CORSAIR CX-M Series CX450M 450W 80 PLUS BRONZE Haswell Ready ATX12V & EPS12V Semi-Modular Power Supply, CP-9020101-NA

Pros: This is a well build 450W power supply with a 5 year warranty. The semi-modular design is very handy, since its most likely use is in a small case, Micro ATX or Mini ITX. Overall, the size is nice and somewhat compact so fitting in my Micro ATX case gave plenty of room to run cables without getting in the way. The fan is very quiet, virtually silent, and had no coil whine when idle or gaming. The fixed motherboard and cpu power cables are sheathed, while the modular cables are flat making them easy to run in limited space.

Cons: My only complaint is that Corsair does not give you peripheral cables to populate all of the modular jacks. You get 1 PCI-E(x2) cable , 1 SATA(x4) cable, and 1 Molex(x3) with FDD(1) cable. The CX550M provides that extra cable, granted it is a SATA(x3) and a SATA(x2) cable giving only one additional plug. This can be helpful for cable management and I don't understand why they don't keep them the same. All other CX models have enough cables to popular the modular plugs, sans the CX450M. If I could dock 1/2 Egg for this I would, so I had to give this 4/5. Since I only have 2 drives, I would have really liked the SATA(2) cable to reduce bundling cables.

Overall Review: With power requirements of current graphics cards decreasing, this power supply will handle most entry to mid level cards with consideration given to power draw from the rest of your system. It allows nearly all 450W to be used on the 12V rail, which is great for graphics cards. This power supply ran the below system with no issues while maintaining very quiet operation. i3-4170 (3.7GHz) 8GB DDR3 1866 256GB Samsung 850 Evo 1TB Seagate 2.5" HDD MSI GTX960 Armor2x Fractal Design Core 1100 Black mATX case

Pros: Great budget power supply for more energy efficient builds. Reliable power supply (about 2 weeks of use, so far so good), I've used Corsair units in many builds from low to high end and never had any issues with them, and this unit is no different. The fan runs quiet, there is no noticeable coil whine or noise (some PSUs that are designed poorly will actually make a buzzing sound when loaded). 80 Plus Bronze means your PSU wastes less energy converting AC from the wall to DC that your PC actually uses, saving your power bill a little bit. Most importantly, this is a 'true' 450W PSU. What I mean by that is if you look at the power distribution of the rails, there is just about 450W on the 12V rail. 12V is the most used rail and what your CPU and GPU draw power from. A lot of cheap PSUs will call themselves a 450W PSU but then when you read the power distribution, the 12V only is a fraction of that and another voltage rail, like the 5V rail makes up the rest of the wattage. That's misleading because almost nothing (maybe your CD drive) uses the 5V rail. Semi-modular design makes a PC build with a case with a window way cleaner. Note that the main 24-pin motherboard and 8-pin CPU cables are not removable, but this is actually better- since all builds will use those cables anyway, soldering them down to the board makes the connection more reliable. Modular connectors can be a point of failure as over time oxidation of the metal contacts and dust and other things can make the connection less reliable and minimizing these is a good balance. The modular cables themselves look great- I love that Corsair uses the ribbon-style cable rather than just lumping all the wires together with heat-shrink and calling it a day like most other PSUs. More than enough wires for all the peripherals (though I do wish the connectors weren't all on one cable, see cons).

Cons: For a lower end power supply, this is nitpicking so I won't deduct a star, but I wish not all the connectors on the modular cables were tied together. What I mean is, there's only 1 cable with 2 plugs for GPU PCIe power. Both of the GPU power connectors on the same cable. With a PSU with lower wattage like this, I am unlikely to be using it in a build with multiple GPUs- my current card only needs one connector. So what happens is one connector is plugged in but the other just kinda hangs there not in use. Makes the modular design a little less clean looking and it'd be nice if there could be two separate cables with 1 connector each. But I do get that some graphics cards need 2 connectors- that would be the cleanest case. But in that case you may want a more powerful supply anyway. If this will bother you you may wish to figure out whether your GPU needs 2 connectors or not before buying.

Overall Review: All in all, a good budget PSU for bang-for-the-buck systems. Looks great if you have a case with a window.

Pros: Corsair quality Modular 5-Year warranty

Cons: Only one SATA cable so this PSU won't work with all builds

Overall Review: I was looking forward to testing this modular power supply because I wanted to see how it would work in my mini-ITX build where cable management is a big issue. My video card requires only a 400 watt, power supply, and my SATA devices are all close enough together to work with the one provided SATA cable, so this power supply was a perfect fit. I've tried stress testing it by playing resource hungry videos games and haven't run into any problems. This power supply won't work for every build though, so it's important to do some research first. Current generation video cards sip energy but some of the older cards required PSUs with much higher wattage. Also, I was fortunate that all my SATA devices are side-by-side so the provided cable does the job, but that wouldn't have worked in my last, mid-tower build where there was too much distance between the optical drives and the SSD and HDD. For the right computer though this is a great choice and easy to recommend. Test bed: Core i7 4771 with CRYORIG M9i Mini Tower Cooler, ASRock mini-ITX board, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, GTX 1060 GPU, 512GB Samsung EVO SSD, 250GB Samsung EVO SSD, 2TB Toshiba HDD, Corsair 450W PSU, Thermaltake Suppressor F Mini-ITX Case.

