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Corsair HX620W Power Supply
Testing
I tested the HX620W with the following load, along with miscellaneous peripherals:| Test System | |
| Processor | AMD Phenom X4 9350e |
| Motherboard | Abit AN78GS |
| Graphics card | Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 |
| RAM | 2GB DDR-1066 |
| Hard Drive | SATA 320GB |
| Optical | IDE CD-RW |
The primary aspect that determines a power supply's quality is whether the voltage lines meet ATX standards, which is a +/-5% tolerance, and whether the voltage is stable on that line.
Voltages across key lines, using a digital multi-meter:
+12V |
+5V |
+3.3V |
|
Idle |
12.02-12.03 | 4.95 | 3.34 |
Stress |
12.03 | 4.94~4.95 | 3.34 |
Shutdown |
12.02 | 4.95 | 3.34 |
Boot |
12.03 | 4.94~4.95 | 3.34 |
Conclusion
As you can see in the table above, the HX620W power supply from Corsair is not only nearly spot-on with the target voltages, but is extremely stable at those voltages and a swing of 0.01V is essentially negligible. Overall, this is a premium quality power supply, and it is extremely quiet as well. The HX620W is available for $170 from Newegg, or if a 520W power supply is plenty for you, consider the HX520W at $115 (just make sure you're not cutting this too close). This may seem like a lot of money, but it is absolutely crucial to make sure you are getting a stable power supply. You might be able to get by just fine with a cheaper power supply if you're on a budget, but if you've already spent over $1000 on other components, why risk your valuable system trying to save a few bucks on such an important part?
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