CORSAIR Transitions Exclusively to More Comprehensive PSU Certs from Cybenetics

[NobleGamer]

Summary

Corsair will begin exclusively using Cybenetics’ more advanced certifications for both efficiency and noise, moving away from 80 PLUS certification.  Cybenetics certification offers a more comprehensive assessment of PSU performance and also assesses noise level.

 

 

Quotes

Quote

As part of this process, CORSAIR is dedicated to improving consumer awareness of the differences between Cybenetics and 80 PLUS, so that they can shop with the confidence when selecting a PSU that it has undergone rigorous testing to ensure optimal performance, efficiency, and acoustics.

 

All CORSAIR PSUs released in the past few years carry both 80 PLUS and Cybenetics certifications in order to ease the transition to the new standard. Future CORSAIR power supplies will exclusively use Cybenetics efficiency and noise ratings for the most accurate representation of the PSU’s performance.

 

Cybenetics has gained great traction within the industry in recent years for many reasons, including:

• Enhanced Efficiency Metrics: Cybenetics provides a detailed efficiency profile across various loads, environments, and operational conditions, reflecting real-world usage more accurately.
• Noise Level Assessment: In addition to efficiency, Cybenetics introduces a noise certification that categorizes PSUs based on their acoustic performance, from A++ (virtually silent) to F (noisy). This is particularly noteworthy for gamers and professionals who require quieter systems.
• More Data Points: Cybenetics’ testing methodology produces thousands of data points across all loads, rather than the handful of measurements produced during 80 PLUS testing, ensuring more accurate results.

 

My thoughts

I think it is good that a major industry player making PSUs is ditching the 80 Plus certs that are relatively limited in testing scope. It also makes sense considering that they have the most Cybernetics certifications of any manufacturer, so ditching 80 Plus would mean less certification overhead going forward than getting certs from two different groups.  It will be interesting to see if/when other major PSU makers follow suit sometime, and after more go that route, whether 80 Plus will change up their requirements/specs to adapt.

 

As someone who uses a Corsair RMx 850, I appreciate this move, though whenever I need to shop for a new PSU I don't think Cybernetics cert will make a big difference for me since I don't have significant power efficiency or noise requirements: Silver (>85% overall) and Standard++ (<35db), respectively.  However, maybe I'll have different needs in 6 years when my PSU warranty expires (as I have ample capacity overhead) or whenever my next major upgrade is.

 

Here's a TechQuickie that gives an overview of 80 Plus and an introduction to Cybenetics:

 

Sources

Primary: Corsair Press Release

Relevant: Corsair Explorer - 80 PLUS vs Cybenetics: PSU ratings explained and Cybenetics Noise Level Certifications (which the Explorer article listed wrong)

[TVwazhere]

I found this which is helpful for how their current lineup stacks up

 

 

For context:

Quote

Minimum efficiency for 80 PLUS ratings at required load percentages (115v Internal)

	STANDARD	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD	PLATINUM	TITANIUM
10% load	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	90%
20% load	80%	82%	85%	87%	90%	92%
50% load	80%	85%	88%	90%	92%	94%
100% load	80%	82%	85%	87%	89%	90%

 

Cybenetics Efficiency ratings

	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Titanium	Diamond
Overall Efficiency	≥82% to <85%	≥85% to <87%	≥87% to <89%	≥89% to <91%	≥91% to <93%	≥93%
Overall PF (Power Factor)	≥0.950	≥0.960	≥0.970	≥0.975	≥0.980	≥0.985
Overall 5VSB Efficiency	>71%	>73%	>75%	>76%	>77%	>79%
Vampire Power	<0.25W	<0.22W	<0.19W	<0.16W	<0.13W	<0.10W

 

Cybenetics Noise Level ratings

	Standard	Standard+	Standard++	A-	A	A+	A++
Noise Level	40 dB(A) to 45 dB(A)	35 dB(A) to 40 dB(A)	30 dB(A) to 35 dB(A)	30 dB(A) to 35 dB(A)	20 dB(A) to 25 dB(A)	15 dB(A) to 20 dB(A)	<15 dB(A)

Basically, their efficiency ratings are almost exactly the same, but they added stricter criteria and the diamond tier.

 

Despite this though, my RMe is on the lower end of the noise rating but surpasses the Gold rating to platinum

[NobleGamer]

17 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I found this which is helpful for how their current lineup stacks up

[Picture]

Yes that's in the article I linked.  I suppose I could've put that instead of the first picture from the article, but the first pic is at least consistent with the article title.

 

21 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

For context:

Basically, their efficiency ratings are almost exactly the same, but they added stricter criteria and the diamond tier.

"Overall efficiency" is almost exact same...

...but the key differentiation with Cybenetics is the three extra criteria of Overall PF, 5VSB, and Vampire Power.

 

I believe to get a certain rating, all criteria have to meet that rating level - So a PSU can't get Platinum if their PSU only achieves Platinum range for three of the four total criteria.

 

28 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Basically, their efficiency ratings are almost exactly the same, but they added stricter criteria and the diamond tier.

So strict that at least for their typical 115V efficiency tests, no manufacturer has achieved this.  I mean they probably could make one, it would just likely be stupid expensive and not viable for consumer sales.

