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| Brand | CORSAIR |
|---|---|
| Series | CX-M |
| Model | CX650M |
| Color | Black |
|---|---|
| Type | ATX12V / EPS12V |
| Maximum Power | 650 W |
| Modular | Semi-Modular |
| Energy-Efficient | 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified |
| Input Voltage | 100 - 240 V |
| Input Frequency Range | 47 - 63 Hz |
| Input Current | 10A @ 115V, 5A @ 230V |
| Output | +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@54A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@3A |
| Max PSU Length | 150 mm |
| Connectors | 1 x 24 Pin ATX 2 x 8 pin (4+4) EPS (CPU) 2 x 8 pin (6+2) PCIe 4 x 4 pin Peripheral 6 x SATA |
| Date First Available | July 20, 2022 |
|---|
Pros: Latest refresh (3rd gen?) of the Corsair CXM power supply line, redesigned case (beveled edge, updated branding.) Why you buy this rather than the cheapest 650: Includes modern standby support. Semi-modular really does clean up the case. (I replaced an older non-modular). Long cables. (The case am using in is bottom mount, fan facing up which often requres require longer cables, see photo.) Everything reaches fine. Plenty of modular cables included. I think its nicer looking than the last version. Great for a "blacked out" build. Large, quiet "rifle bearing" fan, which is an upgraded version of the sleeve bearing in the earlier model, apparently. Theoretically last a bit longer. 5 year warranty. Reliable brand. 650w is a sweet spot power wise, enough headroom for a decent video card without overkill. 80+ Bronze indicates good power efficiency balanced with value.
Cons: Modular cables are all black "ribbon" style, without cloth covers. I guess if you like cloth covers it may be a con. Fan is pretty quiet, and spins up as needed. It doesn't, however, stop completely when idle as Corsair's more expensive power supplies do. Since this is newly released (or in this case, redesigned) it's too soon to tell if this will be prone to early bathtub curve failures. Corsair is a reliable name.
Overall Review: This is being used as a replacement for an older supply that was on its way out having served in multiple builds over 7 years. It's a nice upgrade from the non-modular supply it replaced. (Case looks much cleaner now (see pic, in this build only need a total of 3 cables: MB power, CPU, and 4xSata.) Newer power supplies also seem to be more efficient at low power -- since most of the time it will be idling at 10% or lower, so its a benefit compared to what it replaced. I think if you are looking for a 650 and are doing a mid range "stealth" build, the all black design could work well for you. As another reviewer said, look for discounts, and maybe watch the other reviews to see if any early quality issues rear their ugly head. I have had good luck with Corsair products, so I'm not worried. Will update.
Pros: - 10 straight days of use and not a single issue so far. - Should easily handle any mid-range system builds with a mid-range GPU. - Cooling fan gets the job done and is almost completely silent. - Enough cables to get the job done. - Modular PSU's make cable management a breeze. - Put this system together for one of my kids after I upgraded. Handling an i5 and a GTX 1080 like a champ.
Cons: I only really have one complaint and it's not worth knocking an egg in my opinion. - Sata cables are right angled. This shouldn't be a problem unless you're using a case that has the drives mounted on the back in a position where it would make plugging them in difficult or impossible. In my case I had to move the SSD to accommodate for this as I physically could not get the plug in without risking breaking the power connector on the drive.
Overall Review: At this point in my PC building "career" I've gone through probably a dozen different PSU's and half of them have been Corsair. Thankfully to this day I've yet to a have a problem with any of them. The CX650M is a reliable, simple, budget friendly PSU. Given my track history with Corsair power supplies I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
Pros: See title- this is a decent mid range power supply that works totally fine. Fan is decently quiet and can't really be heard unless you have a really really quiet PC overall. Good cable selection, nice flat cable design that looks really nice and is also easy to cable manage.
Cons: SATA cables are all right angle (meaning the wires are right angle to the plug). This means if your SSD or hard drive is mounted very close to a flat surface in your case, it will be a very tight fit. In my case, my SSD is mounted almost flush to the backside of the motherboard tray. When I plug in the SATA connector, I have to really bend the wires and it feels like I am going to damage something. I kind of wish one of the 2 modular SATA cables was straight angle. Similarly, the single Molex cable is all straight angle, so you may have clearance issues if you have little space directly behind the Molex connector.
Overall Review: Couple of additional details: -Model number is RPS0138. If you search this up you can easily find more technical details if you're more technically inclined. For example, see the attached 80 plus certificate -The power supply OEM (original manufacturer: Corsair has them design and manufacture the PSU to their spec, then adds their branding) is Channel Well. They're solidly mid range, not the best, but better than a lot of no name cheapo brands -Price at the time of this review is fair for what it is, but there are solid alternatives that are a few bucks cheaper from other reputable brands. I would double check to see if there are any sales going on before pulling the trigger -As with all modular power supplies, do not assume that cables are interchangeable with other power supplies, even others from Corsair. Usually they are not and you can fry your stuff if you swap them randomly! It's nice that Corsair adds a note saying to use 'Corsair Type 4' cables- they are one of the few vendors that sell customs and replacements, and has the type and pinout clearly labeled and published so that there is some standardization.
Pros: Small profile keeps it well out of the way of Components in small cases. Long cables mean they can reach everything in well designed eATX cases, and stay hidden. My Torture test reveled this PSU can work hard and stay cool. It is a bit under rated in its total output. Case mounting screws and small zip ties are supplied.
