The SilverStone SX700-LPT SFX 700W PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on September 30, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- SilverStone
- SFX
External Appearance
While the SX700-LPT obviously is very small compared to an ATX PSU, it does not actually adhere to SFX specifications either. It is being labeled as an "SFX-L" design, with its chassis measuring 125 × 63.5 × 125 mm (W×H×D). Essentially, it is 25 mm longer than a standard SFX PSU. The longer chassis allowed SilverStone to fit more components and a 120 mm cooling fan, but it could very easily cause compatibility issues with some cases that do not have any extra space behind the PSU.
The chassis is sprayed with a satin black paint that is fingerprint resistant. Oddly, SilverStone punched their company logo along the top side and placed the sticker with the electrical specifications and certifications on the left side of the chassis. It is likely that the company expects the top of the PSU to be more frequently visible than its side, but such aesthetic improvements are of questionable value on such products, as cases that require SFX PSUs rarely have windowed panels anyway.
The rear of the SX700-LPT is somewhat interesting in its own way. There is only an AC cable receptacle and an on/off switch, yet such a switch is relatively rare on SFX designs. The connectors for the modular cables can the seen at the front side of the unit, with the PCI Express cable connectors being blue and every other connector being black.
Internal Design
Zhen Poweryear is the supplier of the thin 120 mm fan found inside the SX700-LPT. It has a black frame but semi-transparent tinted blades. We could not find specific information on the PY-12015H12S, but it appears to be a sleeve bearing engine fan and has a maximum speed of about 1700 RPM.
Most of SilverStone’s SFX PSU designs come from Enhance, but this is not the case with the SX700-LPT, which is a Sirfa design. Naturally, everything is very densely packed due to the limited space, but the design is actually very clean for a high power SFX unit. The filtering stage begins at the back of the AC receptacle and continues on the main PCB, with four Y capacitors, three X capacitors and two filtering inductors in total.
The heatsink at the far right side of the PCB holds the active PFC components, two transistors and a diode. Rubycon supplies the PFC 420V/390μF capacitor. The main inversion stage is a half-bridge configuration with two MOSFETS, which are found on the heatsink near the center of the design. The secondary side conversion MOSFETs are at the underside of the PCB, while DC to DC conversion circuits can be seen on the vertical daughterboards. Nippon Chemi-Con supplies all of the secondary capacitors, electrolytic and solid-state alike.
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usernametaken76 - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
That's why there's a 120mm fan to keep it cool, and it simply loses efficiency at that temp, it doesn't shut down (unless it's actually overheating) or melt. I have one and I don't even hear the fan kick on - which it will automatically when it gets hot.Samus - Saturday, October 1, 2016 - link
My SFX PSU fan rarely ever comes on, because it doesn't even crack 30C when the system is at idle. It starts spinning after 20 minutes of web surfing. Same with my video card, 970 blower doesn't even run until I go into a game.Alistair - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
I have bought two of Silverstone's sfx-L power supplies, both had problems with the fan. The PSU looks awesome, but the fan's 0rpm mode doesn't work right, or it randomly makes weird sounds (crunching, or rising beep tone sounds, never heard that coming out of a PSU before). Check newegg reviews you'll see people with similar problems.After giving up on them selling me a quality PSU, I bought the new Corsair SFX power supply, and it is awesome. Save yourself the trouble and buy the Corsair one. You'll thank me.
Alistair - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Also get the Lian Li Q10 case. It can cool anything. Literally it is amazing cold in there even with one 120mm fan. I have a GTX 1080 and overclocked to max i5-6600K and it is cool with the fans set to 600rpm. I even fit the Noctua U12S in that case!!!jdon - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
Tony Ou from Silverstone posted about this on another forum, and there is a more recent version of the 700w PSU with updates to the fan controller that should make things a bit less awkward for lower usage scenarios. To differentiate updated SX700-LPTs, you have to check the serial number. Numbers starting with 1621 or earlier are the original ones while numbers starting with 1624 and after are updated units.Gadgety - Wednesday, October 5, 2016 - link
This or the LianLi PE-750? Opinions pleaseInterClaw - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
Any news on the SX800-LTI announced at Computex?waltercarroll - Monday, October 17, 2016 - link
Usually power supplies are not that much effective and for pc normal use or gaming i am desperate to have such a thing so that my pc board is not at risk.