Test – Corsair CS450M – Conseil Config : Specs | CPU | Hashrate | Review | Config

Hi everyone!

Corsair, which has been present since 1994 and known at its beginnings on the consumer market for its high performance memory modules, has since diversified a lot, starting with power supplies and boxes to now have peripherals, SSDs and water cooling solutions. The brand has always aimed to offer high quality products in all areas and it is today that Config Council will see for the first time if the goal is achieved with the CS450M!

Behind this barbaric name hides a semi-modular 450Watts power supply with an 80Plus Gold certification and oriented towards office automation or games on a low consumption configuration.
Finding a “small” one is not always easy when looking for features such as modularity and good certification, so Corsair has a power supply that would be quite suitable, let’s take a closer look!

The front of the box of the CS450M is rather classy, ​​a mixture of white, black and green of the most beautiful effect. It includes the model and series of the power supply, the 80Plus Gold logo, the 3-year warranty as well as the endorsements of low power consumption and quiet operation.

At the rear there is a lot of information, the number of connectors available, the curves of the evolution of the sound level as well as the evolution of the charging efficiency, the compatibility with the energy saving modes of the Intel Haswell and a table showing the distribution of power in the various voltages.

When you open the box, you will find the various warranty and manual sheets, bags of modular cables, cable ties, screws, a power cord as well as the power supply of course! It is wrapped in bubble wrap to cushion the vagaries of transport a little.

That’s all we take out of the box, now it’s time for the presentation of the food itself, because we are mainly there for that! 🙂

The Corsair CS450M is a power supply all in matte black, the finish is very good and the sticker on the side immediately announces the model, as usual with Corsair! A little tour of the owner is in order.

We can see the 12cm fan, a HA1225L12S-Z Sleeve Bearing from Hong Hua running at a maximum speed of 1500RPM, which should be quiet thanks to its bearing but should have a shorter life than ball bearings. The black grille is the most beautiful effect, the presence of the Corsair logo in the center does not spoil anything.
We discover at the same time the 2 cables attached, a sheathed cable for the 24-pin and flat cables, black and glued by 4 for the 8-pin processor.

On the other side a large sticker is present which gives information on the distribution of the power on the different voltages, the usual warnings on the dangers of dismantling by unqualified personnel as well as the number.

The honeycomb ventilation grid is sufficiently permissive not to obstruct the flow of air, we also find the power plug and the On / Off button, nothing very special not here!

Here are the modular cable connectors, the bare minimum here, 450Watts power supply! 3 connectors for Molex / Sata peripherals and a single PCIe or Processor connector, too bad it will not be possible to connector a graphics card requiring 2 PCIe cables unless you go through an adapter. The finish is good, even if it seems a bit empty at the time.

The bundle consists of:

• 1 warranty leaflet
• 1 information sheet
• 1 power cord
• 1 cable tie wrist
• The necessary screws

A bundle therefore offering the minimum vital, even if the presence of cable ties in sufficient quantity for a whole tower is very appreciable.

Cables

With a total of 4 Sata ports, 3 Molex and unfortunately 1 single PCIe port, the Corsair CS450M is clearly oriented towards an office PC or entry-level game, and the number of sea connectors is totally sufficient for these types of configurations. All modular cables are flat, black and glued and of very good quality as you can get on more high-end modular power supplies, a good point therefore.

Corsair CS450M
Power	426 Watts for the + 12V 110 Watts for + 3.3V and +5 V combined 15 Watts on the + 5Vsb 9.6 Watts on -12V
Certification
Maximum yield	90% / 92% / 89% at 20% / 50% / 100% load
Fan	1 fan of 12 cm
Sound level	No manufacturer data
Modular	Semi Modular 2 Sata cables 1 Molex cable 1 câble PCi-e
Protections	OCP, OVP, UVP, SCP, OPP, OTP
Number of 12v rails	1
Dimensions	150 x 140 x 86 mm
Weight	1.9 kg with cables
Guarantee	3 years
Price	~ 65€

First thing, as I said in other tests the manufacturers arrange a little at the level of the power of the power supplies and this is the case here because the 450Watts are not the reflection of the 12V rail (the most important in a PC) which displays 426Watts maximum, it is only 24Watts of difference and we have seen much worse but it should be noted!

The 80Plus Gold certification should ensure a very good performance for the small supply of the day which will be reflected by a very contained heat release. The heat will be evacuated by the 12CM fan (HA1225L12S-Z Sleeve Bearing from Hong Hua) which should make the silent beast. Of course, all protections are required here.

