Efficiency, Differential Temperature and Noise
Efficiency
Efficiency is defined by the power output divided by the power input and is usually expressed as a percentage. If a PSU were a 100% efficient (which none are) 1,000 watts of AC power going in would result in 1,000 watts of DC power coming out (with no waste heat to dissipate). In the real world there are always inefficiencies and power is lost in the form of heat during the conversion process. Newer revisions to the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide V 2.2 have continued to increase the efficiency recommendations for PC switching mode power supplies and now lists both required and recommended minimum efficiencies.
We measured the AC power input to the AX1500i PSU with an Extech power analyzer while the total DC load was found by adding all the individual +3.3V, +5V, +12V, -12V and +5VSB loads together.
The overall efficiency of the AX1500i Digital power supply is excellent and easily meets the new criteria for 80Plus Titanium certification, even while operating on 115 VAC and at elevated, real-world temperatures. Very impressive!
80 Plus Program
Note: Tests conducted at room temperature (25°C)
(Corsair Efficiency Graph – Courtesy of Corsair)
Differential Temperature and Noise Levels
To simulate real world operation, some of the warm exhaust air from the PSU under test is recirculated back to the intake through a passive air duct, which allows the PSU air inlet temperature to increase with load, just like it would in a real PC.
The differential temperature across the power supply was calculated by subtracting the internal case air temperature (T in) from the temperature of the warm exhaust air flowing out the back of the power supply (T out).
Thermocouples were placed at the air inlet and exhaust outlet. The ambient room air temperature was 23ºC (74ºF) +/- 0.5ºC during testing.
T out = temperature of air exhausting from power supply
T in = temperature of air entering power supply
Delta T = T out – T in
Sound pressure level readings were taken 3’ away from the rear of the case in an otherwise quiet room. The ambient noise level was ~28 dBA.
*Note: Fan not spinning
The Corsair AX1500i Digital PSU is virtually silent at low power levels (below ~30% load) with the fan not spinning. At 50% load the fan was spinning but it was still relatively quiet. At the 75% load mark with the AX1500i delivering 1,125 watts, the fan noise was noticeable but subjectively not loud. I was not able to take SPL measurements at full load due to all of the DC programmable load fans running constantly at this point.
(Corsair AX1500i Fan Noise Graph – Courtesy of Corsair)
Minor Weaknesses:
•
Minor Weaknesses:
• Corsair Link not supported in Win XP
lol really minor at this time…
indeed don’t think that someone buys this beast to run it on Win Xp… would be unbelievable 😀
Agreed… very minor!
I
Agreed… very minor!
I almost didn't include it but the issue did come up during my testing as I initially tried to install Corsair Link on one of my old CPU cooler test beds that happens to be sitting next to the PSU test equipment (have retained Win XP environment for consistency over the years). Pretty good PSU if that was the only "weakness" that came up during testing.
Any chance you will test the
Any chance you will test the 2 295X2’s on this?
Already tested in this
Already tested in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co7luj9ILr4
More details to come.
Sorry, we had to send back
Sorry, we had to send back the second R9 295X2 card before the AX1500i arrived to me. :/
Oh ya I remember you
Oh ya I remember you mentioning that. Well maybe someday in the future!
This is the first time I have
This is the first time I have heard of ATX 12V 2.4. Whats new? I am considering buying a new PSU now I am interested to know.
Good question: according to
Good question: according to our technical expert at Corsair… "The only difference between ATX12V 2.3 and 2.4, AFAIK, is that the 2.4 has the Haswell testing (0 load on the +12V to see if the PSU can support the C6/C7 sleep states)."
It doesn’t meets the
It doesn’t meets the efficiency requirements for 80 plus Titanium for 240v , 80 plus Titanium for 240v at 50% load mute be 96% or higher.
Hi,
I am testing Link
Hi,
I am testing Link software on my machine :
Config:
At IDLE load, PCIe A all current values are shown as ZERO,
Does this software have some threshold, above only it can sense current properly?
Following is sample data:
AX1200i PCIe 1 (A) Main (V) Main (A) Efficiency (%) Power In (W) Power Out (W)
Date Time AX1200i AX1200i AX1200i AX1200i AX1200i AX1200i
9/26/2014 4:15 0A 237V 0.4A 82.47% 87.4W 72.0823229576928W
9/26/2014 4:15 0A 236V 0.4A 82.44% 87.2W 71.8877801636352W
9/26/2014 4:15 0A 236V 0.4A 81.73% 83.2W 67.9962986383872W
9/26/2014 4:16 0A 237V 0.3A 79.18% 71.55W 56.6555688749302W
9/26/2014 4:16 0A 237V 0.3A 79.18% 71.55W 56.6555688749302W
9/26/2014 4:16 0A 237V 0.4A 80.98% 79.4W 64.2982873744608W
9/26/2014 4:16 0A 237V 0.4A 80.98% 79.4W 64.2982873744608W
would this Corsair AX1500i be
would this Corsair AX1500i be enough for powering two motherboards?
I want to install in a single box Linux and Windows and would need a good graphics card for a 4K monitor