The Corsair AXi Series PSUs have a lot of premium features. They use a digital signal processor for better performance, they're fully modular, and have a zero RPM fan mode at low loads. But one of the coolest things about the AXi power supplies, is their compatibility with the new Corsair Link software. Today, we take a look at the Corsair Link 2 software, or just "Link" for short, and more specifically how it gives you the ability to monitor AC input, DC output, the temperature and the fan speed of an AXi power supply.

The first thing I want to do is open up the "Graph" tab and set what I want to monitor in the "Config Panel" of this tab...



Above, you can see that I've checked boxes asking to have my two graphics cards' temperatures and fans graphed, as well as my CPU's temperature, the temperature of my AX860i power supply, as well as the AX860i's fan speed. I'm also monitoring the temperature of the coolant in the Hydro Series H100 that is cooling the CPU and the RPMs of the two fans cooling the H100's radiator.



While the system is idle, we can see that temperatures are relatively low. The AX860i is just barely over room temperature and therefore, the fan is not spinning.

Over on the "Power" tab, we see that the AX860i is only producing 107.3W as I sit here watching the Link software. It's pulling 117.8W from the wall, so our efficiency is 91%.

On this tab, we can also monitor our voltages, including the voltage of our AC mains, as well as current for each of our +12V outputs.

There are also check boxes that allow you to turn OCP on for the 8-pin +12V outputs (labeled "PCIe") on the power supply. OCP stands for "over current protection" and will shut down the power supply if too much current is delivered on any of these outputs.

Finally, we see the AX860i's temperature and the fan RPM on this tab. This is the same information we saw on the "Graph" tab, but in a different format. The fan is still not spinning because the temperatures are still low, but if we wanted to increase the airflow within our chassis just a bit, we can manually turn the fan speed up.

We start on the "System" tab...



On this tab, we can see everything that Corsair Link 2 monitors, but if we click on the "AX860i Fan" icon on the left, a configuration panel opens up on the right. By default, we can see the fan mode is set to "quiet" which means the fan isn't going to spin at low loads. Changing this is easy...



The lowest setting is 40%, which equates to about 784 RPM. I can keep it like this and still not hear the fan. And the fan will still ramp up even faster automatically if needed. Let's turn it up even more to find out where I can start hearing the fan...



At 76%, the fan is spinning 1508 RPM. I can definitely hear that now. Well, that's enough of that. Let's put the PSU fan back into "quiet" mode, fire up Prime95 and Furmark and see what kind of power we produce and let the fan spin up all on its own...



Almost immediately, the temperatures of the CPU and graphics cards increase. Under this load, we start to see the power supply fan ramp up as well.



After some time under load, we see our temperatures level out, an increase in the graphics cards' fan's RPMs and the PSU's fan leveling off just over 500 RPM.



When we switch back over to the "Power" tab, we can see that our load has increased to 473.4W. We're now pulling 502.9W from the wall and our efficiency is increased to 94%. We can see that the amperage delivered on all of our +12V connectors has increased, the AX860i's temperature has increased very slightly, from 26.5 to 28.8°C, and the fan is now spinning at 556 RPM.

Of course, when you're gaming you're probably not going to be able to watch your load, temperatures and fan speeds while you're playing. For this reason, Corsair Link allows you to log whatever information you'd like to keep track of in a CSV file. Simply check the boxes of the components you want to monitor, browse to where you want to save the file and give the file a name and click "start logging".

Replacing commonly used ICs with a digital signal processor in the Corsair AXi Series PSUs has many benefits. Today, I'm going to explain the functions of the components that are replaced within the Corsair Digital power supplies and how these changes benefit the end user.

The parts of the Corsair AXi Digital Power Supply that makes them unique when compared to other desktop power supplies is the absence of a PFC/PWM controller IC (integrated circuit) on the power supply's primary side and a supervisor IC on the power supply's secondary side. Both of these parts have been replaced with DSP, which stands for "Digital Signal Processor".