Cons: Did not clear Pollen from the air to help me make my video. Connectors for SATA and Molex are close together, careful planning should be used. SATA cables are all right angle, if you have back mounted hard drives on the back side of the main board it will likely be an issue. Long cable may be hard to hide in small cases.
Overall Review: System is an I7-7700K @ 5.2GHz, 2X GTx 460's in SLI @ 750MHz , 6 hard drives, 6x 140mm Corsair RGB fans, Corsair H150I 360mm liquid cooled, custom video card cooling system,. I torture tested the system for 3 days Using OCCT's PSU torture test, and believe me I was drawing 750 watts from the wall, I tortured it. It performed very well, fan was not even always on its highest noise level. (HAD TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS STILL STABLE AFTER MOVING IT TO THE NEW CASE) Using my Automotive Oscilloscope Equipment I measured a 57 Amp draw on the 12v rail, and I measured a very nice, small ripple the whole time, this PSU should be stabil enough for a strong CPU / GPU with a hard Overclock without issues, only time will tell if it breaks down any after further torture. They changed my name on here again, lol, it used to me Mr. J, before that GmsCool, I prefer GmsCool as it was in the EggXpert Forums.
Pros: Most of the cables are modular. The only captive/permanently attached cables are the ones every PC absolutely must have. All the extra/modular cables appear to be of good quality. Quiet, efficient power supply. You have to push it pretty hard before you hear the fan rev up, so it's nearly silent most of the time. Almost reaches "Silver" efficiency rating. Efficiency holds up well even at low loads such as when idling. This is a clear improvement over "Bronze" rated power supplies of just a few years ago. Compact size so it should fit comfortably in almost any standard PC case.
Cons: If using a full tower case some of the cables may not be long enough depending on what motherboard you have. I'm told Corsair may be able to help with that if you ask them, but I didn't experience any problem with my mid-tower case. Like many other PSU SATA cables the SATA connectors are too close together for my taste. Would like to see at least another inch of distance between connectors. Having said that, I was able to connect our 2 x SSDs and 2 x HDDs without too much effort.
Overall Review: Compared to a CX-450 model we've been using for about 3 years this "refreshed" version of the CX-650 is slightly quieter and a little more efficient, mainly at low power loads where this one maintains better efficiency. It's only been in use a couple of weeks. Tried to trip it up with some demanding loads, and it remained solid and stable throughout. The test load included attaching 2 x USB portable HDDs in addition to the internal 1 x Sandisk 1TB SSD, and 1 x WD Red 3TB HDD, and 1 x Seagate 2TB HDDs, and 1 x Toshiba 6TB HDD. Then select folders of videos totalling 40GB - 50GB and copy them simultaneously to and fro amongst all of the drives. During that transfer I launched a favorite game on max settings to ensure max power draw by the graphics card. I didn't notice any sign of sagging power or any other anomaly such as in-game stuttering or file copy slowdowns. The attached chart shows very stable voltages for 3.3V, 5V and 12V. Importantly, there were no signs of overheating, either; thus, I'm satisfied the CX-650M is working as it should. With all that HDD activity and my game running, eventually the CX650M's cooling fan revved up after about 10 minutes. I should point out that the case has 2 x 120mm front intake fans, 1 x 140mm rear exhaust fan, and a Noctua cpu cooler. Nothing is overclocked. The test continued for about 45 minutes of gaming and file copy/re-copy, and the cpu max. temperature was 64° C. There's a standard 5-year warranty from Corsair. If you absolutely must have a top-drawer 10 year warranty then look to the more expensive model ranges. We've been pleased with the CX-450 model that's been in use for about 3 years, and look forward to this revised, improved CX-650M to work even better.
Pros: Very good unit. Great price.
Overall Review: Ok

Pros: This is a newer version of the affordable CX650M PSU which is one of the most popular mid-range, 650W semi-modular power supplies. The improvements seem to be primarily the improved appearance of the case and the upgrade from a sleeve bearing to a rifle bearing fan. Efficiency is better than 85% in a range from about 150 Watts to 500 Watts (at 120V). In this price range the efficiency looks a bit like a bell curve (it's not linear). It appears that the internals have changed a wee bit as well as the case in this update. Its a solid build with Corsair specific design. The components are pretty decent which means better life at higher temperatures. One of the chip changes is a Power Integrations TNY290PG Off-Line Switcher. 5 year warranty. The 120 mm fan is quiet. At room temp, using my laser tach, it clocks in the 600's till above around 300W. Then it ramps to around 2000 RPM at 600W. Good noise profile unless you run it hard. The older version would bottom out in the 800's. No change in cables or the 140mm case depth from the last model: two sleeved, blacked-out native cables, 5 flat ribbon-style modular cables of decent length with 115mm between the SATA connectors and 100mm between the molex. Nice warning on the case about using Corsair modular cables (modular cables tend not to have standardized plugs on the PSU side).
Cons: The fan has to always run at low RPM because reasonably priced power supplies are inefficient when running below around 10% capacity. Single EPS connector. Both this version and the older version are available without a name or model change which may make ordering confusing - especially when a google search for this model name preferentially links to the older version on the Corsair website. I asked Corsair pre-buy support as to what the changes were for this years model. It appeared to confuse them. There were no blog posts or announcements regarding how this model is different from last years model.
Overall Review: Hits the sweet spot for value and power when building a typical PC with one decent graphics card. It's worth getting the best PSU you can afford, especially if you have a top end graphics card and play games. The gaming-associated power fluctuations (as well as ripple on cheap PSUs) can eat up the capacitors on your mother board and elsewhere. See my pics for some internal shots of the new board and fan if you know what to look for regarding quality of capacitors and general design and layout.