If you’re building a small form factor system, there’s a good chance that you’re in need of an SFX power supply. If you’re adding performance parts to the mix, you’ll need a unit with a higher power envelope, too. Silverstone effectively has a monopoly on those with its 450 W and 600 W SFX power supplies — up until today that is, as Corsair is finally outing its own SF450 and SF600 power supplies.
The Silverstone units are fine power supplies, to be sure, but they’re far from perfect. Granted, it is too early to tell whether these Corsair units will be any better, but at least the spec sheet is equally promising.
The SF450 and SF600, are, you guessed it, 450 W and 600 W units, respectively. They are both 80-Plus Gold certified and built with Japanese-made capacitors, have a modular cable set, and have a Zero-RPM fan mode that activates when temperatures are below a certain threshold and the load is below 120 W. When the fan does kick in, it shouldn’t be all too noisy either, as it is a 92 mm unit, which is larger than what is found in the competing Silverstone units.
As far as connectors go, you won’t find as lavish a set here as on most ATX power supplies. That’s no surprise though, as you simply won’t be able to pack as many devices into a Mini-ITX case, anyway. Next to the ATX and EPS connectors, there is one cable with four Molex connectors, one cable with four SATA power connectors, and two 6+2 pin PCI-Express power connectors.
Pricing sits at $119.99 for the SF600, but if the SF450 is enough for your needs, you can save 30 bucks off and grab it for $89.99. Both are available now.