CORSAIR AXi Series, AX1500i, 1500 Watt, 80+ Titanium Certified, Fully Modular - Digital Power Supply

Not a review but just a testament to the resiliency of this unit (AX1200i). I have run mine nonstop for nearly 10 years through multiple builds and haven't had a single issue with it. It currently powers a watt hungry 5090 and 12900k with a comfortable amount of headroom left over. Its getting a little too long in the tooth for me at this point to comfortably keep in my system but I felt it was right to honor such a beast before its final send off. I'll probably end up snagging another Corsair PSU but it will have some pretty big shoes to fill...

This PSU is undoubtably the best PSU for your PC. Efficiency level of at least 94% even at 100% load. Far as PSU goes, the only other Titanium grade option is mainly for servers, not for PCs. So this PSU from Corsair will be the BEST you can possibly get for your money. You get an abundance of connectors and thank God for the backward capabilities of the connectors. Unlike EVGA Classified PSU, which comes in Generation 1 and 2 where connectors for either generation is not compatible with the other generation, you can use the braided connectors sold by Corsair if you happen to have a set from your AX1200i. So if you're looking to upgrade from AX1200i to AX1500i, you can migrate all the connectors without problems. However, the connectors for all other Corsair PSUs are not compatible. It's also important to note that the connectors are long which indicates this PSU can easily support the current models of supertower PC cases. To give you an idea, I have had no problem using connectors on my CaseLabs STH10 with pedestals, which the PC case is over 4 feet tall. The lengthiest connector had to be the CPU connector and the distance from the PSU to the connector on the motherboard is approximately 3 feet, but the provided connector was long enough to cover the distance.Compared to AX1200i, this PSU is about 10cm longer, so after installing all connectors you may face some cramped space in your PC case where PSU is located. Based on my experience, Corsair 900D case may run into this cramped space issue when you decide to install both 480mm AND 240mm radiators in the bottom chamber. In fact, you probably won't be able to fit 240mm radiator and this PSU on the same side because I struggled a bit when installing 240mm radiator and this PSU on the STH10 (it was tight, but I was able to get both components squeezed in while minimizing pressures on the connectors). So if I struggled with STH10, then my experience tells me that such an installation is not possible on Corsair 900D because the bottom chamber is smaller for this case when compared to that of STH10. But then again, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for people since the space issue can easily be resolved with smart build design modification. That being said, if you are building a PC anything less than a full ATX, no sli nor crossfire setup, maxed out RAM, extreme CPUs etc., you should probably go with other PSU models because this is clearly an overkill for anything less. My current build includes two R9 295X2. YES, TWO! And those who are aware, that VGA is power hungry. Yet, with this PSU there's still enough headroom. When my PC is on, the fan on the PSU does not even turn on. But the fan does kick in during heavy load, especially when gaming on 4k resolution and both VGAs are being fully utilized. Still, no shortage of power here.My only problem is not directed at this PSU, but the option it provides. Specifically, the Corsair Link. Corsair really need to fix that God awful device or completely scrap the concept in its entirety. The software for Corsair Link is still unbearable to use and trying to get it to work properly is like pulling teeth. But to cover all basis, this PSU does allow the option to tap the Corsair Link functionality for monitoring power usage purposes. But I doubt most will connect this PSU to the Link especially since an alternative option is available - you can monitor either via Corsair Link or via internal USB which connects directly to your motherboard. I think most users will opt for the latter and the necessary USB connector is included. Strangely, Corsair did not include a Link adapter with this PSU, unlike AX1200i which does include the Link adapter and the connector.

I purchased this PSU a little more than a year ago. Since that time I have had it replaced under warranty twice, and the saga is still not finished.Three of the AX1200i units I received were afflicted by a very noticeable (and patently unacceptable) coil whine. This manifested itself under load (i.e., when gaming) as a high-pitched squeal that was both maddening and disappointing. The PC into which I had built this PSU is otherwise extremely quiet (even with two ASUS STRIX Radeon R9 390X Overclocked 8 GB DDR5 512-bit DisplayPort HDMI 1.4a DVI-I Gaming Graphics Card). After completing the initial build, I noticed that under load, the PSU squealed quite a great deal. Thankfully, replacing the hard drive in my build with a Thermaltake Level 10 Titanium case is not exceptionally difficult and does not require the "open-heart surgery" that such an event might require in other cases. So, I contacted Corsair and arranged for an advance replacement (wherein you must provide a credit card to which a temporary charge is applied) so that I could get a replacement unit in advance of returning the defective unit.They promptly sent me the replacement unit and I returned the first unit to them.The second unit also squealed under load. It was a different pitch and responded to different loads (i.e., games), but was altogether too loud to tolerate (especially at this price point).Undeterred, I contacted Corsair. We repeated the process.This time, because stock was depleted, they kindly shipped me one directly from Asia. It squealed under load.To be clear, the squealing in all three units was not subtle. And it wasn't a function of me being finicky. It was the kind of sound anyone would notice.Unfortunately, at this point, the unit had gone out of stock (wasn't available on Amazon and Corsair no longer had any on hand). They offered to replace it with the larger AX1500i; however, that unit is too physically to large (long) for my case. So we agreed that I would wait until they received new stock of the AX1500i, and that I would live with the squealing until then. We further agreed that they would first ship my unit to their technical support where they would test the unit for coil whine, establishing that the unit was perfectly silent before shipping it to me.And so my multi-month wait began.Four days ago, the whining power supply (the third) failed entirely. This voided the machine's operation entirely. Because putting up with squealing is a completely different ballgame from not having a PC that works, I contacted Corsair to see which unit they could provide to replace the failed unit while I continued to wait. They kindly sent me (in one business day) a Corsair HXi Series, HX1200i, 1200 Watt (1200W), Fully Modular Power Supply, 80+ Platinum Certified. I received it today and installed it. It is almost identical to the AX1200i except that it is not all digital (and consequently requires a USB connection from the PSU to the motherboard to get the fairly useless Corsair Link software to work). Notably, while it makes some sound under load, it's not nearly as noisy as any of the three AX1200i units.And so I have a replacement unit while I continue to wait for Corsair to ship me an AX1200i replacement unit that operates the way a $310 PSU should.While I can commend Corsair's customer service, this particular unit is simply not recommendable. The HX1200i may be a better unit for those looking for less noise (although I cannot comment on reliability).I can say that in 2010, I built a different machine with a Corsair Professional Series HX1000 80 Plus Certified Modular Power Supply (CMPSU-1000HX). That PSU was virtually noiseless and presented no issues that I recall for nearly 6 years. All told, I believe Corsair makes good products (in all my PCs, I have Corsair memory with 2 X Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz (PC4-24000) C15 memory kit for DDR4 Systems (CMK16GX4M4B3000C15R) in this build, and I currently use a Corsair Gaming K70 LUX RGB Mechanical Keyboard, Backlit RGB LED, Cherry MX RGB Blue and Corsair Gaming MM800 POLARIS RGB LED Lighting Hard Mouse Pad), but this is not among them.Needless to say, I recommend buying a different model if you are interested in the Corsair brand.