Seasonic And Corsair Power Supplies Ready for Intel's Haswell Processors
Sea Sonic Electronics and Corsair are gearing up for the next month's release of the Intel Haswell processors, and have starting to evaluate their power supply units (PSU) in order to see whether they can handle Haswell's extremely low power sleep states.
Standard ATX power supplies that conform to the ATX 2.3 standard may not be capable of supporting Haswell's low power sleep states. When an Intel Core (i3, i5, i7) processor is idle, it goes into a sleep state that requires less power than when the CPU is active. Since the motherboard voltage regulation modules that provide power to the CPU gets their power from the power supply's +12V rail, these sleep states can dramatically reduce the load on the power supply's +12V rail. The Haswell chips will require 0.05A on the 12V rail as opposed to the ATX 2.3 minimum's 0.5A.
Even if the sleeping CPU is the only load on the +12V rail, most power supplies can handle a load this low. The potential problem comes up when there is still a substantial load on the power supply's non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V). If the load on these non-primary rails are above a certain threshold (which varies by PSU), the +12V can go out of spec (voltages greater than +12.6V). If the +12V is out of spec when the motherboard comes out of the sleep state, the PSU's protection may prevent the PSU from running and will cause the power supply to "latch off". This will require the user to cycle the power on their power supply using the power switch on the back of the unit.
Sea Sonic claims that its full lines of 80 PLUSR Platinum and Gold power supplies have been designed to be ready to meet Haswell's new technical requirements. The company's Platinum series and its X Series, which is now supported by the 80 PLUSRGold G series - are all Haswell ready. In addition, the Sea Somic 80 PLUSRBronze line up, consisting of the M12II-650, 750 & 850W models, is also compatible to be used with Intel's new Haswell Processors:
Corsair is still working with Intel on the details of the testing methodology they use to check PSUs for Haswell compatibility. However, it is already known that a power supply that uses DC to DC for the non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V) will not have an issue with the new low power sleep states. This is because a DC to DC buck converter is used to convert +12V to +3.3V and +5V. This means that no matter what load the CPU puts on the power supply, there will always be a load on the +12V because the +12V is required to provide power to +3.3V and +5V.
Corsair utilizes this DC to DC technology in most of their power supplies. Starting with the CX750 and CX750M and moving all of the way through the GS Series, TX and TX-M Series, the HX Series, both the AX Series Gold and AX Series Platinum, and the new AXi Series:
Even if the sleeping CPU is the only load on the +12V rail, most power supplies can handle a load this low. The potential problem comes up when there is still a substantial load on the power supply's non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V). If the load on these non-primary rails are above a certain threshold (which varies by PSU), the +12V can go out of spec (voltages greater than +12.6V). If the +12V is out of spec when the motherboard comes out of the sleep state, the PSU's protection may prevent the PSU from running and will cause the power supply to "latch off". This will require the user to cycle the power on their power supply using the power switch on the back of the unit.
Sea Sonic claims that its full lines of 80 PLUSR Platinum and Gold power supplies have been designed to be ready to meet Haswell's new technical requirements. The company's Platinum series and its X Series, which is now supported by the 80 PLUSRGold G series - are all Haswell ready. In addition, the Sea Somic 80 PLUSRBronze line up, consisting of the M12II-650, 750 & 850W models, is also compatible to be used with Intel's new Haswell Processors:
| Sea Sonic PSU Series | Wattages |
| X Series | 650, 750, 850, 1050, 1250 |
| Platinum | 660, 760, 860, 1000, 1200 |
| Platinum Fanless | 400, 460, 520 |
| G Series | 360, 450, 550, 650 |
| M12 II Bronze EVO | 750, 850 |
Corsair is still working with Intel on the details of the testing methodology they use to check PSUs for Haswell compatibility. However, it is already known that a power supply that uses DC to DC for the non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V) will not have an issue with the new low power sleep states. This is because a DC to DC buck converter is used to convert +12V to +3.3V and +5V. This means that no matter what load the CPU puts on the power supply, there will always be a load on the +12V because the +12V is required to provide power to +3.3V and +5V.
Corsair utilizes this DC to DC technology in most of their power supplies. Starting with the CX750 and CX750M and moving all of the way through the GS Series, TX and TX-M Series, the HX Series, both the AX Series Gold and AX Series Platinum, and the new AXi Series:
| Corsair PSU Series | Model | Haswell Compatibility |
Comment |
| AXi | AX1200i | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| AX860i | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| AX760i | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
AX |
AX1200 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| AX860 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| AX850 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| AX760 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| AX750 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| AX650 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| HX (Silver, Gold and HX1000) |
HX1050 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| HX1000 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| HX850 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| HX750 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| HX650 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| HX (Legacy) |
HX620 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating |
| HX520 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| TX-M (All Versions) |
TX850M | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| TX750M | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| TX650M | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| TX (All Versions) |
TX850 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| TX750 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| TX650 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| GS (V2) |
GS800 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| GS700 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| GS600 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs | |
| GS (Legacy V1) |
GS800 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating |
| GS700 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| GS600 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| GS500 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX-M | CX750M | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| CX600M | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX500M | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX430M | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX | CX750 | Yes | 100% Compatible with Haswell CPUs |
| CX600 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX500 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| CX430 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| VX (Legacy) |
VX450 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating |
| VX550 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| VS | VS650 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating |
| VS550 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| VS450 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating | |
| VS350 | TBD | Likely compatible — currently validating |
