Corsair HX1000i Modular Power Supply Review

Efficiency, PFC and Voltage Regulation

Voltage Regulation

To test voltage regulation we load the power supply to five different load scenarios that give an equal spread of load across every single rail. So that means 20% on all rails, 40% on all rails and so on. We then calculate the average deviance of each rail from its expected voltage.

Voltage regulation was strong on the Corsair HX1000i although we did notice that things started to droop towards higher loads. The 12 volt rail and 3.3 volt rail both dropped below their ideal values from 60% load but the amount of droop was so small that it can be overlooked.

Power Efficiency

Power efficiency is measured by calculating actual supplied wattage divided by the wattage drawn at the wall/plug, multiplied by 100 to give a percentage. We then compare that to the particular 80 Plus certification the company claims to see if it meets that. You can see the 80 Plus certifications below, we always test 230v power supplies.

Efficiency was within margin of error of 80 Plus Platinum, at 20% load it was 2.2% higher than required, at 50% load around 0.8% lower than required and at 100% load 0.4% lower than required.  We do not measure 50% directly which makes it difficult to calculate. However, efficiency is exceptionally high and definitely worthy of Platinum certification: CWT did a great job.

Power Factor Correction

Power Factor Correction is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. The aim of PFC is to make the load circuitry that is power factor corrected appear purely resistive (apparent power equal to real power). In this case, the voltage and current are in phase and the reactive power consumption is zero. The closer the number to one the better as this allows the most efficient delivery of electrical power (Source – Wikipedia).

PFC was consistently excellent and among the best we’ve seen.