AXi PSUs still use what's called a "resonant mode" topology like a lot of modern day super-efficient power supplies, but typically in other resonant mode PSUs a PWM controller IC changes the power supply's switching frequency based on an analog signal derived from the load measured at the transformer. This makes the power supply more efficient at a wider range of loads compared to other power supply topologies, but doing this alone can affect ripple and noise and voltage regulation.



The resonant mode controller, shown above, is just about the only IC you'll find in an AXi power supply that you may also see in other high end power supplies.

The supervisor IC is the heart of the power supply's safety functions. Functions like OCP (over current protection, which is protection from any one output drawing too much current), OPP (over-power protection, which prevents overloading), OVP (over-voltage protection, which measures if voltage goes too high), UVP (under-voltage protection), and SCP (short circuit protection). Temperatures are also measured within the power supply and this is reported to the IC's OTP (over-temperature protection). If any value programmed into the IC is exceeded, the IC is instructed to shut down the power supply.


Above is a supervisor IC found in a Corsair GS800 power supply.

In an effort to improve voltage regulation (drops in voltage as loads increase), the information concerning the power supply's output voltage is sent back to the PWM controller via an analog signal. This information moves relatively slow when compared to the ever-varying loads of your typical PC, so voltage regulation is still not as good as it can be.

This guy is responsible for the PFC (power factor correction) control, the PMW (pulse width modulation) control, monitoring of the AC input's voltage, current and wattage and logical on/off control, like shutting down for inrush, brownouts, etc.

Above we see two more ICs found inside an AXi series power supply. The chip on the bottom is the main MCU, or "MCU I". The chip on the top is a USB MCU, or "MCU II". These guys handle what goes on on the secondary side of the power supply.

The MCU I does what we call "housekeeping". It has a lot of the same functions as a supervisor IC in an analog controlled PSU. Things like OCP, OPP, OVP, etc. are all monitored by this chip. This chip also handles the PMBus (power management bus) and thermal monitoring and fan control. The MCU I also monitors the power on (soft on/off) and power good signals coming from the motherboard. On top of all of this, the MCU I also monitors the DC output for voltage drop, ripple and noise and communicates back to the DSP to address any issues that may come up.

The MCU II is the chip that allows the user to turn on/off the single/multiple +12V rail capability of an AXi PSU via the Corsair Link software. The self test function is also controlled by this chip.

Since the DSP accumulates all of this information about the power supply, and does so in real time, we can deliver it to the end user via our Corsair Link software. Power supplies have attempted to deliver similar information about the power supply to the end user in the past; either via software or displayed on a 5.25" bay LCD. But since the information about the power supply in these older units was accumulated via the PFC/PWM controller and supervisor IC, the information had to be converted to a digital signal before being displayed. This adds a good deal of cost and prevents the information from being delivered as close to real time as possible.

Using Corsair Link, we can monitor everything from AC input voltage, output wattage... even the current being delivered to each graphics card's PCIe controller! Above you can see I've enabled OCP on each modular connector (essentially making the AXi a multiple +12V rail power supply) and turned all of the limits down to 20A.

We can also keep track of the temperature inside the power supply and how fast the fan is spinning:



All in all, AXi Digital Power Supplies are so much more than your average desktop PSU on so many levels. By utilizing a DSP, Corsair offers improved efficiency while maintaining stable voltage output and minimizing unwanted ripple and noise. And because all of this information is maintained in a digital format, and output to the Corsair Link software interface is practically seamless!

So how does a better PSU equate to a better computing experience? Consider this: If your power supply isn't doing a good job of regulating voltage and filtering ripple, what is?

The computer power supply essentially converts AC to DC. Older or more basic computer power supplies convert AC to multiple DC voltages (+12V, +5V, +3.3V) at the same time. Newer, more advanced power supplies, convert AC to +12VDC, while smaller DC to DC power supplies within the power supply's housing convert the +12V to lesser used +3.3V and +5V. The latter is more efficient because lesser used voltages are not converted unless they're required and converting DC to DC itself is more efficient than converting AC to DC as it requires fewer and smaller components.