[seon123]

1 hour ago, NobleGamer said:

Cybenetics introduces a noise certification that categorizes PSUs based on their acoustic performance, from A++ (virtually silent) to F (noisy).

I was curious whether they would notice and fix this ChatGPT-like nonsense by now. Apparently they haven't

 

It goes from Standard to A++. No other letters, just Standard and A. Because reasons

Spoiler

https://www.cybenetics.com/index.php?option=lambda-(psus)

 

 

 

The real benefit of Cybenetics (for people like me) is that the full .pdf reports are in depth, and accessible on the website (under Databases -> Power Supplies). That way you can judge a PSU yourself easiliy, including the noise. Finding out how loud or efficient a PSU is at your actual build's load will always be more useful than one overall rating.

 

Most have probably seen one of the 80+ reports, but for those who haven't, they are just pathetic and sad. 

Spoiler

 

Edited August 9 by seon123
Something something

[AnonymousGuy]

I'm still waiting for the successor to the AX1600i.  

 

I dunno why...it's a great PSU...but I just wanna see some balls out halo tier stuff to hit Cybnetics Diamond tier (which no power supply has achieved yet).  I'd upgrade just for that.  I think the 1600 was probably as good as they could do 7+ years ago, but let's see Paul Allen's psu in 2024.

[Mark Kaine]

Seems about right, corsair are definitely on the louder side, and i would doubt any A+ rating tbh... my bequiet psu is near silent in comparison. 

 

On 8/9/2024 at 9:49 PM, AnonymousGuy said:

I'm still waiting for the successor to the AX1600i.  

off topic, but idk why they ditched the i series... only reason i bought corsair to begin with... 

[Monkey Dust]

I wish we also got a separate efficiency rating for 230V 50Hz, as it can be quite different to the same PSU running on 110V 60 Hz.

[Lunar River]

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

my Corsair rmi is by far the loudest part of my pc *at idle* even at like half load i can easily make it out amongst the other fans... 75%-100% load...? it equals about out with the rest of the system. 

 

AS MENTIONED MY BEQUIET PSU IS NEAR SILENT, I CAN ONLY HEAR IT WHEN I PUT MY EAR RIGHT NEXT TO IT, THAT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE IT HAS A BEQUIET FAN INSTEAD OF WHATEVER CHEAP-O FANS CORSAIR IS USING 

[Quackers101]

14 hours ago, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

coil whine (if its considered) is one of the annoying parts of any PC part. be it from GPU, PSU, or other elements.

but fans should maybe be able to be replaced (but dangerous on your own, not recommended), also some fans can be wild with noise but it can also depend so much from one to another. all brands have some loud PSUs, and sometimes it can be faults with the fan or assume so?

[AnonymousGuy]

On 8/11/2024 at 3:58 AM, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

If you're chasing a silent office, eventually the PSU fan becomes the loudest thing.  Been there and was contemplating going with the Prime fanless psu before I decided to relocate the whole thing to a different room.

[Lunar River]

3 hours ago, AnonymousGuy said:

If you're chasing a silent office, eventually the PSU fan becomes the loudest thing.  Been there and was contemplating going with the Prime fanless psu before I decided to relocate the whole thing to a different room.

Silence drives me crazy, i would very much prefer white noise than dead silence

[NobleGamer]

On 8/11/2024 at 6:58 AM, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU.

For me and perhaps some other builders, it's more like:

 

If I'm going to spend $100+ on a PSU, and automatic load-based PSU fan curves are a thing for various models, then I might as well get that for my PSU so that it doesn't add much to existing fan noises.

[Curufinwe_wins]

11 hours ago, Lunar River said:

Silence drives me crazy, i would very much prefer white noise than dead silence

Which fine enough for you. But I'd prefer to have the psu noise not be the leading noise, because it isn't easy to tune or adjust around. I'd rather have other fans I can more easily change or speed/slow up define my noise profile.

[DeerDK]

On 8/11/2024 at 12:58 PM, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

Try having your pc close to your head due to space limitations, and having loud parts. If you, like me and quite a few others, gets annoyed by loud parts, it will start eating away on your sanity... 

[Stahlmann]

On 8/11/2024 at 12:58 PM, Lunar River said:

I don't think i entirely understand people who care about the noise level of their PSU. i honestly don't think i could ever pick out the sound of my PSU above the same of my GPU or CPU, hell even case fans, to the point where i think "i need a quieter PSU"

Once the rest of the system gets quiet enough, the PSU can actually become the loudest part of a PC. I have an 850W RMx model, which is pretty darn good when it comes to noise, but it's fan is the first thing I hear kicking in when the PC goes from idle to some sort of gaming load. Once I give it some time under load and the other system fans ramp up, I can't hear it anymore. But when coming from Idle I can pretty easily hear it. It's not annoyingly loud to me, but still, it's audible.

[StDragon]

6 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Once the rest of the system gets quiet enough, the PSU can actually become the loudest part of a PC.

Maybe I don't buy cheap PSUs, but all the one's have had in the past 10+ years had its fan slow spinning, or at a complete stop while the rest of the PC is idle.

But if you're gaming with a mid-range GPU or higher, you're going to hear that long before the PSU unless you've got some custom CPU/GPU water loop.

When your rig is consuming 300+ watts of power via productivity or entertainment, fan/s are going to start moving regardless; it's only a matter of where the problem gets moved to.