Corsair HX850 PSU Review

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Ripple Measurements

To learn how we measure ripple, please click here.

The following table includes the ripple levels we measured on the HX850's rails. The limits, according to the ATX specification, are 120mV (+12V) and 50mV (5V, 3.3V and 5VSB).

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Test12V5V3.3V5VSBPass/Fail
10% Load5.7mV6.6mV8.4mV5.5mVPass
20% Load7.0mV6.1mV8.6mV5.3mVPass
30% Load8.2mV7.1mV8.7mV6.6mVPass
40% Load8.7mV6.8mV9.7mV6.0mVPass
50% Load9.7mV7.5mV11.3mV8.3mVPass
60% Load11.0mV6.7mV10.7mV8.2mVPass
70% Load9.9mV7.3mV10.8mV8.5mVPass
80% Load10.2mV7.4mV11.4mV8.8mVPass
90% Load11.2mV8.0mV13.6mV10.0mVPass
100% Load14.1mV9.9mV12.4mV12.0mVPass
110% Load14.8mV10.4mV13.1mV13.5mVPass
Cross-Load 19.4mV10.6mV9.6mV9.8mVPass
Cross-Load 212.8mV8.4mV11.8mV10.8mVPass
Image 1 of 4

These numbers reflect excellent ripple suppression! A solid design and those extra in-cable capacitors work wonders in our tests.

Ripple Oscilloscope Screenshots

The following oscilloscope screenshots illustrate the AC ripple and noise registered on the main rails (+12V, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB). The bigger the fluctuations on the screen, the bigger the ripple/noise. We set 0.01 V/Div (each vertical division/box equals 0.01V) as the standard for all measurements.

Ripple At Full Load

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Ripple At 110-Percent Load

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Ripple At Cross-Load 1

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Ripple At Cross-Load 2

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

See more Power Supplies Reviews
6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ilogic450
    Thanks!
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Would it be possible to do a comparison between the Corsair HX850 and the AX860?

    All digital sounds nice on paper, but how does it translate into power supply performance?

    Does the extra $12 for the AX860 give you a quantifiable difference between them?

    And if the AX860 does turn out to be superior in some way then why does the HX850 even exist in the first place?

    Corsair AX860 $181.99
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139041

    Corsair HX850 $169.99
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139083


    I remember back in 2002 I blew my power supply while overclocking and playing Tron 2.0 .
    (The power supply didn't take out anything, just had to buy a new one.)

    Ever since then I've always used the highest priced AX line, with the rationale of never going cheap on my power supply again.
    (And being more conservative with my overclocks)
    Reply
  • mauro2003_9
    The AX860 OEM is Seasonic.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    The AX860i has 1.42% higher overall performance score than the HX850 and the AX860 is very close to the AX860i. I would say that the performance of the AX860 and the HX850 is really close, however the second is much more silent.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Congrats to Corsair on another stellar PSU , and thanks for the review.
    Reply
  • ElectrO_90
    The first paragraph talks about the HX850i and the new cables in this HX850.
    Where are the comparisons between the 2?
    Why even mention it, if you aren't going to show how much better the HX850 cables are, if at all?
    Reply