The Corsair RM1000x and RM1000i 1000W Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on September 30, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- RM Series
- Corsair Link
Corsair might have started off as a computer memory manufacturer, but today they sell a number of components for PCs. One of their most active product lineups is their computer power supply units (PSUs) business, with the company offering dozens of products through six different series. Each of their PSU series has been designed with a specific target group in mind, ranging from the low-cost VS series to the top-performance AX series. Amongst them, the RM series consists of units with modular cables that have been designed with low noise operation in mind.
We had our first take on the RM series one and a half year ago with the review of the RM1000, which was the pinnacle of the RM series at the time. A few months ago, Corsair upgraded the RM series, presenting the RM-i series that also featured Corsair's Link interface. This week, the company is further releasing the RM-x series, which are an upgrade of the original RM series, receiving essentially the same upgrade as the RM-i units but leaving out the Corsair Link support. Corsair has provided us with an RM1000i and an RM1000x for evaluation, both of which we will have a look at in this review.
| Power specifications ( Rated @ 50 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 25A | 25A | 83.3A | 3A | 0.8A |
| 150W | 1000W | 15W | 9.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 1000W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
Corsair supplies the RM1000i and the RM1000x into large, tough cardboard boxes. The packaging is virtually identical, with the only major difference being the main color, which is white for the former and black for the latter. A lot of information regarding the PSU has been printed on all sides of the box, in multiple languages.
The company kept the bundle simple, supplying only the standard AC power cable, a manual and four black mounting screws, as well as a case badge and a few cable ties.
Both of the new RM units comes with the same number of cables and connectors, with the exception of the extra internal USB cable that the -i variation has for the Corsair Link interface. The SATA/Molex cables are flat, ribbon-like cables, while the thicker ATX/EPS/PCI-E cables are sleeved. All of the wires are black.
The following table lists the number of connectors.
| Corsair RM1000x/RM1000i | ||
| Connector type | Hardwired | Modular |
| ATX 24 Pin | - | 1 |
| EPS 4+4 Pin | - | 2 |
| EPS 8 Pin | - | - |
| PCI-E 6+2 Pin | - | 8 |
| PCI-E 8 Pin | - | - |
| SATA | - | 12 |
| Molex | - | 11 |
| Floppy | - | 2 |
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jonnyGURU - Thursday, October 1, 2015 - link
Uhhh.... "Excited"? I was simply answering his question.elforeign - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
I can vouch for the quality of this product, the RMi1000W in particular. I have had one since late July when I got it for my 24/7 BOINC Crunching rig. It powers my overclocked i5 and my 2 GTX 970's along with the other components in the system, SSD, HDD, 110i GT AIO etc. The ambient temps in my home are around 22c and thus, even when my system is pulling ~600watts the fan does not turn on because the PSU itself is not heating up that much even under load. Also, the efficiency meter from the Link interface marks around 91.7%The only knock one can give this PSU is the fact that the EPS, PCIE and ATX power cables are rather rigid and thick. It took some work to get the ATX cable into the motherboard. I brought up this complaint to Corsair. As of yesterday, Cablemod is now offering a set of EPS/PCIE/ATX individually sleeved cables for this PSU that I plan to purchase.
LaRock0wns - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
For anybody going to get or make custom cables for this PSU, Corsair changed the connector for the ATX 24-pin cable that plugs in to the PSU. The PSU is a 18 + 10 pin connector instead of the standard 14 + 10 pin.HOOfan 1 - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
They also have capacitors on the cables to aid in ripple suppression...so getting custom cables would give you different results from what is shown in the reviewlozikosaz - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
Aren't capacitors useless in interior cables, which use direct current?AnnihilatorX - Thursday, October 1, 2015 - link
It will help suppress high frequency noise.DanNeely - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
I've seen the 18+10 connector on a number of high end modular PSUs over the last year or so; I suspect it's the ODM's design not corsairs. Elsewhere I was told that the extra wires are used for voltage monitoring at the mobo end to actively adjust for any voltage drop.jonnyGURU - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
It's not the ODM design. The extra 4-pins (actually, 3. But you can't have an odd number of pins on a connector) are for +12V sense, +5V sense and extra ground. Seasonic and Super Flower have been using this method in the past to improve voltage regulation. Corsair started doing this recently as well for the same reason.To address the concern of using cables without sense and caps: You can do it, but you'll end up with the same level of voltage regulation and ripple suppression performance as an HXi.
extide - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - link
Cant believe it's taken this long for high end PSU's to implement separate sense lines. Any decent lab grade PSU has had that for decades, lol.jonnyGURU - Thursday, October 1, 2015 - link
Correct!But it's a cost adder and since it's only something you'll see in reviews and pretty much any decent PSU is well within Intel's (sloppy) ATX spec, it's not very common.