Premium power, excellent performance: Corsair AX850 PSU review
If you need mission-critical stability, this is the power supply you want. Oh, and there's a seven-year warranty... just in case you didn't believe us.
At the heart of any performance PC is a critical component, without which the rest of the machine can't function. Can you guess what it is? Those who said motherboard... got it entirely wrong. Without a decent PSU, it doesn't matter how stable or overclockable your motherboard is. The Corsair AX850 targets the premium end of the PSU market - users with the most demanding power needs; but is the far higher price warranted?
Like most upper-end PSUs, the AX850 uses a modular cable design. Helping to remove the spaghettified mess found in most cases, you can plug in as many or as few cables as you need. With eleven different cables, each having multiple plugs, it'll deliver juice to a massive range of goodies. These cables come in a tidy cloth bag, so you don't lose them over time.
Using "Hybrid Silent Fan Control", we couldn't hear the PSU at all during our testing. Over-Current Protection is included on all rails, as well as Over-Temperature Protection and Short-Circuit Protection. With a seven-year warranty, Corsair's claims of mission-critical stability seem easy to believe. Using an active load tester, our tests showed that voltage regulation was above average - it delivers as promised.
The modular design and excellent performance is overkill for normal PC users, but if you demand a rock-solid power supply that delivers clean, pure energy, look no further than this specialised power plant.
Available from Corsair, retailing for $259.APC rating: 9/10