Pros: - Overbuilt. The +12v rail alone has 450 watts, with the remaining voltages/rails adding up to a total closer to 580w. - 5 year Warranty - At 150mm, it's fairly compact for an ATX PSU (standard length is 160mm, but they can go to 180 or longer). - 2x 6+2 PCI-E connectors (although this is starting to become unnecessary with recent power reductions). - Price, when you consider the quality.

Cons: - Floppy adapter isn't a separate cable, which means it'll be taking up space in your case if you use molex at all (the RM series comes with an adapter so you don't have to have it). - Both PCI-E connectors are on a single cable, which can be an issue with more power hungry GPU's - All SATA connectors are on a single cable, which could cause issues in tricky mounting scenarios

Overall Review: When it comes to PSU quality, there are really only a handful of brands that I would even put on par with Corsair, much less consider to be better. Even with those in mind, Corsair often stands apart either in terms of value, asthetics, or in many cases even warranty, considering that they usually have a five year when most have three, and some Corsair PSU's have as much as 10 year warranties. I've never once been disappointed with a PSU from these guys. The fan is always silent, and always works. I've occasionally run some of their lower end products to their max wattage for literally years with no stability issues, and I have a real appreciation for the fact that they have a clearly intended design direction towards elegance and efficiency of space (both in terms of physical size and cord usage). Admittedly, the limited cord options on this model could cause an issue with certain cases, particularly if you're mounting hard drives in two separate places. But if you're NOT doing that, and you've got a smaller case where you're trying to keep the cord mess to a minimum, this is a great option.

Pros: - Semi Modular design is great for micro atx builds!! - continuous running 120mm fan but fairly quite - Solid construction & stable voltages - Tons of connectors for everything - whatever you have it will power it.

Cons: - I've been running this CX450 for the past few weeks on my test bench powering an old PhenomII and still haven't seen any hiccups or problems with it. Corsair makes great PSU's so I don't foresee having any issues.

Overall Review: Wish I had more to say about this PSU but it's been great. It's honstly the quietest part of the test bench compared to the Chipset cooler, CPU cooler and video card. The Corsair fan completely outperforms all of them. My test rig which I've had lying around is a PhenomII X4 945 3.0ghz, 4GB Ram, nVidia GeForce GTX 285 running on a PNY SSD. So that's pretty good power draw even at idle and it's been great. Highly recommended.

Pros: Great for lower end computer builds. Nice replacement or upgrade of existing low end computers. Black Matte finish looks great! 120MM whisper quiet fan is barely noticeable under normal use. You will probably hear your CPU and case fans more than the one built into this power supply. Nice low profile flat modular cables that come with the power supply will help to reduce air friction which will ensure that airflow is maximized throughout your computer case. Modular wires can also be easily tucked away for a nice streamlined look! Since it is a modular unit, you will only need to connect the cables that you actually need for your particular build, and are not stuck with excess wires that you usually have to hide somewhere in your system. Love the modular cables! I tested this power supply on an “I3 Series” ASUS board in a system that is used as a media server for the house along with some light gaming and it works flawlessly. The 5 year warranty ensures you will be covered until the next time you decide to upgrade your system, and by that time Corsair will have even better power supplies available! This power supply model is available in a wide choice of power output options from 430 watts up to 850 watts so you should have no problem finding one that fits your particular build! All my current and past computer builds utilzed Corsair power supplies and I have never had a problem with them! They always outlast the warranty period for the systems I have installed them on!

Cons: NONE!

Pros: Semi-modular cable design Quiet 5 year warranty 80 Plus Bronze certified efficiency

Cons: Limited power connections Way overpriced

Overall Review: Let me start by saying that this is not a bad PSU. It works well so far, and remains relatively quiet. The PSU has two issues, however, and one of them is fatal. The first issue is the limited number of power connections, and the arrangement of these connections. There are 4 SATA power connections, but all of these are on the same cable. This can make connecting devices difficult without the use of extension cables. For example, it was impossible to connect both HDDs and an optical drive in my ATX case. The cable was just too short and couldn't reach the optical drive once the HDD was plugged in. There are also just three MOLEX power connectors, which is a less serious issue nowadays, but still can prove problematic. The more serious issue is that it is priced at $49.99 right now. At that price, there are numerous PSUs that offer more features, better efficiency, better MTBF ratings and are all around better power supplies. For $30, this PSU would be a great deal for a light-gaming system. At $49.99, it is a complete rip off. So if you are considering this PSU on sale, then go for it, but otherwise check out some other PSUs on Newegg, as there are plenty of better ones.

Pros: Corsair power supply with modular cabling is the way to go. This powers a older Dell PC that I have that is used for olders games like Medal of Honor, Command and Conquer etc. Install is easy, it runs quiet and does the job flawlessly.

Cons: None

Overall Review: I urge you to use this PSU if you have a PC that is used for office, light to moderate gaming, and photo editing etc. You can't go wrong with Corsair modular products I have been using an 850 watt PSU in my main i7 system for the last 2 years and it has been working great.