After that voltage is converted, it's filtered with inductors and capacitors.


On the secondary side of this HX1050, we see a very large inductor and a handful of different sized capacitors.

So now we have two critical things to look at when looking at the output of this power supply: How well is the output voltage regulated and does this power output have minimal ripple?

I just used two words you hear a lot when people talk about computer power supplies: Regulation and ripple.

Computer power supplies use a "switching" technology to convert the AC to DC. And while the rectifier is switching on and off, it's producing DC that pulses in rhythm with whatever frequency the AC input is (60 Hz, for example, is your typical North American AC frequency) regardless of the frequency the rectifier is switching at. This is called noise. First, the voltage goes through an inductor, or a choke. This smooths out the waveform and lowers the frequency of the noise. Then you have your capacitors. Capacitors store electrical charges and can then output an electrical charge without the noise. If the voltage going into a capacitor raises or lowers with the switching frequency, the charge of the capacitor raises or lowers. This change in the capacitor's charge is much slower than the frequency of the switched power that's charging the capacitor. While this is how it filters the noise, this also creates ripple (small peaks and valleys in the DC output voltage). This is when larger capacitors, or capacitors in series, can help, because the slower the change between the lowest and highest voltages, the more stable the output voltage and ripple is reduced. But the engineers designing these power supplies have to be careful. If you use too many capacitors, too large of a capacitor or even too large of an inductor, you reduce your power supply's efficiency. Every part of a circuit that power goes through has some loss of power and the capacitors dissipate that filtered noise as heat, and that heat is lost power!



This is a screenshot of an oscilloscope measuring ripple on a power supply that does not do a very good job of filtering.



When a power supply does a better job of filtering ripple, it will look like this on an oscilloscope.

Regulation is how well a power supply responds to load changes. Say the power supply is putting out +12VDC with a 2A load. Let's say that load increases to 5A, 10A.. or even 15A. Just as I explained with the CPU voltage regulators, Ohm's law comes into play. As current increases, resistance increases. As resistance increases, voltages drop. A quality power supply should be able to compensate for this. Usually the monitoring is done internally by a "supervisor IC". The supervisor IC can tell the PWM (pulse width modulation) controller that it needs the rectifier to switch at a different frequency to adjust the output voltage accordingly. Sometimes, a "sense wire" senses the drop in voltage at the load and communicates this back to the IC. This gives the IC a little bit of a head start in telling the PWM controller to compensate. "Digital power supplies" like the Corsair AXi Series PSUs use a digital signal processor to monitor voltages and tell the rectifier directly to switch at different frequencies. Since the monitoring and control is all digital, the compensation is handled much quicker (more on how digital power supplies work can be found here.)

So how does a better PSU equate to a better computing experience? Consider this: If your power supply isn't doing a good job of regulating voltage and filtering ripple, what is?

While computer power supplies output multiple DC voltages (+12V, +3.3V and +5V) these are not all of the voltages a computer requires to run.

Take the CPU, for example. CPUs used to operate on voltages derived directly from the power supply. Originally, +5VDC. Eventually, this voltage was reduced to +3.3VDC. In an effort to make CPUs more and more power efficient, voltage continued to drop and voltage regulators on the motherboard were required to take either +3.3VDC or +5VDC from the power supply and reduce these voltages to even lower voltages. Naturally, one would think that converting one voltage to another would be more efficient if the before and after voltages were closer together. But as CPU's became faster, they required more power, but at lower voltages. The CPUs themselves were more efficient, but not the process of converting that power. More power (watts) at lower voltages require more current. Higher current, without increasing wire and trace gauge, increases resistance. Resistance then decreases voltage and creates heat, which is counterproductive to the reason CPU core voltages were being lowered in the first place! The solution was the ATX12V standard. A 4-pin power connector that delivers +12VDC, which was then upgraded to an 8-pin power connector that could deliver even more current, was added to the power supply. With the increase of voltage to the CPU's VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules), less current is required to deliver power to the motherboard. Of course, with this greater delta in voltages (between the +12VDC and the CPU's core voltage), more robust voltage regulation on the motherboard is required.


