SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W SFX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Pros: - Modular!
- Quiet!
- Very compact SFF PSU
- Well-made
- Improved efficiency and quality over the non-modular 80 Plus Bronze version

Cons: Sometimes difficult to install cables in a SFF case, but that's not really a con, just something to be aware of.

- The paint could probably scratch off easy, but no big deal if its inside of a case anyway.

Other Thoughts: I used this PSU in a build for my brother using a Silverstone Fortress FT03-Mini SFF case. The PSU fits like a glove and is very tidy and quiet.

Unfortunately, you might want to think twice before you use the modular version of this power supply if you are using it in conjunction with the FT03-Mini. The problem resides in the fact that the plugins for the modular cables are directly in the way of the hard drive mount that is connected to the slim drive bay. In my experience, I had to remove this drive bay in order to plug in the main power cord for my 20+4 pin connector, thereby losing the ability to use a second hard drive. It wasn't a big deal for me since I used the other 2.5" mount in the case for an SSD, but if you want to use all the drive bays, you might go with the non-modular design. I believe that PSU's cabling all comes from a small hole on the side of the PSU instead of spread out across a whole side.

Otherwise, great, efficient, powerful, quiet PSU! Some say the fan on the PSU is loud - if you use it in a case like the FT03-Mini, you probably won't be able to hear it.

Pros: This is a 2nd review after many months of use. I have written another review and will skip a lot of the basic details.

Compact, Gold Rated PSU with active PFC and a 6+2 pin cable.

It is fully capable of handling my i7 3770k and gtx 670 at full load with a fan controller, ssd and 4 fans running.

When I run MSI kombuster and stress it the gpu uses about 220w addtl (from 70w idle and normal usage, so to 320w) but BF3 my main game rarely touches 270w on ultra and is usually 220w.

Just an FYI a cigarette lighter uses 90w in use. I happen to have one on my custom mini rig.

Cons: My molex connector modular cable doesnt work, and I have had to use sata to molex adapters and run about ten things off of the sata line. This is bareable as long as the sata cable never fails.

The fan. This is my most hated thing about this PSU. I really wish the fan speed adjusted based on thermals or usage or something because it is always loud, and I dont think you can build a true quiet computer with it. It is the only thing I hear, and I hear it at the same speed and level all the time on my liquid cooled multi slow fan system.

it is quiter than your old average dell but not quiet enough by my standards, and on a custom rig which demanded at least a 450W small PSU,, this was my only option and I hope they change this in a new edition or some competition jumps in the mix.

Other Thoughts: If noise is not a concern, then this is near perfect minus a bad cable. It efficiently powers a small powerhouse of a system and I am happy with it in that aspect but I will not ever feel this rig is perfect until I can fix that in the future.

Pros: When I got this power supply, I couldn't believe how small it is.
I have a Lian-Li PC-Q11 case and had to find something with enough juice for an nVidia GTX 560, i5-2300K, 2 SSDs, 1 HDD and 1 DVDRW. The other power supplies in the same wattage range were either too big physically or came with an enormous amount of excess cabling. Yes, I could have trimmed the cables down but my soldering skills are sub-par and I needed to get my system back up ASAP.

This fit the bill, even with all the cables connected there's still plenty of room left. For the first time, I was able to connect everything up, slide the power supply in and connect the cables to the front.

Cons: The fan does spin a little faster than others. At 80mm it is a little more noticeable than the 120mm cousins used in other power supplies.

Other Thoughts: I'm not docking it an egg for the fan. My video card's dual fans ramp up higher and completely drown out the fan in the PSU.

I too wish the floppy connector would be ditched in favor of another SATA connector. It would be nice if the floppy connector was a molex adaptor instead but I can live with it. The cables are short enough to not cause any excess waist or air flow issues.

Pros: Perfect match for the Silverstone FT03 Mini. Lots of screw holes for orientation fan up or down.

Cons: Slight buzzing noise coming from inside the psu somewhere. And even though it's fully modular, cable bulk still adds up after the 24 pin, 8 pin, sata, and pcie.

Pros: - provides plenty of power for new-gen small form systems.
- modular cables allows easier cable management.
- tiny size but packs a punch

Cons: - internal fan is a bit loud, does not power off/slow down while system is idling, like other new gold rated power supplies.

