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

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Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.  

Our protection features evaluation methodology is described in detail here.

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Protection Features
OCP12V1: 34.28A (137.12%), 11.77V 12V2: 34.24A (136.96%), 11.80V 12V3: 38.8A (155.2%), 11.60V 5V: 26.3A (131.5%), 5.035V 3.3V: 27.2A (136%), 3.33V 5VSB: 4.6A (184%), 4.993V
OPP589.73W (131.05%)
OTP✓ (100°C @ 12V heat sink)
SCP12V: ✓ 5V: ✓ 3.3V: ✓ 5VSB: ✓ -12V: ✓
PWR_OKOperates properly
NLO
SIPSurge: MOV Inrush: NTC thermistor & bypass relay

The third 12V rail, which powers the PCIe connectors, has a higher triggering point than the other two.

Over-power protection (OPP) is set pretty high as well. Meanwhile, OTP kicks in at a lower temperature than we expected, although this didn't cause any problems during testing. The power-good signal is accurate, and there is short circuit protection on all rails.

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Contributing Editor

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