Corsair RM850e ATX v3.1 PSU Review

Epilogue

The RM850e unit’s overall performance is notably lower than the new RM850x, making the second a oneway road if you are after top performance in this market segment. With a 20-dollar difference between the units mentioned above, I would go for the higher-performance one since you will keep a good PSU for several years. Now, if you don’t care for performance but need to save money for a shiny new GPU, and every dollar counts, you will be okay with the RM850e.

I would like to see a better transient response at 3.3V. It’s not that this rail counts much, but from the moment the ATX spec still includes it and several PC parts still use it, it has to be included in my performance algorithm. The APFC converter also needs tuning for higher PF readings. On the other hand, load regulation and ripple suppression are good enough, and the same goes for the transient response of the 12V rail at high loads. Lastly, HEC should adjust the protection features on this PSU and provide more distance between the cold and hot 12V OCP and OPP triggering points. Although they are conservative, it still doesn’t make much sense to have them identical under cold and hot temperatures. Typically, a PSU is stressed way more under high temperatures, so it only makes sense to have lower OCP and OPP triggering points under stressful conditions than normal operating (temperature) conditions.

The RM850e (ATX v3.1) will support NVIDIA’s new RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti graphics cards, and it won’t have any problem even with the 360W RTX 5080, given that you don’t pair it with a super power-hungry CPU set at an extreme performance profile. Some users cannot fully understand that modern high-end CPUs can be as power-hungry as mid-level GPUs, so the combined power consumption must be considered when you decide on your next PSU purchase.

Before investing in a new power supply, read my Best ATX v3.x PSUs article to check all alternative PSU offerings. You help me a lot by using my affiliate links, which don’t increase the product’s price. I get a commission from Amazon every time you do it, which can make a difference for me, especially now that I am on my own, working exclusively for my media and not for someone else.