w, which i think is a seasonic? That failed a year in because somehow a part was installed in the wrong orientation? RMA'd it and it's been working fine.

Also have a corsair vx450 that's still working and is ~13 years old, no problems with that one yet.

Yep. I have a Seasonic-built Corsair HX620 that I bought and installed in 2007, mostly on the recommendations from JonnyGuru and his crew...still works wonderfully today.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Hah, I have a ~10 year old pcpower and cooling silencer mk iii 600w, which i think is a seasonic? That failed a year in because somehow a part was installed in the wrong orientation? RMA'd it and it's been working fine.

Also have a corsair vx450 that's still working and is ~13 years old, no problems with that one yet.

I have a 500 watt PC Power & Cooling PSU that I bought the first year I was a member of these forums and it is still purring like a kitten....well not exactly purring,,,,,,but you know what I mean....

 

[RexB]

I've a Corsair RM650i (modular) made by Channel Well Technology running almost 4 years now with no problems. Very good reviews on it at the time that have borne out. Quiet. 10 year warranty, registered at Corsair.

 

[Aikouka]

The one thing that I've found disappointing about Seasonic is that their ECO mode has too quick of a ramp-up time. I first heard it in an EVGA power supply where I'd just hear "VRRRRRuuhhhh" off and on again to the point where it was driving me crazy. (I just disabled ECO mode.) I then swapped to a Seasonic Titanium PSU, and as I should have expected... it has the exact same "problem". I'm actually using a 1000W version of that same PSU now, and I don't recall if I've heard it with that one, but I also don't remember if I just instincitively turned off ECO mode when I got it. It may also be worth noting that I only upgraded because the 750W PSU couldn't handle a power spike from my 9900k + Gigabyte RTX 3080.

Although, I do still use two rather old PSUs to this day. One of them is a PC Power & Cooling unit and the other is from Thermaltake. I mostly just use them because I don't have their box anymore, and whenever I need to power up some components (e.g. the pump in a water cooling loop), I'll just grab that. The only downside is that those older PSUs are kind of noisy, which means when I want to tweak my pump for noise, I have to wait until I'm using a more modern and quieter PSU.

EDIT:

I had to remove my Seasonic TX 1000 from my main desktop last night to transfer it to what will be my new main desktop, and I took a look at the ECO mode switch. I currently have it enabled on the TX 1000 and disabled on my older TX 750, so given that I haven't been driven mad by fan ramp-up noise lately, I take it that they fixed the issue?

 

[sdifox]

Gigabyte GP-P-GM
EVGA N and W series
Aresgame AGS series
Armageddon Voltron
Apexgaming
Gamdias Assrape
And when you get into South America, India, etc., where there's no safety certifications, there's way more fun to be had.

Especially now, with IC shortages with the components other industries like automotive WANT to use, some of the shadier companies are turning to IC manufacturers that others DON'T want to use. So I would say we're definitely not out of the weeds yet.

Also, reviewers have led the public to believe that power supplies are nothing more than a box of capacitors. Forget the MOSFETs, MLCCs, topology, etc. So they can build an absolute shit unit, use a bunch of "Japanese capacitors" (which are still made in China because of China's strict import policies) and convey that it's a quality unit... when it's not.

I burned out an Apple ][ PSU by fliping the 110/220 slider instead of the power switch in Buenos Aires in the mid 80s. It was my dad's friend's computer

 

[jonnyGURU]

everyone seems to go w/seasonic.

Everyone? Corsair? Cooler Master? bitFenix? ADATA XPG? beQuiet?

When they're new to the business, Seasonic is an easy grab. You don't need any engineers or equipment. You just tell them you want to slap a label on something and pay an exorbitant price for a second rate product. When you actually have a team of people that know what to look for in a PSU and what it should actually cost to build and you can test everything in house, you know that OEMs like Enhance, CWT, High Power, HEC, Chicony, Delta, FSP, Great Wall all offer better options and won't crap all over you.

 

[Hotrod2go]

Have Corsair AX760 from over a decade ago, still boot it up from time to time in an old system (s1156), works perfectly still!
Atm, as seen in my sig, still sticking with this brand but the RMx line. Don't think the investment in platinum or titanium grade is justified in the electricity $ cost savings (Australia) via the PSU conversion grade system for my needs today & into the foreseeable future.

 

[looniam]

Everyone? Corsair? Cooler Master? bitFenix? ADATA XPG? beQuiet?

When they're new to the business, Seasonic is an easy grab. You don't need any engineers or equipment. You just tell them you want to slap a label on something and pay an exorbitant price for a second rate product. When you actually have a team of people that know what to look for in a PSU and what it should actually cost to build and you can test everything in house, you know that OEMs like Enhance, CWT, High Power, HEC, Chicony, Delta, FSP, Great Wall all offer better options and won't crap all over you.

though i found your reply highly informative and thank you for it, i meant consumers, not (X brand) project managers. to give an example; i see so many comments on PSU reviews that are negative because of what i perceive as being unfamiliar with OEMs such as enhance or delta - ya anytime they get mentioned, the crap parade walks in.

though your reply help my curiosity about the supernova B3 series SF/RSY fiasco. it is my understanding that practically no OEM does all their work; soldering/assembly, no?

