Gadgetory

excellent it's been a while since I covered a power supply so I wanted to jump back into the game with something big this is the coarser HX 1200 I a 1200 watt fully modular 80 + platinum rated beast designed for a high-end gaming and workstation desktops before I take this out of the box and give the details or any of that good stuff though who is this power supply actually made for I like to play this game with lots of components as I think that for each product that's brought to market there's an absolutely ideal situation the right to build for the right person - best to make use of that product and give you or that person at the best possible bang for the buck okay so it's a 1200 watt power supply and that makes the first potential scenario pretty easy to determine 3-way or four-way graphics card configurations pretty much most single GPU systems can get by with a 500 or maybe a 600 watt power supply so to really use 1200 watts you need at least three full-sized high-end graphics cards if not for and of course it will vary based on the GPUs and how much is actually needed these setups are pretty rare though so is this for anyone else besides that Oh like a high-end workstation for example might have dual Zeon's and a Quadro GPU and then three additional Tesla rendering accelerators for example or maybe a full complement of fire pro cards that could be a good example - or maybe you're just an energy efficiency fanatic and you really want to be at the peak of that efficiency curve this is an 80 plus Platinum rated unit so you'll always get at least 89 to 90 percent efficiency but you can get close to 93% efficiency if you're only pulling about 600 watts are about 50% of the hx1 1200 eyes available wattage and maybe there's also a silent computing aficionado out there who might note that you can pull up to 480 watts from this unit and the fan won't even need to spin up as long as the temperature inside stays lower than 25 C 480 watts is all or more than what most gaming desktops need and while there are other more practical PSU is out there that offer similar functionality most of them couldn't also kick out 1200 watts if the need were to arise so if you're one of those people go ahead and hit that like button because your PSU has arrived you can still hang around and watch though even if you're not one of those people I won't tell promised okay before I really move on there's another question that's bound to come up that is why did Corsair make the HX 1200 I when they already have the ax 1200 I which was launched last year well the ax 1200 I is a digital power supply and the HX 1200 I is analog internally this means apart from the HX 1200 I starting at 270 dollars there's just the ax which starts at 320 dollars that while this unit is compatible with Corsair link you won't have the same level of control as you would with the digital version for example the HX I will give you monitoring for your 12 volt 5 volt and 3.3 volt rails but the ax I can actually control those values the X I will also provide readings for AC power input ATX 24 pin and 12 volt peripherals for example essentially if adjusting any of those settings within your power supply is something that you have zero interest in the HX 1200 I will provide a better and more cost-effective option and you'll still get all the same features as far as power delivery efficiency and build quality moving right along with an unboxing though you will note Corsair is continued attention to detail when it comes to packaging and accessories apart from the PSU itself you get an instruction booklet and warranty information there is a seven year warranty on the HX 1200 I very nice a very appropriate powered by Corsair case badge as well as eight or ten zip ties and for black mounting screws as well as a thick 14 gauge AC power cable and do keep this cable with this PSU as using a thinner gauge cable can lead to melting and even potentially fires in the wrong situation and that's bad a suggestion for the future though friends at Coursera I've seen 24 pin at jumper caps and included with power supplies lately that allows you to power it on without connecting it up to a full system and I really think that that would round out the accessories for a high-end PSU like the HX 1,200 I the PSU itself comes in a faux velvet bag which you'll desperately search for use for after installation is complete and the modular cables oh dear God the modular cables there are just way too many of them so let's go ahead and sort that out shall we okay there's two eight pin EPS supplemental CPU power cables for dual CPU or high-end overclocking boards of course the main 24 pin motherboard connector four of those peg or PCI Express graphics power cables each of them has two six plus two pin plugs giving you up to eight eight pin PEG connectors total for 4-way GPU configurations for peripherals you have four SATA power cables each with four SATA plugs for 16 toll as well as three molex power cables each with four plugs as well for 12 total finally there's a couple molex to floppy plug adapters and a couple cables for connecting your PSU to the rest of your system to enable Corsair link also did you notice how non colorful these cables are their flats they are all black all the way down to the plugs and outside of customs leaving jobs I think they're ideal for looks and stealthy cable management physically this is a large power supply at seven point eight seven inches or 200 millimeters long this could cause some space conflicts in smaller cases so bear that in mind on the top or the bottom depending on how its oriented I guess there's 140 millimeter fluid dynamic bearing fan which again does nothing unless the power supply is actually drawing 500 watts or the temps go above 25 degrees Celsius besides that it won't spin and it will make zero noise at that point it will spin up on a fan curve that's optimized for low noise so even if it's spinning you probably won't even really notice it on the back there's some hex grilling for ventilation your AC cable plug and a very beefy on/off switch each side has the Corsair logo with the HX 1200 i model name and some blue color accents and it's oriented so the text should be right-side up unless you're using a case with the flipped design of course on the top is your power chart and here's another point I have not yet mentioned this power supply delivers all 1200 watts of its rated power via one single massive 100 amp 12 volt rail I haven't tested personally but according to these numbers you should be able to power to AMD r9 295x2 s off of this single rail that is quite impressive finally there is the business end with all of the modular cable connection points all laid out with labeling so you can tell what's what and on the left side there's also the Corsair link stuff so a couple plugs for those depending on which of the cables you're going to use and also a fan test button which surprisingly enough tests the fan it works too I tried it last thing I would usually like to address for a PSU would be internal component choice and build but this power supply really is brand-new and there's just no good load test reviews out yet from folks like Johnny guru techpowerup Tom's hardware or PC perspective for me to lean on so I will say this the history of reviews for other models in the HX wattage I series have been spectacular with no issues with internals or build quality Corsair also states that this unit uses all Japanese capacitors rated at 105 C and they do continuous testing server grade testing mind you at 50 C for this unit so that's what it's validated at we can also reasonably reasonably assume that you can't really qualify for 80-plus platinum rating without using some quality parts inside so with all that said what do you guys think of the HX 1200 I is 1200 watts too much for you or are you happy to have a high-quality slash lower cost option versus the bells and whistles Laden ax series let me know in the comment section down below click away on that like button while you're at it subscribe to my channel if you haven't already share this video maybe stop by and pick up a t-shirt at store all's Hardware net and as always thanks for watching