Corsair CX 430 reviewed!

[watercooled]

Finally, the Corsair CX 430 has been reviewed over at JonnyGURU.com
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=214

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Good:

Quiet
Decent voltage regulation
Fully sleeved cables
Good ripple suppression
Great price

The Bad:

Not as efficient as we would like to see.

The Mediocre:

Use of Chinese Samxon capacitors throughout.
Group regulated design.

From the review:

"Internally, the construction is just average with the group regulated topology and use of Samxcon capacitors. Corsair also only gives this unit a two year warranty. Perhaps thats as long as the Samxon caps last? Value score is a 9."

Also the Jonnyguru hotbox tests were done at 29C to 33C. This is the temperature at which the new CX series is rated at unlike the old CX400W which was rated at 40C.

In their other recent PSU reviews the hot box tests were done at between 40C to 60C:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory3&reid=213

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory3&reid=202

[watercooled]

Just had a thorough read of it. I'm not really sure what I was expecting but I think this about meets or possibly exceeds my expectations in terms of performance, mainly because of the good ripple suppression. I'm somewhat surprised to see group regulation and Saxmon caps though, I think they got the priorities a bit wrong, with the nicely sleeved cables for example. My opinion would be to spend a bit more on a much more efficient PSU with more reliable caps and it should save you more in the long run; i.e. lower electricity costs and should last longer. I really don't see why the had to discontinue the CX400 which was an excellent budget choice.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I really don't see why the had to discontinue the CX400 which was an excellent budget choice.

The CX430W probably costs less to make than the CX400W.

[watercooled]

Yeah, by the looks of it a fair bit less!

[jim]

Yeah, by the looks of it a fair bit less!

According to the links posted by Yellowbeard in the Corsair forum, the reason that the CX400 PSU was such a good bargain is because it was often selling at break-even or loss.

[Pob255]

I'd like to point out this

Soon after this review going live, I was contacted by someone from Corsair. Apparently the CX-430 product page is chock full of typographical errors because a good amount of the product description was copied and pasted from the CX-400 product page. One such error is the statement that this power supply is 80 Plus certified. Corsair tells me that this unit is NOT 80 Plus certified. Another error on the website is that the unit has a ball-bearing fan. Of course, in our autopsy we found that the CX-430 actually has a sleeve bearing fan. Today, these errors have been fixed.

That's the source and answer to a couple of mysteries.

Oh and Redbeard (aka CorsairGeorge) posted this over on another forum to answer the question

Why the change from CX400 to CX430?

Because the CX400 wasn't profitable, didn't have any real differentiation from the VX450 aside from wattage and looks, and was very expensive for a 400W product.

EDIT: At least we now know this is a 430w (just) psu, thoes hotbox tests are not very hot at all and I'm a little disappointed they didn't go as far into the strip-down as jonnyguru normally does.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

According to the links posted by Yellowbeard in the Corsair forum, the reason that the CX400 PSU was such a good bargain is because it was often selling at break-even or loss.

Probably when the CX400W was priced at around £30.

However,the CX400W was launched at around £40 and the CX430W is around the same price anyway.

This Silverpower unit is made by Seasonic and is only a few quid more expensive than the CX430W:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w-...mm-fan-atx-12v

It even comes with a pair of PCI-E power connectors and is 80+ certified too.

[watercooled]

If that was the case they should have just raised the price back to 40, it would have still been a good buy. They've cut too many corners on this new one IMO.

[Sputnik]

I'm thinking that the reason for the temperature being lowered is so they can get 430watts out of a 400watt unit. Because, It appears that this really is the 400watt CWT unit.

As for the model number 'cx430' I'm starting to wonder if it is just to keep the model numbers looking the same or to try and make it look like an improvement on the old 'cx400' I guess they could have called it the 'cx399'

[scaryjim]

Now for the hot load tests. What we do here is take the heat from the load and pump it back into the power supply. Since this PSU is only a 430W, I don't expect it to get too hot.

I think it's a bit unfair to complain about the temperature of the hot box tests, since it's just using the heat generated by the load (and, I assume, the PSU itself). The point here is that, even if you built a 400W PC in a case with no other airflow, the CX430 wouldn't get excessively hot, and would still perform reasonably. Which is the kind of thing you want to know if you're building a budgetish PC

At the end of the day it looks like a decent quality budget PSU. Perhaps the CX400 just raised everyone's expectations a little too high?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

At the end of the day it looks like a decent quality budget PSU. Perhaps the CX400 just raised everyone's expectations a little too high?

Decent quality??

For around the same price the Antec EarthWatts 380W and Silverpower SP-SS-400 are decent quality. They are both Seasonic units with Japanese made primary capacitors.

If anything the new CX series are probably worse than the new OCZ StealthXStream PSUs in many ways.

What is the point of getting the CX430W when you get the following Silverstone PSU for a similar price:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w-...-12v-120mm-fan

The SST-ST40F-ES is rated at 40C and is 80+ certified.

[scaryjim]

Decent quality??

It provides regulated voltages well within ATX specification at all standard loads, and has good ripple and noise results. It is also close to 80% efficiency on most tests - in fact outside the unrealistic crossload tests it only drops below 78% efficiency when supplying < 20% of its rated wattage. Not quite good enough for 80+ certification, no, but not far off it. Between 128W and 342W it does provide 80% efficiency, and this is a reasonable load range for a mid-range gaming PC.

I'm not arguing that it's the best PSU out there at its load capacity or price point (although IMNSHO ~ £35 is about right for an entry level PSU so its pricing can't be too far off). I'm sure there are better PSUs out there for your money, if you know where to look. But since it provides stable, within spec voltages with minimal noise or ripple at around 80% efficiency across its full load range I don't see any problem with describing it as "decent" quality.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

But since it provides stable, within spec voltages with minimal noise or ripple at around 80% efficiency across its full load range I don't see any problem with describing it as "decent" quality.

I am thinking more of the internal construction TBH. Even the reviewer at JonnyGuru made a comment about the capacitors used. They even use a sleeve bearing fan instead of the ball bearing fan which the CX400W used. The CX400W was originally around £40 and the CX430W is around the same price too.

People make fun of OCZ units but most of the newer models also do well in reviews too. However,it was the use of certain components which people did not like.

The Silverstone Strider Essential 400W costs around the same as the CX430W and looks to be a better PSU IMHO especially since it is rated at 40C and is 80+ certified.

The Silverpower SP-SS-400 is a Seasonic S12 based unit which is 91% efficient at upto 25% load whereas the CX430W is 81%.