This motherboard uses heatsinks to passively cool components of the voltage regulation circuit.

With the new "Haswell" CPU coming from Intel, we'll start to see voltage regulation on the CPU itself. This will reduce power current on the pins that move power from the motherboard's traces to the CPU core and therefore reduce the pin-count required to deliver that power. This will also allow the CPU to dynamically scale the voltage of the CPU more efficiently than ever before. The voltage regulators in Haswell are certainly no slouch when it comes to efficiently converting voltages, but this still does not completely replace the motherboard's duty of converting, and filtering, the +12V from the power supply to a lower voltage as Haswell has an input voltage of 2.4VDC.

The same is true with your graphics cards. GPUs really are just small CPUs. Heck, in some cases with GPUs running as fast as 1GHz, they're more powerful than some CPUs! PCIe power connectors coming off of the power supply deliver +12V to the graphics card where voltage regulators drop the voltage down to what the GPU needs.


Two PCIe power connectors deliver +12V to this graphics card's PSU, but the GPU doesn't use +12V.  It has to convert it to a lower voltage first.

The ATX specification says that the power supply is allowed to output voltage with regulation and ripple within a certain tolerance. The ripple can be as much as 1% and still be within specification. That means you can have as much as ±120mV of ripple on the +12V. Your voltage regulation can be as much as ± 5%. That means you +12VDC can be as high as +12.6V or as low as +11.4V and it is still within ATX specification. Likewise, your motherboard or graphics card's voltage regulator would have a similar tolerance for input voltage. In other words, if you have a VRM that is made to convert +12VSC to +2.4VDC, that VRM should be able to take in voltages as high as +12.6VDC or as low as +11.4VDC and still be effectively able to product +2.4VDC. The VRM has an added tolerance for slew rate. Slew rate is essentially the rate at which voltages change from one to another. If voltage drops from +12VDC to +11.99VDC within a microsecond, your slew rate is 10mV/µs. To help maintain these tolerances, your motherboard, graphics cards and other components also has some inductors and capacitors to filter voltages between the power supply and the VRM.

So, if everything is within specification, there's no problem, right?

Well, not so much. You see, as these components regulate voltage, and the harder they have to work to do so, they get hot. This heat is not only wasted energy, but also shortens the life of the components. And while voltage regulator's MOSFETs are often passively cooled with heatsinks (at least they are on high-end motherboards), capacitors are not. And if the MOSFETs are not passively cooled or there are fewer of them (which would be a VRM with "less phases"), then they will have to work harder to regulate voltage and run even hotter. Heat isn't good for a computer's components, so any way we can address the problem is a plus. Another problem with proper voltage regulation and filtering is that they take up space on a PCB. Like I said with the power supply: If you want to have less ripple, you need to have a larger or more capacitors. The same is true with voltage regulation circuits on motherboards and graphics cards. And the same is true with the MOSFETs too. You can have more phases for cleaner power, but if the MOSFETs aren't capable of more current, the extra phases will not do you any good. But higher power MOSFETs, more phases, larger and more capacitors all take up space. We don't always have enough space on a motherboard or graphics card to give up as real estate for near-perfect on-board voltage regulation.

And then there are the effects of ripple on overclocking. While your VRMs may be able to regulate voltages well, they won't be able to get rid of every bit of ripple and that gets passed right through to your CPU or GPU. Those of you that overclock know that you typically have to increase the CPU or GPUs Vcore voltage. This is because, as the transistors in the processing unit cycle, the regulators can't switch on and off at the higher speed required to keep the transistor energized at the required voltage. Increasing the voltage actually gives the CPU more than it needs, but allows the regulators to give the CPU what it needs more quickly than when it needs it. The unfortunate by-product of this is heat (everything keeps coming back to heat, doesn't it?). If you have any ripple in that Vcore voltage, it's going to prevent the VRMs from delivering exactly whatever voltage is needed when the CPU's transistors are operating at whatever clock speed you're trying to operate them at. The solution for this problem is to operate the CPU with an even higher Vcore voltage than what is actually needed. The downside of this is... wait for it.... higher CPU temperatures.

