BitFenix Releases The Formula Gold PSU Line
BitFenix announced its newest PSU line, called Formula Gold. There are four Formula Gold PSUs with capacities ranging from 450W to 750W. All are 80 PLUS Gold and ETA-B certified, while in the noise section we find a LAMBDA-A++ rating, which is the best in the Cybenetics scale.
These units address budget-oriented users who don't care about modular cables but still want high performance and increased reliability along with as-silent-as-possible operation. All are covered by a five-year warranty and have compact dimensions, with only 14cm depth. The strongest Formula PSUs, with 750W and 650W capacities, come with a couple of EPS connectors, so they are compatible with high-end mainboards (including TR4/X399 ones). It's great to see affordable, mid-capacity PSUs equipped with two EPS connectors instead of just one.
All Formula units have multiple +12V rails and are based on a modified version of the CWT's GPS platform. Our sources told us that CWT actually calls this platform BitFenix GPS, because at least for the moment, only this company uses it. Japanese electrolytic and polymer caps are used, with the first belonging to Chemi-Con's KZE and KY lines. The KZE caps are among the most affordable that Chemi-Con has, with a not-so-high lifetime, however the KY caps are of high quality. Moreover, the fact that polymer caps also handle ripple filtering on the secondary side is a notable advantage, because those caps are resilient to high operating temperatures.
The 120mm fan is controlled by a highly relaxed fan profile, which allows for lower than 20 dB(A) overall noise output even on the 750W Formula unit. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other 750W PSU at the $90 range offering such a silent operation, and this is definitely a strong advantage.
Line | Formula Gold |
---|---|
OEM | CWT (GPS) |
Models | BF450G, BF550G, BF650G, BF750G |
Max. DC Output | 450W, 550W, 650W, 750W |
PFC | Active PFC |
Efficiency Certification | ETA-B & 80 PLUS Gold |
Noise Certification | LAMBDA A++ |
Modular | No |
Intel C6/C7 Power State Support | Yes |
Operating temperature | 0°C ~ 40°C |
Protections | Over Voltage Protection Under Voltage Protection Over Current Protection Short Circuit Protection Over Power Protection Over Temperature Protection |
Cooling | BF650G, BF750G: 120mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan (DF1202512SEMN) BF450G, BF550G: 120mm Hydraulic Bearing Fan (DF1202512SELN) |
Semi-passive operation | No |
Number of EPS Connectors | BF650G, BF750G: 2x BF450G, BF550G: 1x |
Number of PCIe Connectors | BF650G, BF750G: 4x BF450G, BF550G: 2x |
Number of SATA Connectors | BF650G, BF750G: 8x BF450G, BF550G: 6x |
Number of Peripheral Connectors | BF650G, BF750G: 4x BF450G, BF550G: 2x |
+12V Capacity | BF450G: 450W BF550G: 550W BF650G: 650W BF750G: 750W |
Dimensions | 150 mm (W) x 86 mm (H) x 140 mm (D) |
Compliance | ATX12V v2.4, EPS 2.92 |
Price | BF450G: $65 BF550G: $70 BF650G: $80 BF750G: $90 |
Warranty | 5 years |
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Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.