Corsair RM1000 Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 24, 2014 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- PSUs
- RM Series
External Appearance
Corsair painted the chassis of the RM1000 a matte black color, as the company usually does with their PSUs. Aesthetic improvements include chamfered edges and decorative stickers on the sides of the power supply, as well as parallel, embossed ridges aligned with the fan's finger guard design. Note that the chassis of the Corsair RM1000 is 180mm long, which is significantly longer than typical ATX PSUs. This could be a problem if the PSU is to be installed inside a small or low-cost case, but that seems unlikely considering the class and power output of the unit. Regardless, you'll want to make sure your case is able to accommodate such a large PSU.
Corsair placed the sticker with the specifications of the PSU on the top of the chassis as the front of the chassis is littered with the connectors for the modular cables and the sides of the Corsair and RM1000 logos. The CPU and PCI-E cables share the same style connectors, the split 10-14 pin connector is for the ATX cable and the smaller connectors are for SATA/Molex cables. There is also a small connector for the Corsair Link interface. We should note that the RM1000 sports the "Basic" Corsair Link interface, which allows you to monitor some basic figures (e.g. fan speed and the 12V line amperage), but it is far less interesting than the complete monitoring capabilities of their top-tier digital models.
Internal Design
The 135mm fan responsible for the cooling of the RM1000 is a Corsair NR135L fan. As even the UL certification number points back to Corsair, this technically is Corsair's own unique product and not a re-branded fan, though some Chinese factory still makes it for them. It has a rifle bearing and a maximum speed of about 1600 RPM. At this point we should note that the RM1000 features a "zero-RPM fan mode", meaning that the fan will not start until the load reaches a significant load (about 40%).
As we noted in the introduction, the OEM behind the RM1000 is Channel Well Technologies (CWT). The first thing that you'll notice about the design is not some special feature or fancy component but the heatsinks, which are preposterously small for a 1000W unit that is designed for low-noise operation and features a fanless mode. In fact, the heatsinks not only are small but also are nothing more than simple quadrangular metallic slabs, with minimal heat dissipation surface. Apparently, Corsair has placed a lot of faith on CWT's design and efficiency, especially considering the five year warranty they provide.
The 400V / 390 μF APFC capacitors are high quality parts supplied by Nippon Chemi-Con. The rest of the electrolytic capacitors are supplied by TAICON and CapXon, Taiwanese companies, with the exception of a stray small Nippon Chemi-Con on the connector's PCB. Although TAICON is not very well known, it is an old company and the quality of their products is considered to be on par with their (similarly priced) Japanese counterparts. CapXon is a very well known company and makes above-average quality products, but they've also had a couple of failed series in the past that rightfully reduced the reputation of the company amongst enthusiasts.
The build quality of the RM1000 is excellent overall. The soldering job is very good, with zero bad joints or burnings, only a few spots where the assembler was too generous with the solder. For mechanical cohesion, the manufacturer used a lot of glue to secure most components. An extra application of lacquer and glue can be seen on the inductors, most likely to minimize the chance of vibration-generated noise (also known as "coil whine").
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tynopik - Thursday, April 24, 2014 - link
where's the cart with cable lengths and connector spacings?poohbear - Thursday, April 24, 2014 - link
so, in 2014, what kind of system actually needs 1k wts? CPUs and Graphics cards are as power efficient as ever, so what are people doing with these 1k psus? My GTX 670s in SLI pull 300wts together under load, the newer graphics cards are even more power efficient, so what gives?peterfares - Friday, April 25, 2014 - link
mining coinsmeacupla - Saturday, April 26, 2014 - link
You're not supposed to load it up fully, because efficiency drops off.Generally, what you want to do is load up the PSU so that it's operating near peak efficiency where the computer is going full tilt. If you run an overclocked i7 and a pair of 780 cards, I think that gets you into the 600W range, or 60% load for this PSU, which is around the peak efficiency for it.
Antronman - Saturday, April 26, 2014 - link
2-way water OC SLI/CF with high-end cards+ CPU OC on water.600-700w power draw easily, and then another 80w+ for the monitor, plus 10w for each USB device.
ba-bam, you need a 1000w PSU.
royalcrown - Monday, April 28, 2014 - link
Except the monitors don't run off the psu ;)tabascosauz - Friday, April 25, 2014 - link
I had hoped that the higher wattage RMs (850W and now 1000W) would trade CapXon/TAICON/Teapo caps for Chemicon/Rubycon ones and the zero rpm fan profile for an even quieter fan, but I guess one can't always get what he wishes for.The thing is, at this price range there's just so much competition. You have absolutely stunning 80+ Gold and Platinum 1KW+ platforms from Super Flower, Seasonic, and Delta that don't miss a beat when it comes to high quality components and impeccable solder jobs. This makes the RM a lot less attractive (well, it does look nice on the outside but most other KW+ units also look nice).
YoloPascual - Friday, April 25, 2014 - link
^+1This psu has a zero rpm mode. The heat will f**k up those capxon and taicon. RM1000w is $190 now in newegg, EVGA G2 1000w $200 , Cooler Master V1000w $210.
Those who got more than 2 gpus will not bother to expend 10-20$ more if they can a much better psu. IF those people know more, not just brand names.
jonnyGURU - Friday, April 25, 2014 - link
I disagree. Not only are these caps rated at 105°C, but the temperatures inside the PSU don't get anywhere near that. Remember that the life of the cap increases exponentially the cooler it is from it's max rating.Also, Japanese caps are quite over-rated. They're not even made in Japan anymore (they're just Japanese brand) and the Chinese are using the same Japanese electrolyte and aluminum that the Japanese brands are using.
tabascosauz - Friday, April 25, 2014 - link
Well, manufacturers can obviously RATE their caps at the temperature they want them to be rated, but not all of them will deliver. Teapo has been in the game for quite a bit of time and now it's pretty much agreed that they are capable of delivering on the same level as the Japanese ones, but it's the TAICON and CapXon ones that are a little less sure.I do agree that even with a zero rpm fan mode, there's still a pretty capable fan on the RM. That's the reason why I would never buy a Seasonic fanless PSU for any reason. I must say that I haven't seen many 1000+ units from CWT and don't know how they fare (from the soldering jobs that they do I would say that CWT needs some more experience in the high end market, although it shouldn't really affect performance), Seasonic, Delta and to a certain extent Super Flower can claim their superiority here.
Are you OklahomaWolf or are you just a fan of jonnyGURU? That site is one of my go-to places for an education on PSUs, aside from TPU. All the others are pretty much junk.