Corsair HX1000W Power Supply Review

Secondary Analysis

Each secondary is completely independent, with one of them generating the +5 V and the +12V1 rails and the other generating the +3.3 V and +12V2 rails. Notice that +12V1 and +12V2 are not virtual rails like happens with power supplies with only one transformer: they are completely separated rails produced by independent power supplies.

This power supply is basically a +12 V power supply, with the +12 V output the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs being produced using DC-DC converters (i.e., a small switching power supplies) connected to the +12 V output. Each secondary uses two MBRH300EPT Schottky rectifiers, one STPS30H100CW Schottky rectifier and one STP140NF75 Power MOSFET transistor to produce the +12 V output.

Figure 15: Semiconductors used on each secondary (part 1).

Figure 16: Semiconductors used on each secondary (part 2).

The capacitors used on the secondary are all solid and here Corsair HX1000W is even better than Thermaltake Toughpower 1,500 W, because Thermaltake’s model uses solid caps only to filter the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs, using regular Japanese caps to filter the +12 V outputs. As mentioned, on Corsair HX1000W all capacitors are solid.

Figure 17: Solid capacitors used on the secondary. The small printed circuit board is one of the DC-DC converters.

Each secondary is controlled by its own monitoring integrated circuit (PS229), which is installed on a small printed circuit board. Unfortunately the specs for this circuit aren’t available on the manufacturer’s website.

Figure 18: PS229 monitoring integrated circuit.

We were really surprised to see that Thermaltake Toughpower 1,500 W and Corsair HX1000W are also identical on this stage, especially because Thermaltake’s model is rated with a maximum power output 50% above HX1000W’s. In fact Corsair HX1000W is a little bit better, as it only uses solid caps on the secondary, while on Thermaltake Toughpower 1,500 W only the caps connected on the +5 V and +3.3 V are solid.