Corsair ax860i

[Hanksy]

Is the corsair ax860i worth the extra money over the ax850

[killerx525]

If you want 80Plus Platinum and Corsair Link software then yes.

[MicroApple911]

If you don't already have the AX850, AX850i difference is that is has Corsair link, as well as having 80PLUS Platinum. Corsair link is a monitoring program for monitoring temps, fan speed (maybe), and voltages. 80PLUS is a voluntary 'test' company's put there power supplies to test power efficiency. The ratings range from 80PLUS, 80PLUS Bronze, 80PLUS Silver, 80PLUS Gold, 80PLUS Platinum and 80Plus Titanium (80Plus Titanium is for data centers and such) . So if you don't care about corsair link and better power efficiency you could save money buy getting the AX850.

[Hanksy]

No i own a silverstone da750. It's about 6 years old so was thinking of upgrading and I want to run sli gtx 670 no worries

[Hanksy]

No i own a silverstone da750. It's about 6 years old so was thinking of upgrading and I want to run sli gtx 670 no worries

[cantIntoCode]

This ^. The AX850 is 80Plus Gold rated, if you want a platinum rated PSU and wish to use Corsairs Link software then go for it.

[Dragon_Cannon]

If you want the extra little bit of efficiency and wattage as well as the corsair link software then yes other wise no.

The AX850 costs 170 at the time of writing this

The AX860i costs 230 at the time of writing this

If the extra couple of points of efficiency on something that is effectively 80 plus platinum anyway is worth as well as the rest of the stuff that is included is worth the extra $60 that my friend is a decision that you have to make for yourself.

[Metallurgico]

More than the Gold/Platinum stuff, you need to think if you will use Corsair Link features.

[Ghost]

Corsair link in a psu is genious. You can measure how much power your pc is drawing from the wall so you don't have to second guess when you have to upgrade psu. You can turn the fan off or keep it at extremely low rpm.

Considering you wont upgrade a psu for 5-7 years the extra is definitely worth it.

[Hanksy]

Yeah I think I will definitely get one once Australia gets stock

[christoi]

To be honest, I would not buy the AX860i just for Corsair link, as it's pretty inaccurate in terms of readings. It may be a useful utility, but I'd honestly give it some time to mature and improve before really looking into it. That said, that doesn't mean the 860i is completely useless - it is probably one of the best consumer-level power supplies available on the market today. Is it worth the extra costs? Highly debatable really.

First off however, it's worth noting that Corsair currently has three different types of AX-branded power supplies:

AX850 - original AX, gold rated and made by Flextronics

AX860 - based on Seasonic's KM3 platform, platinum rated

AX860i - based off a Flextronics unit, uses a DSP

All units are solid in terms of reliability, so I wouldn't really be worried there. Naturally the higher-end units may last longer, but it's hard to say if it's worth the extra costs. To put things into perspective, even lower end units like the Seasonic S12II would most likely last well over five years and even comes with a warranty that long. Given you are careful not to put the unit as too high of load levels (which is difficult to do with an 850w units, mind you) I would say that all three units would not die for a long time.

Also, unless electricity is extremely expensive in your area, efficiency isn't something that you should be worried about. The difference between gold and platinum units in terms of efficiency is often around a ~3% difference, it would be a better choice to purchase other components with a lower power consumption instead. In my opinion, the only reason to purchase a higher-end unit is for reliability.