Corsair AX1500i Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on September 11, 2014 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- PSUs
- 1500W
Cold Test Results
For the testing of PSUs, we use high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox, and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs – 2014 Pipeline post.
The Corsair AX1500i delivered record-breaking performance at room temperature, with an impressive average conversion efficiency within the nominal load range (20% to 100%) of 94.9%. The maximum conversion efficiency is exactly 96.7% at 50% load, which is more than adequate for an 80 Plus Titanium certification under 230VAC input.
For 110VAC grids, the 80 Plus Titanium certification is more lenient, dictating an efficiency of at least 94% and thus the AX1500i should easily surpass it. Perhaps the most important point that we can make regarding the efficiency of the AX1500i is the low-load efficiency, which is at 85.6% at just 5% load, an astonishing figure considering that there are hardly any computer PSUs that will surpass 78% efficiency at 5% load. Of course, 5% load in this case is still 75W, and there are many PCs that idle at levels far below that value.
The cooling system of the Corsair AX1500i is based on "smart" thermal management, with the fan not turning on at all before it is necessary. Considering its output, the AX1500i is an astoundingly cool running unit, allowing it to operate without the help of the fan under loads that surpass the entire output of typical consumer/gaming PSUs. When the fan does start however, it does not remain quiet for long, with its speed increasing alongside the load. In the unlikely event that the AX1500i remains loaded at 80% capacity (or more) for several minutes, the fan is clearly audible from many meters away.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
55 Comments
View All Comments
Homeles - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
The internals of that PSU are simply gorgeous. Can't wait to get my EE degree and help design something like that.quick brown fox - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
As somebody who has previously worked for a power supply company (not these ATX form factors though), designing very high efficiency PSUs like these is hard as HELL. You're not going to enjoy designing and testing these when all you're missing is that +1% efficiency for certification purposes.Samus - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
It's always useful that this thing doubles as a jump starter for my car...rickon66 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Electric welding anyone?DanNeely - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Even small benchtop welders need double the power of something like this. Bigger free standing models start at needing a 50A-220V circuit for input (and presumably go up from there).davidgirgis - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Dream Computer:Caselabs Magnum TX10-D
2x Corsair AX1500i
Asus X99-E WS
Intel Core i7-5960X
64 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2800 MHz
4x EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Black Hydro Copper
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR
512 GB Plextor M6e M.2
8x 1TB Samsung 850 Pro in RAID 0
Digistor 5.25" Blu-ray Burner Slot-Load
Accessories:
3x 27" Asus ROG Swift
nVidia 3D Vision 2
Corsair Vengeance K70 RGB
Mad Catz R.A.T. Tournament Edition
Razer Invicta
Razer Oberweaver
Turtle Beach Ear Force XP Seven
Logitech Z906
Microsoft Xbox One Wireless Controller
Thrustmaster T500 RS GT5 Wheel
Thrustmaster TH8 RS Shifter
Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Water Cooling:
EK-Supremacy EVO Elite Edition
4x EK-CoolStream RAD XTX 480
2x EK-RES X3 400
2x Swiftech MCP655
2x Bitspower pump mod kit
Bitspower XStation
xx Bitspower Black Sparkle Fittings
2x Bitspower tap drainage
4x Bitspower mid-loop temperature sensors
2x Bitspower Flow-Meter
xx Blacknoise Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilent Pro fans
Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT Fan Controller
Rigid Acrylic Tubing
Coolant
Some Lights
Dr.Neale - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
AeroCool Dead Silence fans (available in black, or with red, white, or blue LEDs, in 120mm or 140mm) would be better.Dr.Neale - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
P.S. They are available at www.FrozenCPU.com FYI.fluxtatic - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Enjoy losing 8TB of data when one of your SSDs flakes out.Phillip Wager - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
wow this is really tempting to pick up just to be compleatly fanless at around 600 watts or less! that justification enough to pick up a $350 dollar power supply thats 3x the power than i'll ever need right? .........right??