Corsair Professional HX850 850W Power Supply Review

Cables and Connectors

Corsair power supplies are known for their generous number of connectors and more than adequate length cables. The HX850 is no different but there is at least one oddity: the lengths of the non-modular PCI-E 6+2 pin connectors. According to Corsair, the choice to go with a 19.5” length for these is based on feedback from their customers who wanted slightly shorter PCI-E cables so they wouldn’t have excess cabling to hide. The graphics cards are usually positioned near the center line of any case so the PCI-E cables would have less space to bridge versus say the CPU connector in an enclosure with a bottom mounted PSU. We tend to agree with this reasoning but would still rather see slightly longer cables. Luckily, the modular PCI-E cables are more than long enough for any situation.

Other than the shorter PCI-E cables, the HX850 has everything we would expect cable-wise from a high end power supply.


Unlike some power supplies on the market, the HX850 uses a combination of modular and non-modular cables. While the cables fixed in place on the power supply itself are of the standard sleeved variety, the modular cables use standard wiring but are then flattened out and finished in a black plasticised material. This makes them easier to route through your enclosure and supposedly (though there is no evidence to support this) impede airflow less than standard cables.


Up to this point, the Corsair HX850 had been displaying near-flawless attributes but when it comes to the modular PCI-E cables it unfortunately falls flat on its face. Flat cables are fine and dandy but when you need two of them per PCI-E cable, for crying out loud; just go back to using regular sleeved cables. The result is a cable that’s simply ugly, looks cheap and if you want a clean install you’ll actually have to zip-tie this cable to…itself. It’s pathetic really and an unacceptable addition on an otherwise amazing cable layout.


Connecting the modular cables to the unit couldn’t be easier. They have a simple clip system holding them in place and as mentioned before, the PCI-E cables are color coded blue so you won’t mistakenly insert one of them into the wrong slot.