Introduction

As almost every computer enthusiast has learned throughout the years, working exclusively with enthusiast level hardware is impossible. Most of the time it won't even be for yourself, but will be for friends and family asking you to come to their aid. Occasionally you will even come across a project of your own that simply requires something less substantial. When you start considering that you'll have to power something with lower requirements, Corsair's Builder series of power supplies comes into the picture.

The Builder series is certainly far from the most efficient, feature rich power supplies on the market, but that doesn't mean they should be overlooked. Today we are taking a look at Corsairs CX430V2, a 430W power supply in the Builder series. It doesn't boast a ton of cables and connectors, lacks the wattage to power a small village, and even carries the lowest 80Plus certification that a power supply can get. What it does boast is one heck of a cheap price tag and the ability to provide enough power for almost every non-enthusiast level home or office computer.

Let's take a look at this budget power supply to see what all it has to offer.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

While the CX430V2 is only capable of 430W of power, it is more than enough for the average desktop that doesn't have anything more than an integrated or low end GPU and a single hard drive. The single 12V rail serves up 28A of power and should be enough to get you by, even with a low end GPU. Even the 3.3V and 5V rails offer up plenty of power. We've seen numerous power supplies in the 700W-850W range hardly have stronger minor rails.

Features are pretty much what you would expect from a budget power supply. There are plenty of protections here and the over-temperature protection is something that shouldn't come into play with a budget system, nor is the 50C power rating. It would still be fantastic to see them, but it certainly isn't a deal breaker when considering the uses for a power supply of this nature. All of the cables are natively wired so there is no modular support here, but at least all of them are sleeved. As there are only a handful of cables, it isn't hard to make them disappear.

The Corsair CX430V2 can be found just about anywhere. Most places list the power supply for $50, but at the time of writing, Newegg had the power supply marked down to $44.99 with a $20 mail-in rebate and small shipping charge. It's hard to argue with a $27 power supply. Corsair offers a three year warranty on the CX430V2.