BitFenix Formula Gold 450W PSU Review: Compact, Efficient, And Near-Silent

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Ripple Measurements

To learn how we measure ripple, please click here.

The following table includes the ripple levels we measured on the BF450G’s rails. The limits, according to the ATX specification, are 120mV (+12V) and 50mV (5V, 3.3V, and 5VSB).

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Test 12V 5V 3.3V 5VSB Pass/Fail
10% Load 13.5mV 7.0mV 6.2mV 9.2mV Pass
20% Load 22.4mV 6.1mV 5.9mV 9.1mV Pass
30% Load 24.7mV 6.6mV 6.3mV 10.5mV Pass
40% Load 22.5mV 6.7mV 7.0mV 10.7mV Pass
50% Load 21.9mV 7.8mV 7.4mV 11.0mV Pass
60% Load 24.3mV 8.8mV 8.3mV 11.6mV Pass
70% Load 26.3mV 10.5mV 10.3mV 12.1mV Pass
80% Load 25.7mV 14.3mV 15.3mV 18.5mV Pass
90% Load 26.3mV 16.8mV 18.8mV 19.5mV Pass
100% Load 29.0mV 13.9mV 15.2mV 21.7mV Pass
110% Load 27.7mV 13.9mV 14.3mV 25.1mV Pass
Cross-Load 1 28.0mV 12.6mV 11.5mV 6.4mV Pass
Cross-Load 2 24.5mV 10.3mV 13.5mV 11.5mV Pass

Ripple suppression was very good on every rail. And strangely enough, the ripple at +12V with 110% load decreased slightly; normally we'd expect the opposite. The 3.3V rail also behaves strangely, registering its peak ripple reading with 90% load. 

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Ripple Oscilloscope Screenshots

The following oscilloscope screenshots illustrate the AC ripple and noise registered on the main rails (+12V, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB). The bigger the fluctuations on the screen, the bigger the ripple/noise. We set 0.01 V/Div (each vertical division/box equals 0.01V) as the standard for all measurements.  

Ripple At Full Load

Ripple At 110-Percent Load

Ripple At Cross-Load 1

Ripple At Cross-Load 2

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    Nice - I really like how quiet these models are running.

    Of course, it's also funny that the Formula Gold model is less noisy on average than its "Whisper" mate.
    Reply
  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Excellent , thanks Aris!
    Reply