bit-tech Shopping: Corsair VX 550W Power Supply

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Months

Strengths: very solid power with a high 12v rail, energy friendly 80+ efficiency, alot of cables, compatible with almost all motherboards, and a 5 year warranty!!

Weaknesses: Not as quiet as my hx620, not modular (but this was advertised so i won't count it towards the rating)

Summary: What can i say, i purchased one of these guys from an etailer, and while testing it outside of the case, i noticed a low buzzing noise. It turns out it was the fan making the noise and this model seems to be famous for this problem, a simple fan noise. I got 3 replacement and they all had the same noise. Besides that this is a great PSU, with great customer support system from corsair. They pretty much said they will replace my PSU until i am satisfied with the one i get at the end, but it just is too time consuming. I just left the PSU in my case, and with the fans and all, it is hard to hear the low buzzing noise unless you're right next to it. Besides that, the power supply functions just great, no problems whatsoever powering my system. In the end, it is a great power supply for the price/performace, it just isn't quiet like my hx620 but it is also almost half the price after rebates.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 4 Weeks

Strengths: Rock solid performance, primary uses a Japanese capacitor, nice matte black finish, single 12v rail is rated 41A

Weaknesses: Expensive when not on sale, but then all quality units are.

Summary: Sadly, many people who purchase a power supply for their computer buy the cheapest one they can find. This can be a costly mistake. All of your other expensive computer parts count upon the power supply for smooth, reliable power. A poorly made unit can damage or destroy your other parts. This Cosair VX unit is a nice compromise between quality and price.Made by Channel Well Technology (CWT), the Corsair VX550 550w Power Supply is made from quality parts and to excellent specs. I did not do any testing, other than hooking it up, but the review below did:http://www.circuitremix.com/index.php?q=node/98&page=0,0The unit was quiet, and has a nice appearance. We were lucky and found this unit on sale. If this was at full retail price I would probably pass it up for a PC Power and Cooling unit. But if this unit is on sale then the value cannot be beat.Excellent unit, but expensive. Five stars.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 6 Months

Strengths: 1) High Efficiency (up to 85%); 2) 41A on a Single, Stable 12V Rail; 3) Quality Japanese Capacitors; 4) Sleeved Cables

Weaknesses: None.

Summary: Others have done a thorough job of detailing the quality features of this PSU, so anything I could add in that sense might seem redundant. .What I WILL tell you is this:.I've owned Corsair's VX550W PSU for some six-months. It has faithfully poweredthe following system without so much as a hiccup:.MSI K9A2 Platinum Motherboard; AMD 5000+ Black Edition CPU (overclocked);Dual Radeon HD3870 Vid Cards (Crossfire Configuration); Maxtor 15K Atlas II HD; Two (2) WD6400AAKS HDs (recently added to replace two older internal drives); Pioneer DVR-115DBK CD/DVD Burner; and Seven (7) 120mm Fans controlled bya Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme. The VX550? Rock. Solid. Stable.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: quiet, lengthy cables, # of connections, lifetime warranty

Weaknesses: not modular

Summary: At first I was weary of the Corsair brand, but after reading a few reviews, it seems everyone was spot on. The feature I was looking for in a PSU was how quiet it would be due to the position of where my computer would be in my room, this PSU was inaudible to me. The length of the connections were great, I was able to reach my components in my case with ease. PSU is solid! Highly recommend! Bought another for another build.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 25 Days

Strengths: Sleek looks, heavy unit, all cords are well insulted, will run all the latest video cards, good tech support

Weaknesses: It doesn't keep cpu tower as cool as OEM did, would be nice if it were modular, makes drive chattering much louder

Summary: After reading the reviews for Corsair power supplies, I could hardly wait to receive my VX 550w. The unit was priced right to deliver high performance to my new video card. Well, it worked fine and silent until day 15. Now the drive searching noise is 5 times louder. To the point, I replaced the vx550 with my stock Bestec. This of course resolved the noise issue. Why is day 15 so important, because Buy.com has a 15 day return policy.