Corsair AX1200i PSU review - Introduction

The sheer amount of PSUs out on the market are plentiful. Only a few names really stand out though and amongst them obviously is Corsair. AS IF their power supplies are not good enough they decided to bring out yet another upadted series aimed at the true aficionado's and PC entrepreneurs.

Amongst the Power Supply product lines there is the Corsair Professional Series AX PSU, they just released the AX1200i which is a 1200 Watt power supply that is tagged as digital (DSP) ATX power supply.

The AX series are all about being quiet and very efficient. The PSU as tested today carries a Platinum certification. Bronze, Silver but really Gold or Platinum is what you want, however the upper stack in hardware is expensive.

Yes, the new updated AX1200i  is now Platinum certified, that means it's 92% efficient at 50% load. Efficiency matters; years ago PSUs were as low as 70% efficient, meaning that 30% of the used power simply vanishes, whilst you are paying for it on that electricity bill. If your components eat away 500W then with that 70% efficient product you'd actually use 650W. With today's AX1200i Platinum Platinum you'd be using 540W. It's that simple.

The PSU itself is 100%  modular, for most of you with a side panel window in their chassis a must really as you'll want modular cables. Even the ATX power connector for the motherboard can be removed. The new PSU also improved on the audibility front, if your PC is in idle and pretty much doing nothing, the rather silent fan will actually disable itself.

That's right, the thermally-controlled fan spins up gradually above 30% load thus up-to 360W power consumption this PSU makes no noise whatsoever, but even during normal use and when gaming it remains silent really.

The 1200W PSU is massive in performance, the one massive 100A 12-volts says it all really. Excellent for multi-GPU solutions and hardcore overclockers. Corsair also embeds their LINK technology into the PSU. That means you can monitor the PSU with the help of software, things like PSU efficiency, power usage or simply to adjust the fan RPM. We'll show you that in the review though.

All in all we have plenty to show you and test. Mind you that being the Professional range you'll get an added benefit as well, Corsair Professional Series PSUs are backed by an excellent 7-year warranty.

But have a peek at the product and then let's head onwards into the review.