The dimensions show a small size CS450M, the 12cm fan covering almost all of the power supply, owners of small boxes will be delighted!

The 3-year guarantee and the price of 65 € at the time of this writing place this power supply in the entry level for 80Plus Gold, perhaps an alternative to large power supplies much more expensive, let’s see that!

The test platform

The Corsair CS450M power supply has been tested on the configuration below:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 875K @ 3,2 Ghz
• Motherboard: Asus P7P55D
• Memory: Kingston HyperX 4 x 2 Go 1600Mhz
• Hard disk: WD Raptor 150 Go
• Graphic card: Sapphire Toxic 5850

The test protocol

The core i7 875K has been slightly overclocked to 3.2Ghz. The readings in charge were taken during an OCCT Power Supply test, the readings at rest were taken after 15mins on the desk.

The power supply has been tested against the Seasonic S12 600 (from 2006), Seasonic G550 (tested here), Seasonic X650, Seasonic P660 (tested here), Seasonic Platinum 460FL (tested here), be quiet E9 580CM (tested here), be quiet! L8 Pure Power 500 (tested here) and Antec HCP Platinum 850 (tested here).

The consumption

Before starting, let’s take a look at the performance of the power supplies compared to the Corsair CS450M, indeed the various 80Plus certifications will directly influence consumption, so this will be a good way to have concrete results. Only the S12 600 does not have an 80Plus certification because it did not yet exist at the time of purchase (but the following versions of this power supply had the classic 80Plus certification, so 80% / 80% / 80% to 20% respectively / 50% / 100% load).

Recall: All readings are taken at the outlet and reflect consumption total of the machine.

The small Corsair CS450M is doing particularly well here, with 78Watts at rest which places it ahead of the other 80Plus Gold power supplies in the comparison which are the Seasonig G-550, Seasonic X650 and be quiet! E9 580CM with 79 80 and 79 respectively, very good result for the Corsair!
In load, the trend is reversed with 353 Watts for the CS450M and 349,352 and 351 Watts for the others, we are talking here of a few Watts of difference, the result is excellent and in the standard of 80Plus Gold power supplies.

The tensions

The voltages of the Corsair CS450M are very good, the 12V goes from 11.88 to 11.81 under load (0.6% difference), the 5V from 5.02 to 4.99 (0.6%) and the 3.3V from 3.34 to 3.32 (0.6% too!) . The load is therefore not scary for this small power supply which can be kept without problems at the level of the 3 other 80Plus power supplies in the comparison, the be quiet! e9 580CM, Seasonic G-550 and Seasonic X-650!
The stability does not necessarily reach the level of 80Plus Platinum power supplies, but the price of the latter is 2 to 3 times higher, so nothing to reproach this Corsair CS450M!

Noise pollution

Attention : Part to be taken with a grain of salt, unfortunately not having access to the appropriate equipment and using an android application to take the readings the measurements below are only indicative! The readings were taken 15cm from the feed.

Here too the Corsair CS450M behaves wonderfully, at rest it will be inaudible in a box and will be heard very slightly under load although at this level the other components of the PC will normally make much more noise than it. Note however, and as in almost all of the power supplies in this comparison, apart from the be quiet! e9 580CM the presence of electronic noises when the ear is glued, this noise disappears once the ear is 15 cm.

The fan present is a Sleeve Bearing which makes it more prone to silence than the Ball bearing but also more sensitive to heat and less reliable over time, even if it should without problems. hold the life of the power supply!

Here we are at the end of this test! Does Corsair keep its reputation for high quality products?
I would be tempted to say that the CS450M is a great success for a power supply oriented office automation and low consumption games. The power is sufficient to supply the majority of the configurations, the semi-modularity allows an easier installation even if in the end it will certainly be necessary to use all the 4 connectors on the power supply. Silence is also a rendezvous, it will please your ears as long as you do not push it to its limits. The voltages are stable, the consumption is excellent (80Plus Gold certification requires) which will not harm the wallet.
The only downside of this power supply is the absence of a second PCIe port, with 450Watts it is clearly possible to power a “gamer” configuration, generally equipped with a graphics card which requires 2 PCIe connectors!

Corsair therefore signs here a very good product with a very good finish, excellent performance and at a price of around 65 € which makes this CS450M an entry point for those who want to taste an 80Plus Gold certification without breaking the bank. .

A big thank you to Corsair who allowed me to do this test.

Where to find the Corsair CS450M?

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