1. Introduction
Today's needs for efficient and reliable power supplies are greater than ever. We all want to have a stable PSU that will also meet the demands of our current and future PC configuration. With already so many products on the market, Corsair's proposal at 620W, comes with many interesting features and good performance.
- Corsair HX620W Power Supply
The Corsair HX620W/HX520W power supply is the most versatile and robust power
supply available in the market today. Utilizing superior triple +12V power rails and a
whisper quiet double ball-bearing 120mm fan, the HX620W/HX520W is ready for
tomorrow’s most power hungry components. The HX620W/HX520W conforms to
the latest ATX12V 2.2/EPS12V 2.91 and RoHS standards, and delivers unparalleled
continuous power to all of your critical system components reliably and safely. Corsair’s
easily detachable and flexible modular cables allow you to use only the cables you
need and enhance the air flow inside your system. The HX620W/HX520W is backed
with a 5 year warranty and Corsair’s legendary customer service.
According to Corsair: "..From the manufacturer of the "World's Most Awarded Memory" comes the Corsair HX Series Power Supply. With that same legendary focus on the performance and reliability, Corsair has engineered the HX Series to support even the most demanding of systems. The Corsair HX Series incorporates the most advanced technology to deliver reliable, continuous, and efficient power to all critical system components. The HX Series is the ideal power supply for high performance and gaming PCs, Audio/Video workstations, and file servers...."
The performance of this PSU, according to Corsair, is very good. We will find out just how good in this review:
- Features
- Supports the latest ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 standards and is backwards compatible with ATX12V 2.01 systems.
- Guaranteed compatibility with dual-GPU configurations.
- Double forward switching circuitry design offers high efficiency, up to 80% under wide load range.
- Active Power Factor Correction with PF value=0.99 provides clean and reliable power to your system.
- Universal AC input 90~264V automatically scans and detects the correct voltage. No more hassle of flipping that tiny red switch!
- Ultra quiet 120mm double ball-bearing fan delivers excellent airflow at an exceptionally low noise level by varying the RPM in response to temperature.
- Guaranteed to deliver rated specifications at 50ºC.
- Triple 12V Rails provide independent reliable power to the CPU, video card and other components with a combined rating of 50A (40A on 520W) maximum! Advanced circuitry design that automatically enables power sharing between the triple +12V rails in an event of overload on any single +12V rail.
- Powerful +5Vsb rail with 3A rating.
- Over Current/Voltage/Power Protection, Under Voltage Protection, and Short Circuit Protection provide maximum safety for your critical system components.
- 105ºC rated industrial grade capacitors provide uncompromised performance and reliability, delivering 4 times the life-span of conventional 85ºC rated capacitors.
- Enhanced modular flexible cables enable easier cable routing and increased airflow in the system.
- Gold Plated connectors provide oxide free ultra low-resistance contact between the power supply and your critical components.
- 8 Serial ATA connectors (4 on 520W).
- Dimension: 5.9"(W) x 3.4"(H) X 5.9"(L)
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.
2. Retail package
For our tests, Corsair sent us the retail package of the Corsair HX620W Power Supply with part number CMPSU-620HX. Its retail price can range from US$140~160. The package is quite large.
Let's open the box:
The PSU is well protected in plastic foam.
The PSU itself is typical in size (150 x 140 x 86mm) and is certified for ATX v2.2 standard. There is a 120mm cooling fan in the base. The external black matt finish looks nice and the case feels solid. There are no sharp edges, so you can handle it without any worries of scratching anything.
The only cables that are initially attached are the:
- Power Supply unit with 24-pin main power
connector
- 4-pin +12V connector and 8-pin EPS12V connector
The power supply specs indicate that it can be used for "heavy" use, in other words for SLI/Crossfire setups:
The rear of the PSU is honeycombed to help air ventilation. This design with the fan in the base of the PSU case, helps draw air out of the computer case and out the rear of the PSU.
There is a pouch that contains all the cables:
Removing the bag contents we have:
- 2 x 800mm 4-pin peripheral power
connector cables with
three connector heads.
- 2 x 450mm 4-pin
peripheral power connector cables
with two connector heads.
Note: The 4-pin peripheral power connector is widely used on
devices such as IDE hard drives, CD-ROM drives, optical drives,
and on certain AGP video cards.
- 2 x 550mm PCI Express connector cables.
- 2 x 800mm SATA connector
cable with three SATA connector heads.
- 1 x 650mm SATA connector cable with
two SATA connector heads.
Note: The SATA power connector is used on SATA hard
drives or SATA CDROM drives.
- 1 x Y-adapter with a 4-pin female
peripherals power connector at one
end and two female small 4-pin Floppy
power connectors at the other.
Note: The small 4-pin power connector is widely used
on floppy drives, and certain fan control panels.
- 1 x Y-adapter with a 4-pin female
peripherals power connector at one
end and two female 4-pin peripherals
FAN ONLY power connectors at the other.
Note: The Fan only power connector is strictly used on fans.
In addition, an AC Power cord, several cable ties and mounting screws are included
3. Tests
To test the PSU,we put our PC system through various benchmarks that put a load on the CPU and VGA card. Specifically, we used 3D Mark 06 v1.0.2 and burn-in tests with Sisoft Sandra 2007. Our test PC setup was as follows:
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ AM2
- ASUS M2N32Pro WS
- 2x Asus EN7900GS Top VGA cards
- 2GB Crucial PC-8000
- 1xWD 80JB SATA I
- 1xSeagate 80GB SATAII
All PSU ratings were monitored with Everest Ultimate Edition v3.0. The following table lists the industry wide specifications for DC Output Voltage Regulation.
After running 3D Mark 06, the monitored outputs showed us how much the Corsair HX620W power rails had deviated. A summary of the results can be found below:
|
Minimum |
Maximum |
Average |
CPU1 |
% |
0 |
100 |
54,9 |
CPU2 |
% |
0 |
100 |
39,2 |
CPU Core |
V |
1,34 |
1,34 |
1,34 |
+3.3 V |
V |
3,25 |
3,26 |
3,25 |
+5 V |
V |
4,89 |
4,92 |
4,92 |
+12 V |
V |
12,22 |
12,28 |
12,26 |
The results are very good. All ratings are within standards, while even at full load, the voltage only changed by 0.01~0.06V. The system is capable of supporting a high performance PC with even two VGA cards installed.
4. Conclusion
To be honest, we didn't expect the Corsair HX620W to perform as well as it did in our tests. While Corsair is famous for their memory products, they are not known for manufacturing power supplies, but their PSU line has achieved the same level of competence and performance as their memory, which has made the Corsair brand so respected.
The HX620W can support two PCI-E VGA cards in a high performance system, based either on SLI or Crossfire technologies. The modular, sleeved cables are perfect in both design and flexibility. The clever design will save room from un-wanted cables dangling uselessly in your PC case. Ah, I almost forgot, the 5 years warranty that Corsair backups this product with! And for SFF users, this PSU makes very, very little noise.
Overall, we have no reservations in suggesting this product to all users who want a good and at the same time highly configurable PSU for their system. Corsair HX620W can be bought at the retail price of US$140~160, which is on the high end, but it offers many excellent features.
- The Good
- 620Watt output
- Active PFC design
- Low operating noise levels,even at full load
- 5 years warranty!
- ATX v2.2 certified, Nvidia SLI ready
- Plenty of connectors and modular cables
- Stable voltages under heavy load
- The Bad
- Price is rather high for entry level users