Our very own Drew Duncan is currently Las Vegas at CES 2017 and his first meeting of the show was with Tony Ou, the marketing manager at SilverStone. SilverStone is one of the few big case and PSU companies that has really thrown their weight behind SFF so it’s always exciting to see what they have in store.
SX500-G and SX650-G
And of course, at their suite SilverStone is showing off their ever growing stable of SFX and SFX-L power supplies. Among these are the latest pre-production units of the upcoming SX500-G and SX650-G, which are Gold-rated, fully-modular units with slim 92mm cooling fans of 500W and 650W capacity respectively. One new change, since the last time we saw them at CES last year, is a power switch. I noticed that the power switch in the new SX800-LTI I reviewed possibly prevented the C14 inlet from being rotated to match the SX700-LPT for more consistency between units, so I’m pleased to see that SilverStone is using a “SFF” switch on these new PSUs.
High-wattage SFX units are cramped enough inside as it is though, so every little detail that saves space is a welcome sight. Of course just not having the switch like it was originally would save even more space, but it can be useful to have and if it can be shrunk to something functional but compact like this then I’m all for it.
Another minor thing I noticed is that on the 500W there are only 3 mounting screw points and the AC inlet is positioned slightly closer to the edge as a result. I’m not sure if there’s any significance to this because both units are presumably based on the same Sirfa/High Power platform.
Edit: The reason for the difference in screw holes and AC inlet position is because these two units were pulled from different stages of development.
Another improvement is the stamped cutout is gone and instead they now have a wire grill for the fan vent. Wire grills are more expensive because it’s another part to add to the BOM, but they provide much less airflow restriction and is good to see from an airflow/noise perspective.
(Edit)
Drew had some time last evening to report some additional information from his meeting with SilverStone and the SX500-G and SX650-G will not ship with the wire grill. The reason for this is because there isn’t quite enough height available internally to move the fan down so the grill on these pre-production units sticks out past the housing and don’t meet the SFX spec as a result. So they will be switching back to a stamped vent for production. That’s a bit disappointing but like I said earlier, this units are really cramped for space internally.
(End of edit)
No word on pricing but the SX500-G and SX650-G should release in Q1 this year.
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TX300
And burying the lede a bit, here is the new SilverStone 300W Bronze-rated TFX unit, the TX300! I’m really excited to see SilverStone give some love to TFX because it’s a neat form factor that all too often gets ignored. TFX strikes a nice compromise between the slim FlexATX with their 40mm fans and the boxier SFX form factors.
Unfortunately, while the TX300 comes in a nice black finish, the specs are more pedestrian, with just Bronze-level efficiency and the 12V split across two rails, at 14A and 15A respectively. Depending on how the power connectors are split up across those two rails though a mid-range gaming system should still be possible. From talking with Tony, it looks like this unit will release in Q1 this year, so pretty soon if everything goes according to plan.
And being the dedicated SFF fan that he is, Drew is carrying a Mitutoyo caliper around the CES showfloor, making sure the manufacturer’s listed dimensions are up to snuff. And indeed the SilverStone TX300 has the proper TFX dimensions of 65mm x 85mm x 175mm (HxWxD).
Leftover tidbits
It is not pictured here, but the SX600-LPT (a 600W version of the SX700-LPT) should release sometime in the first half of this year. No word on pricing for that yet.
Another minor tidbit of news is that SilverStone will release an aftermarket full-length cable kit for the SX800-LTI to enable customers to use the 800W SFX-L unit in larger cases where the stock, SFF-oriented cables would be too short.
Edit: According to Drew, SilverStone also stated that they will not be shipping future SFX/SFX-L units with an ATX to SFX adapter bracket. They would rather not pass the cost of bundling it to those customers using the power supplies as intended, and those who need it can buy the reasonably priced SilverStone PP08 adapter.
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Big thanks to Tony Ou at SilverStone for talking with Drew (and the rest of the team via Slack) and answering our questions!
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Thoughts? Discuss them in the forum here.
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P.S. When asked if there were any plans to go even higher in wattage for SFX-L, Tony said “Look at the 819watt/liter density of the 650 watt unit” and “Plenty of room to go bigger”.
Does this mean we could eventually see a SFF PSU crack the 1KW mark? We’ll just have to wait and see what SilverStone has cooking at CES 2018 I guess!