 

[BoomerD]

Everyone? Corsair? Cooler Master? bitFenix? ADATA XPG? beQuiet?

When they're new to the business, Seasonic is an easy grab. You don't need any engineers or equipment. You just tell them you want to slap a label on something and pay an exorbitant price for a second rate product. When you actually have a team of people that know what to look for in a PSU and what it should actually cost to build and you can test everything in house, you know that OEMs like Enhance, CWT, High Power, HEC, Chicony, Delta, FSP, Great Wall all offer better options and won't crap all over you.

That's the second time I've seen you disparage Seasonic...which is surprising to me. A few years ago, AS I REMEMBER IT, you and the crew at jonnyguru.com were big supporters of their PSU products...with nearly all of them earning above 9.0 in your testing. What's changed?
I'm absolutely NOT saying you're wrong...you have forgotten more about the subject than I'll ever know...just trying to understand the about-face.

 

[jonnyGURU]

though i found your reply highly informative and thank you for it, i meant consumers, not (X brand) project managers. to give an example; i see so many comments on PSU reviews that are negative because of what i perceive as being unfamiliar with OEMs such as enhance or delta - ya anytime they get mentioned, the crap parade walks in.

though your reply help my curiosity about the supernova B3 series SF/RSY fiasco. it is my understanding that practically no OEM does all their work; soldering/assembly, no?

Certainly not customers. If you had access to stack data and NPD data, you'd see that even EVGA and Thermaltake outsell Seasonic. They're a factory with two lines. As opposed to Enhance's 6 lines or CWT's 8 lines. Problem with end user reviews is that people don't tend to review something until it fails. A PSU does what a PSU is supposed to do, they don't post a review. New graphics card gets them better frame rates? SSD loads Windows faster? 5 stars. Power supply? Turns on. No review. Dies two years later, or better yet... Guy plugs the EVGA DC cables into a Corsair PSU and the whole PC goes up in flames? 1 star.

That's the second time I've seen you disparage Seasonic...which is surprising to me. A few years ago, AS I REMEMBER IT, you and the crew at jonnyguru.com were big supporters of their PSU products...with nearly all of them earning above 9.0 in your testing. What's changed?
I'm absolutely NOT saying you're wrong...you have forgotten more about the subject than I'll ever know...just trying to understand the about-face.

I got to see how the sausage was made. How corners are cut. How vendors treat their customers. How customer treat their vendors. How brown paper bags of cash circulate (probably)). It's made me more bitter and jaded than ever. And recent developments with the new Ampere cards, supply chain issues, etc. haven't helped matters any.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I had a Seasonic 1250X on a mining rig. Worst PSU I've ever owned, not counting a cheap 400W unit that came with a case I bought years ago that I never used (a friend of a friend used it when he bought an old system of mine, and the unit burned out in under a year, lol). The first 1250X I had just shut down, and the second one (RMA replacement) had issues with handling loads over maybe 800W? Like sometimes cards that worked on my other rig with a EVGA G2 1300W just wouldn't work on the Seasonic rig? It made no sense. I gave that Seasonic away for free when I scrapped all my mining rigs.

Still got the EVGA G2 though. Might need it someday.

EVGA has gone downhill imo ever since the G2/P2/T2 series.

 

[jonnyGURU]

I had a Seasonic 1250X on a mining rig. Worst PSU I've ever owned, not counting a cheap 400W unit that came with a case I bought years ago that I never used (a friend of a friend used it when he bought an old system of mine, and the unit burned out in under a year, lol). The first 1250X I had just shut down, and the second one (RMA replacement) had issues with handling loads over maybe 800W? Like sometimes cards that worked on my other rig with a EVGA G2 1300W just wouldn't work on the Seasonic rig? It made no sense. I gave that Seasonic away for free when I scrapped all my mining rigs.

Still got the EVGA G2 though. Might need it someday.

EVGA has gone downhill imo ever since the G2/P2/T2 series.

That's because SuperFlower couldn't keep up with EVGA's demand. So they created a ton of new series with different OEMs. Basically, whoever can fill the order gets the order.

 

[UsandThem]

So they created a ton of new series with different OEMs.

They created so many different series over the last several years, they're probably going to have to start using Roman numerals in their model naming since they are running out of A-Z combinations.

EVGA SuperNova GAMTQBW 650w XXIV

 

[Iron Woode]

A PC Power&Cooling 610 Silencer that I bought in 2009 currently powers my linux server. That PSU is built like a tank.

 

[BoomerD]

A PC Power&Cooling 610 Silencer that I bought in 2009 currently powers my linux server. That PSU is built like a tank.

Probably sounds like one too...

 

[Iron Woode]

Probably sounds like one too...

it's called a Silencer for a reason: it is extremely quiet.

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610: A legend reviewed

PCP&C has virtually legendary status among IT hardware aficionados and PC geeks, due partly to the brand’s engineering-oriented PR/marketing, partly to being the first high end computer PSU, and partly to its high price tags. Today, those price tags no longer seem so high, as competition fills...

silentpcreview.com

 

[DrMrLordX]

That's because SuperFlower couldn't keep up with EVGA's demand. So they created a ton of new series with different OEMs. Basically, whoever can fill the order gets the order.

Woulda been nice if they had still let SuperFlower build a platinum-rated series for them. The volume on that would probably have been low enough that SuperFlower could keep up.