Other Thoughts: the only con is quite an annoying one, therefore i rated this power supply 4/5 eggs. i feel like they could have easily placed a throttle switch for the fan to slow down or turn off while system is simply idling, pulling very little power - no need for the fan to be spinning as the power supply would not be heating up.

Pros: Very very small and very very powerful. It is quiet as well; practically silent to me but I am hearing impaired. Wife says it is quiet even when playing a game. This replaced a much much more noisy power supply with a dual front/back fan design.

Cons: None so far!

Other Thoughts: This is currently powering a 4.2GHz AMD quad core, 16GB of 1867MHz RAM, 240GB SSD, and a 1GB Radeon 6850 in an IN WIN BK644.BN300TBL case.

Pros: Fully modular and I was VERY surprised by how small this power supply was. All the cables lengths were perfect. It worked well in my case and I think it would work well in cases that were both smaller and a good bit larger.

Cons: My biggest complaint is that the adapter plate is unfinished and doesn't match the very nice black finish of the PSU. Most cases, even mini-ITX, support full ATX PSUs and if you are using this unit in one of these cases you have to use this highly contrasting plate. I bought a black case and a black PSU but I have a tin colored ring messing up the look. Even a chrome colored version would have been better and matched the MB insert.

The other complaint would be with the cables. As others have mentioned, they are very stiff and I had to do some serious bending just to get my case one specifically for the main MB power lead. The other complaint was that despite having what I would consider extremely modest power needs for my build, I had to use every single cable supplied. The only components that needed power was the MB, a single SSD, Video Card and one case FAN. It would have been nice to if one low power molex connector was provided on the SSD or Video cable given how common it is to need to have the PSU power a few fans.

Finally, they wasted a connector by providing support for a floppy drive. I would have preferred a molex or another SSD.

Other Thoughts: Lian Li QB25 Case
Samsung 840 256GB Pro SSD
Nvidia 660TI Video Card

Pros: - Small size fits in small ITX builds
- Shorter cables for small cases

Cons: - Loud fan with piercing noise at idle
- Cables could and should be shorter
- Unfortunately expensive for such a mediocre PSU. But size matters and it's the only option for an ITX gaming build.

Other Thoughts: The fan on this PSU is really disappointing. I've gone to great lengths to make sure all the fans in my case are super silent and they are. Even the video card fan is silent at idle. This sucker is really very annoying. I want to unscrew it and replace the fan with a decent one, but I don't want to void my warranty. The specs that say it's 18db is absolutely wrong. It's more like 30db at idle.

The only saving grace is that the PSU provides a good amount of power so it's rare for the fan to have to ramp up. Even so, I don't really care about fan noises when playing games...

Pros: Highest power at smallest size PSU
Full Modular.

6&6+2 PCI connectors.
both the 6 and 6+2 are on one cable, and i was worried it would not function with a card that needed both connectors,, but it powers my 670 just fine, using both connectors off the same cable.

gold certified active PFC

powers an i7 3770k, 16gb 2400mhz ram, and gtx 670, and ssd, all oc at load,, no probs. read other.

Cons: No on/off switch.

stiff cables.

nothing snaps in easy,, very tight fits all around with the modular connections.

Other Thoughts: I built a custom computer by modding a lian li TU200 case and mounted this power supply inside and up top,, so i could fit 2 radiators inside. 1 where the psu was supposed to be.

this psu fits just above the motherboard without touching, i am so happy with this.

I have this paired with a 150w pico psu which powers my other drives, cigarette lighter, and all fans,, as i knew i was stretching the limit of this psu with my main hardware.

in the event you need to do the same,, each psu will only power what you connect to it,, so no worries of crossing..

im very happy with this psu though i think a 550w would serve a lot more people. I had to get real creative to meet my needs without stressing the psu.

I took the time and calculated what my parts would use at load,, do the same before you buy this.

Lian li TU200
asus p8z77-i deluxe mini itx mb
i7-3770k with zalman ultimate liquid cooler
2400mhx 2x8gb g skill ram
gigabyte 670 with arctic cooling LC liquid cooler
samsung 830 256gb ssd.
seagate 2tb hdd
external dual 2.5 and 3.5 hotswap expansion bay with usb3.0
DVD burner.
4 fans,
150w PicoPSU
dual PSU adapter

Pros: Sizewise, perfect replacement for silverstone SG05's 300W power supply (you need to remove the support bar for it though)
Small!

Cons: Loud. The loudest fan in any of my PCs