CORSAIR CX-M CX650M 650W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi-Modular Power Supply

Pros: This is a newer version of the affordable CX650M PSU which is one of the most popular mid-range, 650W semi-modular power supplies.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.

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: 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