Corsair made the impossible possible. A really exciting new power supply. To accomplish this great feat, we shrunk all the connectors and moved them to the side of the PSU. no, other side. The end result is a very easy PSU to build, given the right case.
RM1200x shift spec
Wattage: 1200
Base unit: yes
connector: 24-pin x1, 4+4-pin x2, 12VHPWR x1, 6+2-pin dual x4, 6+2-pin single x4, SATA x16, PATA x8
OEM: Channel Well Technology (CWT)
80 Plus: Money
fan size: 140mm
price: $270 (opens in new tab) | | 260 pounds (opens in new tab)
Luckily I have it: Corsair iCUE 5000T (opens in new tab)This standard mid-tower is a great candidate to try out Corsair’s new power supply. There’s plenty of room from the side panel for the power cable to extend about 2 inches from the oddly-placed connector, and PSUs are traditionally mounted fan-down.
Many popular case designs are supposed to work with the RMx SHIFT lineup, but as we found out when we looked at the NZXT H9 Elite, not all are suitable. In that case, either the SHIFT fan is pointing towards the motherboard tray, or the PSU support bracket is preventing access to the sideload cable. It can’t be helped.
However, the 5000T is a good fit. Inside that case is currently an EVGA G2 850W power supply that I’ve been using for about 5 years in various builds. It’s definitely time to replace it.I also had a huge Gigabyte Aorus P1200W (opens in new tab) This machine (a PSU with a real programmable screen) has an AMD RX 7900 XTX (opens in new tab) Waiting to install, I chose the highest wattage RMx SHIFT PSU instead of the 850W G2.
That’s the RM1200x SHIFT. This is his 80 Plus Gold certified power supply rated Cybernetics Gold for efficiency and Cybernetics A for noise by his friend Aris Mpitsiopoulos.You can checkout a shorter version of Cybernetics evaluation (opens in new tab) [PDF] Check it out for yourself if you want to dive deeper into the details. One key takeaway is that the RM1200x SHIFT uses his OEM’s Channel Well Technology (CWT), the same as the Corsair RMx (2021) lineup, which is currently rated as the best PSU for gaming. (opens in new tab).
Now that the RM1200x SHIFT has been deemed the right fit for my rig, it’s time to unpack this wonder. Inside the box is a PSU, a somewhat shoddy pack of disjointed cables, and a wall outlet cable.
It’s a strange power supply. Not only are all the connectors cut and pasted to length, but there are plenty of micro-fit connectors. Each of the many cables that connect to it is a miniaturized version of what you’ve come to expect from most power supplies these days, and the 4-pin microfit SATA is particularly good. It seems to come from your own build. Children’s computer set.
@pcgamer_mag (opens in new tab)
♬ Original Sound – PC Gamer (opens in new tab)
These micro-fit connectors help save space on your PSU, but this is an ATX 3.0 power supply, so there’s one PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR cable included in the box for connecting high-end RTX 40-series graphics cards. doing. There are also 8 PCIe 6+2 pin connectors (4 dual/4 single) for everything else, including the RX 7900 XTX you install.
to build. The first step is to unplug the 850W G2. Once that’s done and both power supplies are side by side, you can get a good sense of the scale of the RM1200x’s microfit connectors.
Then load the RM1200x SHIFT into the machine. This is where my build process first differs between SHIFT and his standard PSU form factor. It’s usually a good idea to allocate the necessary cables for your PC and connect them to your PSU. Before Load them into the chassis. That way, you don’t have to fiddle with hard-to-reach connectors or messy cabling. Not needed with SHIFT.
With SHIFT all you have to do is point SHIFT in the right direction (fan down in my case) and screw it in. It doesn’t save time, but you have to switch cables to add or remove parts. Much easier.
Now grab the cables and plug them in one by one. Of course, once again notice how cute those little SATA cables are.
Plug it all in and you have cable management. Admittedly not my area of expertise, but the straight cable coming out the side of the RM1200x SHIFT makes cable management easier. Less pesky CPU power cable stretches and his one of my bugs solved. It’s a simple matter to hook up another SATA cable to make it easier to connect to the rear-mounted SSD.
I completed the work in an amazing amount of time. Even more impressive is that it doesn’t curse missing cables or end connectors. The whole build process is straightforward and the power connector is shifted which makes it very easy.
You don’t have to bend the cables as much to comfortably close the side panels. This was part of the build that was initially worrying due to the development around the 12VHPWR connector. (opens in new tab)However, if you pick up this PSU, you’ll want to pay close attention to the gap between the PSU and the side panel and make sure the same is true for your build.
What started out as a fun concept was tentatively exciting, but I’ve become a die-hard fan. If you regularly remove components like I do, the RM1200x SHIFT will still help. I will admit that the usefulness of this PSU depends on the case and whether or not you change components frequently. If you install a PSU once and likely don’t touch it for five years, there’s less reason to bet on such a non-standard design, which ultimately limits your chassis choices.
If it just offers something different in the world of power supplies, I’m all for the RM1200x SHIFT.
