Final Thoughts and Conclusions
The CS850M power supply is the new king of the hill in Corsair’s CS Modular series, which now ranges from 450W up to 850W. The CS Modular Series is positioned towards the high-side in the middle of Corsair’s numerous power supply offerings, targeting users who want a price friendly power supply for general purpose desktop systems and light to moderate gaming where low energy use, low noise, and simple installation are important. The CS850M test unit produced very good DC load regulation with very good efficiency (easily meeting the 80 Plus Gold certification criteria) across a full range of loads. The CS850M is very quiet during normal operation at low to mid power levels. And the unit was able to keep AC ripple and noise well under control. The CS850M comes with a basic assortment of fixed and flat ribbon-style modular cables.
The only minor issues we could find to complain about are the 3-year warranty and use of a sleeve bearing cooling fan. Some users may also be looking for a second 8-pin EPS cable/connector and/or six PCI-E connectors instead of the basic four at this power level. However, these are the type of features that help differentiate one class of power supply from another. For an extra ~$20, you can upgrade to one of Corsair’s RM Series PSUs (Corsair RM850, $159.99 USD), which will net you a 5-year warranty, a better cooling fan and a very good assortment of all modular cables (along with Corsair Link capability).
The MSRP for the CS Series Modular 850W power supply is $139.99 USD and that is the price it is currently selling for on newegg.com (January 2015).
Strengths:
• Very good voltage regulation (the three primary rails are ±2%)
• Very good efficiency across a broad range of loads (80Plus Gold certified)
• Very quiet operation through mid power levels
• +12V output can deliver up to 70.8A (849.6W)
• Active PFC with universal AC input
• Modular, ribbon style cables
• Friendly price for a 850W PSU
Minor Weaknesses:
• 3-Year warranty
• Sleeve bearing cooling fan
• A few additional cables/connectors might be nice at this power level
Corsair CS Series Modular 850W Power Supply
Our thanks to Corsair for sending us the CS850M to review!
CS units were always very
CS units were always very unreliable crap, even considering that they’re cheaper. The price-to-performance-to-reliability balance is just way off in these. If you need a truly high quality PSU from Corsair exactly, and for reasonable money, get HX line AT THE VERY LEAST, NOT the CS line. If you’re on a very small and/or tight budget you can get TX or RM units just fine, but for all sakes, I’m warning you, DO not buy CS units. They really suck some major rat’s ass, big time. If you want to spend little and get a decent unit, it’s either TX or RM, if you want a perfect high tier unit for reasonable price – HX, and if you want best of the best – AX (NOT an AXi, but the good ol’ AX).
Corsair built up a great
Corsair built up a great reputation in Power Supplies,
By primarily using SEASONIC units……………..
They have now moved to CHEAPER suppliers in their low
to mid range—MOAR profits-Don’t buy them……..
Corsair high end are good products-But why bother-
Just buy SEASONIC-You know your getting quality
components and quality built-Remember the PSU is the
most important part of your build……………..
Naive and uninformed folks
Naive and uninformed folks here.
The CS line looks to me like
The CS line looks to me like it is the CX series, just “Gold” certified. Or is that over simplifying this?
So instead of actually
So instead of actually reading the review…. 🙁
Warranty period is a good
Warranty period is a good hint. Well, it works for me.
It’s not CWT. You can see the
It’s not CWT. You can see the mark “GW-ATX850SLA” on the DC-to-DC secondary board. GW means Great Wall. And all other CS units are also made by Great Wall. RealHardTechX is agree with me 🙂
Correct. It is Great Wall.
Correct. It is Great Wall. Which, in many cases, is a step up from CWT.