A Detailed Look
The SilverStone SX800-LTI power supply enclosure is painted with a satin black finish. The power supply measures 130mm deep x 63mm x 125mm. The back panel includes an On-Off switch, AC receptacle and open honey-comb grill. Note however that the modular connectors are not flush with the front panel but stick out an additional 5mm.
The power supply features semi-fanless operation (does not spin at lower power loads) and uses a 120mm x 15mm fan made by Globe Fan for cooling.
The thirteen blade fan (S1201512HB) is rated for 0.45A at 12 VDC and features sleeve bearings for quiet operation. SilverStone claims the fan with intelligent RPM control is designed to provide cool performance and quiet operation. We would prefer to see a higher quality ball bearing or Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan used in this application however.
The front panel on the 800W PSU incorporates nine modular cable connectors, all nicely labelled and color coded so you don’t accidentally plug a cable into the wrong connector. The two blue connectors each support a cable with two PCI-E 8/6-pin connectors. Note the square four pin connector on the left side of the bottom row.
That extra connector and the four wires that supply it are used for “remote voltage sensing” at the 24-pin ATX connector to help provide tighter voltage regulation for the three primary outputs as the load changes.
All of the modular cables are flat ribbon-style to assist with neat cable routing and to help maximize airflow. Note that all of the cables are intentionally rather short as this power supply is designed for use in small-size cases.
Under the Hood
Here are a few pictures showing the layout and components inside SX800-LTI power supply. SilverStone is using Enhance Electronics as the OEM for the SX800-LTI instead of High Power which they used for previous SFX models. This appears to be the same platform that Lian Li used for their nearly identical PE-750 SFX power supply. While the Lian Li PE-750 SFX power supply is rated for 750W and certified to comply with 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, SilverStone has pushed the platform even further to deliver 800W and 80 Plus Titanium level efficiency.
The power supply features a modern circuit design that incorporates a half bridge topology and LLC resonant converter along with a synchronous secondary with DC-to-DC VRMs to meet the 80 Plus criteria for high efficiency. All of capacitors used inside the PSU are Japanese made with a mix of solid polymer and electrolytic caps used throughout. The two primary bulk caps are made by Rubycon and rated for 270uf, 420V, and 85°C. While Rubycon is certainly a well respected brand, we are not thrilled with the choice of the less expensive 85°C rating instead of 105°C.
I do not quite get it. Who
I do not quite get it. Who needs 800W in SFF PC? 800W is required for top/overclocked SLI or Crossfire configuration only.
Perhaps if Corsair comes out
Perhaps if Corsair comes out with something like the TWO…..which I would do an SLI config on to play on the name or something….
Works well with an ATX
Works well with an ATX adapter and would be perfect in an mATX case (which supports SLI) meaning you have more breathing room. Also, more options is never a bad thing.
So, overclocking your CPU and GPU can tax a PSU, and therefore that extra headroom is good to have.
Finally, it’s Titanium rated. Perhaps they didn’t want to put their best components in a 400W PSU, so they are doing more of a “one size fits many” configuration here.
You just don’t see a lot of good quality PSUs in the lower end of the scale, and that’s in part due to a consumer education issue, but also, it costs more for each SKU you pump out. In other words, it’s an efficiency thing on the manufacturing side as well.
I will buy it, not because I
I will buy it, not because I need that extra wattage, but I need to push the silentness to the limit. With only use 200watt on my ITX, means with 800watt psu, It will be in 40% of its fan envelope, which sometime even the fan still not kicked on. Problem with psu without fan, is the hizzing sound
Quite obvious, the sweet spot
Quite obvious, the sweet spot is 50% usage on a PSU. When you get closer to 100% load, there is a chance that capacitors will pop. Also caps lose capacitance over time. I suppose it won’t matter if you upgrade every year though.
I always enjoy your power
I always enjoy your power supply reviews. Very insightful and thoughtful. It almost seems like Silverstone was trying to cut corners a bit on cost here. Using sleeve bearing fan, and cheap Rubycon capacitors is very unfortunate. I agree they should have used a much higher quality fan, and a much better Japanese capacitor. And that warranty is not good either. Very surprised Silverstone did this. They have always had such a good reputation for quality. An otherwise nice SFX power supply though.
This PSU proves there’s no
This PSU proves there’s no need for ATX PSUs anymore, which saves wasted space. You can run two 1080Ti cards and a high-end CPU from this PSU, which already is quite over the top. With more sensible hardware there’s even a lot of room for overclocking.
Some brands have already started releasing mATX and ATX cases that support SFX PSUs only, like Silverstone, Lian-Li and Thermaltake, with more to come.