Corsair has been making PSU since the second half of 2006...
They unveiled two appetizers to market, 520W and 620W PSU.
The performance and product specification is really great.
I knew some users take them to compare with Seasonic's M12 series.
No matter the spec and appearance, both of them have something in common.
Hence, I analyze them by a comparison.

Price is always significant to consume, so:
Seasonic M12 about US$148
Corsair HX520W about US$121
If you are the users who care about quality,
guarantee period and reasonable price, Corsair HX520W might be a better choice.

The Corsair HX520W Modular Power Supply
We take a look at the package first, it's a bit bigger than some "same-level" product.


The accessories from inside
Multi-language users menu and power cords (not in the picture)
Cables for power supplying


Corsair HX520W itself


The major heat dissipating system is the 12cm temperature-control fan.
The RPM is low when light loading. If in a heavy loading situation, the noise is still acceptable.


There is a cellular heat dissipating "holes" for a better heat-dissipation.
It is a "auto-switch", no need to put a 110/220v switch there.


12V x 3, up to 54A, 480W
That can support most of mid-range to entry-level high-end VGA,
which under SLI/ Crossfire mode without problems


A modularized sockets: 24/ 8/ 4pins

CPU:INTEL Core 2 Extreme QX6800
MB: DFI LANParty P35-T2R
DRAM:CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
VGA:ELSA FALCOX HD260XT 256B3 HDT RH
HD:Seagate 7200.10 320G
POWER:Corsair HX520W Modular Power Supply
Cooler:Thermaltake V1


The settings under OS:
CPU: 333X10=>3333Mhz
DRAM: DDRII 1000 CL4 4-4-9
VGA: 2X ELSA HD260XT
The voltage of DFI P35 is a little low, that's because the power consumption is keep on.


OCCT is an useful testing software
In the test, it can make all the cores in a full-loading status

The variation of the CPU's voltage is more related to motherboard's design.
The performance is good if the voltage can reach 1.3 to 1.34V while all cores is full loaded.


3.3V: about 3.22 to 3.25V, the voltage "drop" about 1% only


5V: about 4.76 to 4.81V, also, the voltage "drop" about 1% only


12V: it sticks in 11.9V


OCCT is mainly for testing the voltage (3.3/5/12V) variations of CPU and RAM while under OS full-loaded.
For some minimal error of mobos or high-end VGA cards, it is not for it.

The PSU works fine with quad-core CPU and 2600XT CrossFire in a OC situation.
In the test,
The RPM of the fan is not high and the working temperature is acceptable too(around 40C) includes all the merits I introduced,
this PSU shows a high C/P ratio.

The coming up review of mine is the most popular Elsa 8800GT 512MB VGA card.
Then, I'll use Corsair HX520W PSU again!!