Corsair has officially pulled the wraps off a novel line of power supplies with side-mounted connectors. Dubbed RMx Shift, the trio of PSUs feature connectors oriented toward the motherboard instead of pointing to the front of the chassis. This could theoretically allow for a cleaner-looking interior. It will also make it much easier to swap out or add a new cable than was previously possible. If you’ve ever upgraded a component and needed to connect a new PSU cable, you know how difficult it could be with a case that uses a shroud. With a Shift PSU, though, everything is right out in the open once you pop the side panel off.
The Shift PSUs will be offered in four wattages: 750W, 850W, 1000W, and 1200W. They are ATX 3.0- and PCIe Gen 5-compliant. This means they include a 12VHPWR GPU cable for the Nvidia RTX 40-series GPUs. Just make sure you plug it in all the way. When the PSU images first leaked, it was rumored the connectors would point toward the case window. We were understandably confused because that would make the interior look horrendous. Thankfully they point towards the opposite panel, on the right side. This should allow for easy access, assuming your case has a cutout there. Not all cases offer that cutout, but Corsair says it works with all of its own cases. You’ll need 30mm of clearance from the PSU to the side panel for proper functionality. Anything less than that is not recommended, as it will require extreme cable flexing.
The PSUs are all 80-Plus Gold certified and include a 140mm fan to keep their components cool. They’re all modular, too, so you can pick and choose with cables you want to use. The included cables are Type 5 Gen 1 micro-fit cables made by Corsair and are flat for easier routing. Corsair says they might even improve performance by increasing airflow in the case, although the main benefits seem to be ease of access and a cleaner look. Still, it’d be interesting to see if moving the cables out of the way at the bottom of the chassis impacts airflow.
Corsair’s RMx Shift 1200W PSU. (Image: Corsair)
The new PSUs are part of a nascent “cleaner wiring” movement that has been picking up steam lately, although Corsair doesn’t focus on it in its PR. Motherboard manufacturers MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte have all recently unveiled motherboards with connectors on the back. Such a motherboard is a natural fit for a Shift PSU for obvious reasons. However, those motherboards require specialized cases with cutouts for all the connectors. Gigabyte’s motherboard is only sold with a case made specifically for its own motherboard. The boards are all just prototypes, in other words, and we doubt we’ll see them sold individually soon.
The PSUs are available now from Corsair and its partners. Pricing is $149, $159, $209, and $269 as you go up the stack. They include a 10-year warranty and come in all your favorite colors, assuming that color is black.
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