Corsair HX750i Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on January 14, 2015 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- PSUs
- HXi Series
Introduction
When Corsair first diversified into the PSU market back in 2006 with the release of the HX520W and HX620W, it is likely that not even they could predict that in 2015 their company would be one of the most active players in this segment of the market. After all, Corsair's primary focus at the time was memory-related products, with the company having seemingly zero experience on power supplies. At that point, it would be extremely difficult to project that nearly nine years later Corsair would be one of the most reputable PSU brand names and would be offering dozens of products through eight different PSU series.
The people over at corsair did not limit themselves to releasing new models and series – they kept upgrading their old models as well. Today we are going to have a look at a unit from the latest revision of their HXi series, the HX750i. The HX series is of special significance to the company as it was their first PSU series. Much has changed since the first units that could barely get to 80% efficiency and had mediocre power output; the HXi series now ranges from 750 to 1000 Watts and are fully modular, digital units with an 80 Plus Platinum certification. That makes the HX750i the least powerful unit of the series and, with a retail price of $170, the least expensive one as well.
| Power specifications ( Rated @ 50 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 – 240 VAC, 50 – 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 25A | 25A | 62.5A | 3A | 0.8A |
| 150W | 750W | 15W | 9.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 750W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
We received the Corsair HX750i in a relatively large cardboard box. The company opted for a straightforward, clean artwork theme for their enthusiast-grade PSU, which is mainly focused on a picture of the unit itself. The front of the box lists the most important features of the power supply, with additional details on its sides and back.
Despite the class of the power supply, the bundle is rather spartan. Corsair only includes the necessary AC power cable, four black screws, a few small cable ties, and a case sticker. There are no cable straps, thumbscrews, or any extra accessories included with the HX750i.
Every cable of the HX750i is detachable, including the 24-pin ATX cable. Corsair uses flat, ribbon-type cables with black wires everywhere, with the sole exception being the internal USB Corsair Link cable that is a typical USB cable with round black insulation.
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icebox - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
I had this for a few months now, it's an excellent PSU.But I'm curious about which way it should be mounted:
Fan side up so heat can escape easily when the fan is off or fan side down ?
RedEye9 - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
I have a bottom mounted 750 watt corsair ps with a load/temp activated fan. It would cycle when mounted fan side down to blow out accumulated heat. I turned it fan side up and the fan never cycles. (silence)jonnyGURU - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
^^ This. Fan down and the heat will rise into the PSU PCB until the fan kicks in. Fan up and the heat rises out of the PSU housing and the fan will hardly ever kick in.While the Corsair marketing says that the PSU's fan doesn't turn on until 30% load, that really depends on multiple conditions. The fan controller used in these uses an algorithm of load, temperature and duration to determine when the fan should turn on and at what speed.
EzioAs - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
Doesn't really matter actually but if your chassis has a filtered bottom intake, might as well mount it with the fan facing down.Strunf - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
Better with the fan facing up as you said the heat will escape easily and the fan will hardly ever spin since you don't use too much power most of the time.malkolm - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
Nice review, thx for it!Actually i do not agree with you mentioning, that a 750W System is intrinsically so load that the noise of a PSU doesnt matter at all. I dont know if it's a european thing, but at least here the ultra-low noise market is growing extraordinarily, meaning more and more people are build machines, even their top-end gaming rigs, and demand it to be litteraly inaudible.
Really big tower coolers, custom GPU designs and of course custom water cooling (again a rapidly growing market in the EU) help with this, but the one thing most people end with is the annoying scenario of having the PSU left as the only source of noise. Of course one can buy one of these semi-passive devices designed for 1500Watts to power their 600Watts gaming rig just to make sure its fan doesnt start to run, but thats not a viable option for most users.
There are only a few companies who had an ear for those users, with beQuiet! (German brand/company i think) beeing to most renown and most recommended manufacturer for this market. I guess Corsair is also good advised to focus more on their accoustics.
Kutark - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
Using a 1500w PSU to make it more silent is just irresponsible. PSU's have much better efficiency when they're between about 40 and 70% load. Getting a 1500w psu like that, despite the additional cost with buying, generally means you will be operating at a load level that is moderately to highly inefficient.Dr.Neale - Saturday, January 17, 2015 - link
Not if you get a 80+ Titanium rated semi-passive 1500W PSU, e.g. Corsair AX1500i. It's very, very quiet (with the fan facing upwards, of course).Of course, the 80+ Platinum SeaSonic 520W fanless PSU (SS-520FL2) is totally silent, with no coil whine to speak of, and 1/3 the price. It's good for a quiet single-GPU build.
N.B. Low ripple is especially important for the longevity of your computer components. And the lower the ripple, the higher the quality, and price.
That's my experience, anyway.
EzioAs - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
Doesn't really matter actually but if your chassis has a filtered bottom intake, might as well mount it with the fan facing down.EzioAs - Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - link
I was actually trying to reply to icebox...when are we going to get an edit fuction?