The SilverStone SX700-LPT SFX 700W PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on September 30, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- SilverStone
- SFX
As PC gaming continues to grow, more and more PCs are finding their way into the living room. As such, the demand for small, elegant computers that are powerful enough to be used as gaming machines is constantly on the rise. Several reputable manufacturers have presented products specifically designed for living room PC gaming, from subtle gaming cases to specialized keyboards/mice.
One major challenge with developing these small form factor (SFF) gaming systems is power. A gaming PC can require a lot of power, which can be an issue with cases that only support SFX PSUs. As the market for SFX units is very low and such systems were not expected to have high power requirements to begin with, there are very few designs available with a power output higher than 500 Watts.
SilverStone is a company that is strongly focused on the design and development of SFF cases, with several of their recent products designed to be used primarily as gaming machines. They are one of the very few companies that offer advanced, high performance SFX PSUs. In this review we are having a look at the SX700-LPT, their latest and greatest SFX PSU design. The SX700-LPT is 80Plus Platinum certified and has a maximum power output of 700 Watts, theoretically making it the most advanced consumer SFX PSU available today.
| Power specifications ( Rated @ 40 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 22A | 22A | 58.4A | 3A | 0.3A |
| 120W | 700W | 15W | 3.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 700W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
SilverStone supplies the SX700-LPT SFX PSU into a relatively large cardboard box for an SFX PSU. The box is very sturdy and the PSU is sandwiched between thick polystyrene foam pieces, providing ample shipping protection. The most basic features of the PSU can be read at the front side of the box and more details are printed on the back.
The bundle of the SX700-LPT is spartan, with the company supplying only a manual, an AC power cable and four black mounting screws. The manual is extensive and detailed. SilverStone does not provide a SFX to ATX adapter with the SX700-LPT, which is peculiar considering that they do with less powerful units.
This is a fully modular design so every cable can be detached, including the 24-pin ATX cable. All of the cables are "flat", ribbon-like, including the thick 24-pin ATX cable. Apparently, SilverStone is trying to save as much space as possible. Be warned that these cables are much shorter than those of a regular ATX unit, with the ATX power cable being just 30 cm (11.8") long. Every cable is made by using black wires and black connectors, with the sole exception of the PSU-side connectors of the PCI Express power cables, which are blue.
| SilverStone SX700-LPT SFX 700W | ||
| Connector type | Hardwired | Modular |
| ATX 24 Pin | - | 1 |
| EPS 4+4 Pin | - | 1 |
| EPS 8 Pin | - | - |
| PCI-E 6+2 Pin | - | 4 |
| PCI-E 8 Pin | - | - |
| SATA | - | 9 |
| Molex | - | 3 |
| Floppy | - | 1 |
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JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, October 3, 2016 - link
I don't believe you realize that the FTZ01, ML07, and RVZ01 cases are all designed to have one intake case fan over the CPU and two in the GPU compartment. It's a 13 liter case, half of which is sectioned off to the GPU. The GPU takes up some volume and the fans take up some volume of that 6.5 liters of GPU compartment air. With an open air cooler, it's not unreasonable for it to be suffocating of fresh air when the compartment probably has less than 2 liters of open space.Ej24 - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Agreed. Also take in to account increasing efficiencies. My gtx 1080 at 180w demolishes top cards from previous generations that used to be in the 250-300w range. And my cpu is a 65w i7. Going by tdp, while not the best, that's less than 250w at full load. Power supply requirements will only continue to drop.ImSpartacus - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
I think the bigger issue is that a cramped case that demands an sfx psu quite possibly won't have the extra space for this non-standard "sfx-l" design.That starts to defeat the purpose of having a compact psu in the first place...
But I suppose if Silverstone made a case or two that used the sfx-l standard, then it might be worth it to them.
JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
They have plenty of SFX-L compatible cases.ML07: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=503
ML08: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=607
RVZ01: http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index...
RVZ01-E: www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?model=RVZ01-E
RVZ02: http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index...
FTZ01: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=533
Samus - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Don't forget the legendary FT03-Mini. Liquid cooling, 3 drives, 10.5" videocard, X99 ITX, optical drive, integrated cable management, in less than 18 liters.ImSpartacus - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Really? The FT03 Mini supports it?Ok, that, alone, justifies the existence of this psu.
Honestly, while writing my comment, I was literally thinking, "if it doesn't fit in something like the ft03 mini, then why bother?"
Velocialume - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Hmm. I've always been under the impression that case didn't support SFX-L .. I just got that 600w corsair to power my new 1080.Samus - Saturday, October 1, 2016 - link
I just checked the clearances, and it will fit only because it's modular. Most of the space behind my PSU in the FT03-mini is taken for cable management of the PSU sources.However, it's going to be hell running the "bottom row" of power from this PSU without losing the DVD cage, something I refuse to do with my case. I mean, there are hacks to get a full ATX PSU to fit if you are willing to sacrifice the DVD tray and the 3.5"\2.5" bay (leaving you a single 2.5" tray at the bottom) and at that point the case is ruined for functionality.
Again, not impossible, but let's just say you will need to install the PSU with cables already installed and routed, there is no way to manage/add/remove them once it's mounted and they are smashed against the DVD tray.
It has never been a user friendly case to work inside. It isn't like my hands get cut up or anything but simple tasks like removing the video card requires removing the PSU, DVD, 2.5" SSD, 3.5" HDD, memory DIMMS and depending on where the PCIe connectors go on the video card (such as out the rear instead of the top) you may even have to remove the radiator. Shorter 10" or less video cards are a cinch in comparison to twist and pull but when you are running an out of spec 10.85" card like I am, you go to hell to make it work.
Wouldn't give the case up for anything else though.
piroroadkill - Saturday, October 1, 2016 - link
Even the smallest case that can fit decent hardware (Dan Case A4-SFX) can fit an SFX-L PSU.TheinsanegamerN - Monday, October 3, 2016 - link
There are many SFX class cases that cant take SFX-L.