[Rant] The clash between the Raven RV-03 case and the Corsair HX650 Gold PSU

In the previous post, I wrote about how I ended up buying the Corsair HX650 Gold PSU for my current rig. Actually, this PSU will eventually end up in a SFF build. I’m in the verge of slowly moving from my current rig to a SFF rig. Since I have no idea when I will be able make the complete translation, it ended up going in my current rig for now.

The PSU was ordered from Sofmap where the PSU was available at the cheapest price. The PSU arrived within two days and I quickly installed it.

It felt a bit harder to push it into the PSU compartment of the Silverstone Raven RV-03 case. But finally it went in. First hurdle passed. I hope I won’t have a hard time pulling it out.

Then there was the 2nd hurdle - a much more problematic than before. The orientation of the power socket at the back of the PSU seemed problematic. It was 90 degrees rotated compared to the TX850 and at first I thought the internal power cable of the case wasn’t long enough. (The following pic shows how they end up when installed inside the Raven RV-03 case. The power cable comes from the top right hand corner.)

But luckily it fit OK. I had to pull it with all my might though. After I plugged it in, it went back to a relaxed position. The installation was the hard part. (Later I found that there was a easier way to do it.)

[Gadget] Ended up getting the Corsair HX650 PSU

In the previous post I talked about how I managed to get rid of my 3 year old PSU all thanks to Rakuten Auctions. Now it was time to get a new PSU.

Originally I was going to get the Silverstone Strider Plus ST60F-PS because it was only 140mm in length and was fully modular, both of which would help when building a SFF PC. Further, even though the efficiency was rated as 80Plus Silver, it was hitting Gold spec. And the price was reasonable – just under JPY10,000. But its modular cables were bulky and not flat in shape as the ones that come with some of the higher quality PSUs. According to reviews, it was a great PSU for the price and the features, but some people were saying that it stopped working after a couple of weeks and the quality of the PSU design could be better. After what happened with my Plantronics Backbeat Go 2 wireless headset, I’ve grown a bit more sensitive about these warranty issues.

Thus, I wanted to see if there were better options. My criteria was like below.

1. 80Plus Silver or better efficiency rating
2. 600W to 700W
3. 160mm max length
4. Modular or semi-modular, but the position where the cables come out matters

[Rant] Got rid of the Corsair TX850 power supply through Rakuten Auctions

Look at all those cables! That's what you get with a non-modular big PSU. That won't fit in a small form factor chassis. So I decided to replace the PSU with a modular, smaller and a more efficient PSU. How did It try to get rid of it? My newly found friend - Rakuten Auctions.

After being on exhibition for many days on the auction page, my Corsair TX850 (the original edition) power supply unit found a bidder. My original price for the PSU was JPY7,000. But since nobody bothered to bid for it for a period of a week, I dropped the starting price to JPY6,000. Even then, nobody bid for it for few days. I had lost hope.

But one day, someone did. For a moment I thought it was time to do a research on PSUs available in the Japanese market. That meant, heading over to my trusty site – kakaku.com. Originally, I was smack bang set on the Silverstone ST60-PS PSU because of its smaller size but the price of it went up a bit making it not so appealing anymore.

I indeed did a research on power supplies, but that is for a separate article. This post is about the auction.