So, to summarize, a better power supply actually gives you longer motherboard and graphics card life, better overclocking and even longer life of your CPU and GPU. It's a win-win situation!

Testing our power supply without the use of your motherboard is generally pretty simple. Below we will show you how to test all our PSU's.

To start off you will need the following:

1. Corsair power supply
2. Power cord
3. ATX 20-24 pin PSU connector and 4 Pin Peripheral Connector
4. Paperclip
5. One or more case fans
6. 2/3 pin case fan connector to Molex adapter if needed

Step 1: ( Step for AX/HX series only)

Connect both the 20-24 pin (AX Series) and the 4-pin Molex (AX/HX series) connector to the PSU. Make sure to use the cables provided with power supply. Note that on many of our PSUs, these cables are permanently connected.

Step 2:

Attach the case fan to the Molex connector. If you're case fan only has a 2/3 pin connector, use a 2/3 pin case fan connector to Molex adapter. The PSU does have a built in fan, but depending on the series, it might not spin without a certain amount of load or reaches a certain temperature. See picture below

Step 3:

Bend the Paper clip into a u-shape.

Step 4:

Use the paper clip to connect it to the 20/24 pin connecter. Usually the wires are color coded (one green wire and mutiplie black wires), but with our AX version they are all black. To bridge the correct pins face the cable the exact same way shown in the picture below. Locate the pin which is indicated in Green (your green wire) and yellow (your black wire) on the picture below and bridge the two using the paperclip. One way to help make sure you have the correct pins, locate the missing pin on the 20/24 connector (boxed in blue) as it should be on the same row with the bridged pins (all our PSU series have a missing pin).

Final Step:

Make sure the switch on the back of the PSU is set to ( O ) before plugging each side of the power cable to the power supply and the wall outlet. Once the power cord is plugged into both the wall and power supply, make sure to check if all connections are good. Once complete, turn the switch on the back of the power supply to ( I ) and see if the case fan spins. If so, the PSU is functional!

1) WATCH: How does the fan work on my AX series PSU?

The Professional Series Gold AX series PSUs have thermally controlled fans which will vary the fan speed depending on both the loading and temperature of the PSU. Check out the video below for a specific explanation: Link

2) WATCH: How do I connect the 24-pin connector on my AX Series PSU? 

The 24-pin ATX connector for the AX series PSUs have a split connector that plugs into the AX series PSU.  The single 24-pin connector is the end that will connect directly to your motherboard.  See below for a video explanation: Link

3) How long are the cables on my Corsair PSU?
You can download a PDF file containing all of the cable lengths of Corsairs PSUs in the following link: Download Here

4) What is the difference between the HX1000 and the HX1050? 

The HX1050 is the updated version of our popular HX1000 PSU.  In addition to a slightly different look, we have moved to a single 12v rail design, and we have also been able to increase efficiency to 80 Plus Silver compliance to match our other HX series PSUs.

5) What is the difference between the old TX series PSUs and the new V2 version?

Efficiency has been improved from standard 80 Plus, to 80 Plus Bronze with the V2 versions. Also, the V2 PSUs are now ErP compliant. The only other main difference is that the product labeling and packaging have been revised.

6) BIOS or software detects voltage readings for one of the rails on my PSU being too high/low, is there something wrong?

BIOS and software readings are never 100% accurate and they can fluctuate. The only way to measure the rails accurately would be to use a digital multi-meter. 

ATX spec also indicates that as long as the voltage stays within 5% of the rating for the rail then the PSU is within spec. For instance on the 12v rail this would equate to 11.4v-12.6v. 

7) Why doesn?t my Corsair power supply start up when I plug it into the wall and flip the switch?

