SilverStone Packs 700 W Into Teeny SFX-L Power Supply

News
By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

SilverStone's latest SFX PSU can push up to 700 W. Who's thinking dual-GPU graphics card in a Mini-ITX case?

Just over two years ago SilverStone built the first real usable SFX power supply for enthusiast use, packing 450 W. Last year, we saw the arrival of a 600 W unit (our review of it is here), giving folks a little room for overclocking, along with an SFX-L 500 W unit with a larger fan. Today, SilverStone sent us some juicy details about a new SFX-L format PSU: the SX700-LPT.

The SX in the name indicates that it is part of the SFX series, the 700 is for its wattage, the L for the longer SFX format, and PT for Platinum. Yes, you read that right; this is an SFX-L PSU that can push up to 700 W and packs an 80-Plus Platinum efficiency certificate.

SilverStone's SX700-LPT strikes a couple industry firsts: it will be the highest-wattage SFX/SFX-L format power supply, and it will be the first to have a Platinum efficiency label.

The SX700-LPT unit's design is also fully-modular, meaning you can opt to connect only the cables you need. It comes with one 24-pin ATX connector, one 8-pin EPS connector, three or four lines for SATA or Molex connectors (the total will be decided by how many connectors are on each cable, which is typically three), and most impressive of all, the image reveals not one, but two PCI-Express power headers (see the blue connectors).

To each one of these PCI-Express power headers you'll be able to attach a cable that ends in two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors, meaning that technically, if you really wanted to, you could drive two graphics cards from this little puppy. Of course, any case that can house two graphics cards can probably house a full-size ATX power supply, too. But this will be useful for powering a dual-GPU graphics card in a Mini-ITX case, although you'll really be pushing the power envelope of the SX700-LPT if you decide to take that route.

SilverStone also informed us that the modular connectors are the same as all of its PSUs built after 2009, meaning that you can joyfully upgrade to this PSU without needing to re-do your cable management.

Please note that the SFX-L format is slightly longer (hence the L) than the standard SFX format. It will fit in the same mount, but you'll have to make sure that your case can accommodate the additional length. The extra space is used in part for a larger fan, which will enable more silent operation under heavy loads.

At press time, SilverStone hasn't yet revealed info on pricing or availability. And all of the exact juicy tech specs are still to come.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

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18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Onus
    Sorry, but without pricing or availability, this article is nothing more than fortune-telling. I can do it too: "Seasonic is going to release an 800W 80+ Platinum TFX PSU. It will be fully modular. No word yet on pricing or availability."
    Reply
  • cenpjas
    Whist you are correct Onus, you can make that statement. I would suggest you think about Silverstone's past history. We currently have PSU's upto 600W, which nobody else does, and they are stating we will have a new SFX-L PSU upto 700W with an impressive efficiency. This is news, its not a review.

    Pricing, well its not going to be cheap, availability wise I suppose I would look at the time taken between announcements and product in hand for other PSU's in the same range to get an estimate.
    Reply
  • Vlad Rose
    I think there's more credibility there though since it was Silverstone themselves that stated the new PSU coming out.

    Be careful though as these new 'L' series of power supplies claim compatibility with their Silverstone RVZ01 cases, but only under a new revision of the case that they didn't mention was done. Original owners of the case are left out in the cold as a result; same with those who are shipped cases from a retailer's back stock. While the PSU fits, the fan is blocked as a result, making for an unsightly dremel tool mod.
    Reply
  • buzznut
    So its really cool, I like to see this. Typically 600W is plenty for single GPU setups. 700W is not quite enough for 2 cards. Yes, its for SFF but there are builders who will try to cram 2 cards in a SFF box.

    But I do like a little headroom in my power supplies so I really can't argue with 700W. So good stuff all around, but I wouldn't mind a 800W unit. :D
    Reply
  • Larry Litmanen
    Great to see more choices in SFF format from a great company. Not having a beefy PSU is an obstacle when it comes to building a small PC. Now that obstacle is gone.

    Reply
  • FritzEiv
    Sorry, but without pricing or availability, this article is nothing more than fortune-telling. I can do it too: "Seasonic is going to release an 800W 80+ Platinum TFX PSU. It will be fully modular. No word yet on pricing or availability."

    So Onus, you're saying that in the future you'd rather not know about a product that we have early details on unless those details also include pricing and availability? Or are you saying you don't believe the author, in which case I can personally verify the information because I was on the message from SilverStone too. So which is it? The author is lying; you don't want the information when we get it; Silverstone is lying; or maybe you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed :-) Seriously though: for years commenters tormented us because we published things late; we took that criticism to heart and we've made it our mission not to get outscooped, and while sometimes we do, I feel like we've improved by leaps and bounds; we don't source other publications, we have worked hard to establish and strengthen relationships with all of the companies we report on. So now we get tormented for . . . publishing too early? Sorry but thank you to all of those who downvoted that comment.

    Fritz Nelson, Editor-in-chief
    Reply
  • dudmont
    What's the point of having a PSU that can handle two cards when no ITX board has more than 1 pcie slot? Is there an ITX build possible that uses 700 watts even with major O/Cing? That being said, I'm sure it's nice and works well, probably tells funny jokes too.
    Reply
  • Onus
    Oh, I believe the author. I do not call someone a liar except very directly.
    Without availability in particular though, the article is meaningless. Of course someone is going to build a PSU like this. Without knowing when though, an article like this doesn't tell us much, nor inform a buying decision. Remember how bent people used to get at "vaporware;" software that was supposed to do wonderful things, but never materialized, or showed up very late, and had perhaps discouraged people from selecting a competitor's product? This too, is vaporware, without more concrete information, or, as I called it, fortune-telling, since a similar statement like "Seasonic will release an 800W TFX PSU" is equally certain, and equally meaningless. Perhaps this announcement from Silverstone is to discourage people from looking as FSP, which also competes in this market?
    Reply
  • atheus
    From the article:
    But this will be useful for powering a dual-GPU graphics card in a Mini-ITX case, although you'll really be pushing the power envelope of the SX700-LPT if you decide to take that route.

    I'm a little puzzled by this statement (and to be honest many statements concerning PSU choices). The Titan Z's TDP is 375 watts. Even using ~175 watts for some insane CPU OC and cranking up the Titan Z's power consumption, you've still got quite a lot of headroom with a 700 watt PSU.

    What is it that has people so tuned in to such high power PSU's for Non-SLI systems? With nVidia's Maxwell cards you've got even less reason to reach for bigger PSU's, yet it seems even as testers measure modest power numbers under stress test conditions they wind up suggesting a PSU that's almost double the max power draw they tested. What gives? If you're looking for peak efficiency wouldn't you want it to hit closer to 50% load when it's not at max stress (more typical usage)?
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    What form factor cases do these fit in?

    Edit: mITX, that's what I thought.
    Reply