Corsair's New SFX PSUs

During Computex 2015, Corsair's representatives informed us that they were planning to include the SFX form factor unit that powers the Bulldog system into Corsair's portfolio of PSU products. However, this hasn't happened yet, since the release of the Bulldog was delayed. According to the latest info that we gathered, the Bulldog will probably be released into the U.S. and UK markets during the first quarter of this year, equipped with different mainboards (according to region).

In addition to the SF600, Corsair showed us a smaller capacity PSU with the model number SF450. Obviously they thought that it would be better to enter the SFX market with more than one offering, thereby covering more ground. The SF600 looks ideal for small but powerful gaming systems with up to two GPUs, and the smaller member of this line is destined for single GPU systems. Given that an Nvidia GTX980 doesn't consume more than 200 W of power at stock speeds, even the SF450 is enough to cover the needs of a strong gaming station.

The two Corsair SFX PSUs will probably appear on store shelves in February of this year, and the asking prices will be $90 for the SF450 and $120 for the SF600. Both PSUs are made by Great Wall and feature a fully modular cabling design, a semi-passive operation and will be backed up by a seven year warranty period. In addition, according to Jon Gerow (most of you will know him as Jonnyguru), who recently was appointed as Corsair's new PSU product manager, only Japanese capacitors will be used in these units for increased reliability and prolonged lifetime. We expect the first review samples to be shipped pretty soon (if they haven't been shipped yet), so stay tuned for detailed information on their performance.

The power specifications of the SF600 and SF450 models are below.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Corsair SF600
Rail3.3V5V12V5VSB-12V
Max. PowerAmps2020502.50.3
Watts120600153.6
Total Max. Power (W)600
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Corsair SF450
Rail3.3V5V12V5VSB-12V
Max. PowerAmps152037.52.50.3
Watts100450153.6
Total Max. Power (W)450

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Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Power Supplies. Follow us on Twitter @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

  • ErikVinoya
    Oohh, ITX gets some love! and just when I switched back to a tower!

    *mildy kicks arc mini r2 case
    Reply
  • Onus
    These are extremely welcome, and it looks like they aren't making a mistake with the OEM.
    The prices are way too high though; $60 for the SF450 would be a lot more appealing.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    Oohh, ITX gets some love! and just when I switched back to a tower!

    *mildy kicks arc mini r2 case

    Haha. I just built two mini itx rigs actually, so I'm happy. :P

    I'm seriously considering going to mini itx one of these days (2017), the new mini itx cases look so nice and it doesn't hog up your desk.


    Those Corsair PSUs look good on the outside, lets see how they do when Tom's tests and reviews them. :)
    Reply
  • thundervore
    We are stepping in the right direction.

    I can see by 2020 ITX systems will be side by side with ATX systems. All that is needed are better motherboards and then then once a top tier GPU plugs in.......sweet powerful system in a little box :)
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    17282856 said:
    We are stepping in the right direction.

    I can see by 2020 ITX systems will be side by side with ATX systems. All that is needed are better motherboards and then then once a top tier GPU plugs in.......sweet powerful system in a little box :)

    Then by that time, the only competition the ITX form factor will have is the high end gaming laptops with their GPU docks. ;)
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    We are stepping in the right direction.

    I can see by 2020 ITX systems will be side by side with ATX systems. All that is needed are better motherboards and then then once a top tier GPU plugs in.......sweet powerful system in a little box :)

    You may want to revise your timetable; you can already get a sweet mini-ITX system with very good graphics, albeit with a single-GPU. Nvidia already has good, relatively low-power cards, and AMD is now promising that as well. So basically nothing is stopping you from designing something that can rival non-SLI/CF ATX systems.
    Reply
  • Onus
    Agreed. Unless you need PCI slots for specific expansion cards, mITX can do everything most people need.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    Definitely looking forward to reading up on the article by Tom's since I'm eyeing an SF PSU and I also reckon the prices will be competitive enough for Silverstone to reconsider their pricing strategies. To date Silverstone's SFX PSU range are a little overpriced and they are also noisy as per most users owning them.
    Reply
  • nem3sis
    great for corsair the SFX are the format of the future... :p
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    Expensive. Perhaps EVGA is going to come in and kill them price-wise as usual?
    Reply