Corsair HX 850 Watt Gold PSU review

Corsair Professional Series HX PSU

Corsair has many PSU lines these days, it is a large chunk of their business. Amongst the product lines there is the Corsair Professional Series HX PSU. Slightly overhauled, the SKUs are re-injected into that line-up being all updated, one of them being the HX 850. Originally that model was supposed to be a Gold certified one, yet it didn't meet Corsair's hefty requirements completely so they lowered it to a Silver qualified model. 

The HX series are all about being quiet and highly efficient. As such you'll notice that the PSU as tested today carries a Gold certification. Bronze, Silver but really Gold or Platinum is what you want, however the upper stack in hardware is expensive. And I am so in the mood for Austin Powers Goldmember "GOOOOOOLD' puns. But I'll leave that as is.

Yes, the new HX 850 is Gold certified, that means it's 90% 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 HX 850 Gold classified you'd be using 550W. It's that simple...

The PSU itself is partly modular, for most of you with a side panel window in their chassis a must really as you'll want modular cables. The new HX 850 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 20% load thus up-to 170W power consumption this PSU makes no noise whatsoever, but even during normal use and when gaming it remains silent really.

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. That's golden all by itself, but sure my man -- have a quick peek and then let's head onwards into the review.