Review on 💡 SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor Power Supply - 80 Plus Bronze, Single Rail, Active PFC (ST45SF) by Jason Rogness

I received this PSU for my shoe box size Thermaltake Mini Case Mini ITX 200 VL52021N2U PSU to replace the supplied ThermalTake 220W PSU and they both appear to be the same size. However, the SilverStone is much more powerful and the build quality is impressive. With a Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge processor and a Radeon HD 6850 450W it should be more than enough. SilverStone was kind enough to include four black thumbscrews and four black mounting screws in the kit as the ThermalTake screws were quite weak. The 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors really make things easier when you have a powerful graphics card. The 80 Plus Bronze rating shows that you get a totally modern and efficient SFX power supply, even if you pay a price. I also considered SeaSonic 350W (less powerful, too basic) and Athena Apollo 470W (never heard of, no 80 plus). I quickly checked the voltages and all three rails, 3.3v, 5v and 12v were slightly higher at idle, which I think is a good thing. In practice, it proves to be absolutely stable and surprisingly quiet even under load. If you're building a Mini-ITX PC, you don't have many options, so I highly recommend spending a little more and getting the SilverStone ST45SF. The power supply is the foundation of your entire system's stability, and this SFX form factor makes few compromises. Finally, it's also very quiet, easily drowned out by my graphics card and CPU fan even when idling. UPDATE: Mine is out of service (7 Aug 2011). When I turn on the computer, the fans spin for a few seconds, then turn off and repeat indefinitely. I sent it back to SilverStone and they sent a new replacement unit within days! With America collapsing around us, SilverStone have done a great job and they deserve a beer. Fingers crossed that this one lasts longer. UPDATE (March 29, 2012): It still works after enduring many excruciating 4 hour gaming marathons and does a brutal job of removing heat from the CPU as well as its own heat (GPU). is in its own thermal world). It's brutal for how small the case is and how much power I wanted to cram into it, but my computer ran rock solid with no crashes or unexpected shutdowns. *don't knock on wood*