In order to start up, the power supply requires two things. A load (a device connected to it requiring power) and a signal. The switch on the back of the PSU simply tells the power supply to go into standby mode and await a signal from the motherboard to actually turn on.

8) My Machine doesn?t start up when I hit the power button, is the PSU faulty?

Disconnect everything from your PSU except for one single fan that should be connected directly to one of the Molex connectors. Then, get a small piece of wire, paper clip, or suitable object and short the green pin and a black pin on the 24-pin connector on the power supply. The voltage present is a very low signaling voltage so no worries of being shocked. Your PSUs fan should spin along with the fan you have connected to it. If this is the case, your PSU may not be receiving the power on signal from your motherboard and you should consider other causes of the problem you?re having.

9) Which Corsair PSUs will be able to power my rig?

We suggest using our PSU finder tool to answer this question. You can find it by clicking here. 

The PSU finder results are accurate estimates which would correlate to Corsair Power Supplies ONLY. We cannot guarantee that a non-Corsair unit of similar wattage rating would be equivalent.

10) How can I get replacement cables for my modular Corsair PSU?

Please set up a case in Corsair Customer Portal, and let us know which PSU you have and which cables you need.

11) WATCH: Where?s the 4-pin EPS/ATX 12v connector that I need for my motherboard?

Our power supplies ship with an 8-pin connector that splits in half. Use half of this connector for the 4-pin EPS/ATX 12v connector on your motherboard: Link
 

How do I make a warranty claim?

Prior to submitting your warranty claim, we recommend checking the Corsair knowledge base at https://support.corsair.com/ first, where you can find answers to commonly-asked questions. You can also receive troubleshooting assistance by clicking Ask a Question or proceed with product replacement by clicking Request an RMA.

Valid warranty claims should be processed through the retailer where the item was purchased during the first thirty (30) days after purchase. This period may vary depending on where you purchased your product; please verify the return policy with the retailer where you purchased your product. Any warranty claims that cannot be processed through your original point our purchased should be submitted to Corsair at https://support.corsair.com/ 

What are Corsairs replacement options?

Corsair offers the following Warranty fulfillment options:

Standard Replacement:

Through Corsairs Standard Replacement process, Corsair will issue an approved RMA number for the return and replacement of your defective product(s). Our Standard Replacement processing time from receipt of your product(s) to the replacement product(s) shipment is 1-3 business days plus transit time.

Express Replacement:

At Corsair, we understand the need to be up and running at all times! To minimize down time, we offer an Express Replacement RMA process. Through this process Corsair will ship your replacement product(s) prior to receiving your defective product(s). This process requires a valid Credit Card where a holding fee will be applied for the cost of the product until the returning product(s) are received by Corsair. To avoid being fully charged for the Express Replacement product(s), the defective product(s) must be received by Corsair within 10 business days from the date your Express Replacement order is shipped.

Accessory Product Request:

Experiencing a problem with a Corsair Component Product? Many of Corsair products have easy to install replacement accessories which will resolve the issue and prevent the need to return the entire product for replacement.

Where do I ship my items?

Corsair operates multiple RMA receiving locations worldwide. Your RMA confirmation will specify the specific return address you must use when sending your RMA package. This will be your standard return location and should not be changed without prior approval from Corsair. Any packages received at an unauthorized location may be refused and returned to the sender at the senders expense.

Lot codes for Corsair products can generally be found in the follow locations. For more specific information, please view the Corsair knowledge base Lot Code article for a particular product series.

Headsets: The code is located on the earcup's arm.

Speakers: The code is located on the back of the subwoofer.

Case: The code is located on the back panel.

Cooling: The code is located on the radiator.

Flash: The code is located on the unit's packaging, near UPC barcode.

SSD: The code is located on the label on top of the SSD.

Mice: The code is located on the label taped next to the USB connector.

Keyboard: The code is located on the packaging near the UPC barcode.

Memory: The code is on the memory module's label.

PSU: The code is on the PSU label, next to the serial number.