We start each article where we present a power supply with a disclaimer that we can’t call this a full review since we don’t own a load tester.
With this out of the way, let’s have a look at the newest 750W SFX PSU from SilverStone which is a Gold rated unit and of course fully modular. On paper, this is a slight step-down from the original SX750 that the company debuted in the last quarter of 2020, as it offers 80 Plus Gold-rated efficiency, compared to the original’s 80 Plus Platinum.
Nevertheless, besides the 24-pin ATX, you get three 4+4 pin EPS connectors, four 6+2 pin PCIe connectors, eight SATA power, and three 4-pin Molex.
Under the hood, the SX750 Gold features a single +12 V rail design using a single 62.5 A rail, 100% Japanese capacitors, active PFC, and most common electric protections, against over/under-voltage, overload, overheat, and short-circuit. It uses a 92 mm hydro-dynamic bearing fan to keep cool, with under 30% the fan-speed when the load is below 300 W, and 18 dBA maximum noise output.
SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd is a company based in Taiwan, founded in 2003 that makes computer cases, power supplies, and other peripheral for personal computers. Their goal was to provide products that create inspirations and customers a wide selection of choices.
With distribution centres in different areas of the globe, SilverStone products can be seen all over the world, not just for computer users but also for home entertainment use. Thus providing leisure with integration of advanced technologies that is functional and making them enjoyable to use.
Prices and Availability
Depending on availability it should retail for around $130 since it has massive competition from the Corsair unit.
*30.07.2022 Update – Check out the video review as well!*
Highlights and Specification
*Courtesy of their website.
* Standard SFX form factor
* Silent 92mm HYB fan
* All Japanese electrolytic capacitors
* Class-leading single +12V rail
* Strict ±3% voltage regulation and low ripple & noise
* 100% modular cables
* All cables with flexible flat arrays
* 180° angled SATA connectors designed for stack mounted hard drives
* Power density: 945W per litre
* Efficiency 87% ~ 90% (at 20% ~ 100% loading)
* Weight: 1.49 kg
Visual Inspection
We have the classic blue/white combo layout from SilverStone with proper branding elements which makes easy to recognise that this is one of their products.
On the back it has plenty of information such as the included modular cables and connectivity, power output through the rails, efficiency rating and fan noise.
The PSU is nested in its own ‘sandwich’ pads on the left while all of the included cables reside on the right side of the box.
Beside the regular installation screws, booklets and power cord, a must have accessory is the SFX to ATX bracket which luckily SilverStone has included here.
Now let’s have a look at the modular cables. What’s really interesting is the fact that the SX750 Gold offers up to a dual 8pin EPS CPU layout. Overall, the cables have decent reach and are what you expect from this ribbed design in terms of flexibility. This is the full list:
1x 24/20-Pin motherboard connector
2x 8/4-Pin EPS/ATX 12V connectors
1x 8-Pin EPS/ATX 12V connectors
4x 8/6-Pin PCIe connectors
8x SATA connectors
3x 4-Pin Peripheral connectors
1x 4-Pin Floppy connector
Here is the SFX PSU unit that is rated for 750W. It measures 125 mm (W) x 63.5 mm (H) x 100 mm (D) and weighs around 1.5 Kg. From this side we have the 92mm hydro-dynamic bearing which unfortunately doesn’t have a zero-rpm mode like the Corsairs and thus it’s set at under 30% speed when the load is below 300 W. The advertised 18 dBA of noise output we will test later in the review.
All of the ports for the modular cables are located on this side and it’s easy to determine which goes where thanks to the quick imprinted diagram. Also a highly important piece of information is the fact that this SX750 Gold is not compatible with PP05-E and PP06 cables, only with the supplied MC4 ones.
The small sides have the efficiency rating and PSU model on display.
The back sticker offers information regarding the power distribution through the rails.
Lastly, the exhaust area has this honeycomb pattern and it lacks an ON/OFF button for price saving reasons. The big port is where you will connect the power cord and the PSU has 6 mounting holes for maximum flexibility depending on your enclosure.
Here is a size comparison with a standard ATX sized power supply. The main advantage is of course the smaller side over the ATX format and which makes the SX750W have a power density of 945W per litre!
Testing methodology
- The SilverStone SX750-G SFX Gold rated PSU will be tested at idle, then in a gaming scenario and finally at full system load in stress test
- The CPU & GPU will be set at stock
- In order to verify the efficiency of the PSU, the power draw of the system was measured at the wall socket then the voltages were taken on the +12v, +5v and +3.3v rails using a multimeter
- As the main torture test, we will employ a CPU & GPU 2-minute run in AIDA64
- Room temperature was recorded at ~24°C
- For the noise test, all of the system fans, GPU and CPU one were set at minimum in order to focus just on the PSU fan’s output; sound was measured with the Pyle PSPL01 placed 30 cm away from the setup and a lav mic was places at the same distance for the audio sample
- All of the side panels will be attached
Testing platform:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
– CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Spire RGB 92mm
– Motherboard: GIGABYTE X570 I AORUS Pro Wi-Fi ITX @ BIOS F36a
– RAM: 64GB Neo Forza MARS RGB 3200 MHz CL16
– Boot SSD: ADATA SX6000 128GB M.2 Gen3x4 TLC PCIe NVMe 1.1
– Video card: ASUS GTX 780 Nvidia Ref.
– Case: DAN A4-SFX V4.1 ITX
– Competition PSU: Corsair SF750 SFX Platinum
Software:
– OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 21H1
– NVIDIA Drivers – 511.79
– CPU-Z v1.95 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– Core Temp v1.17 – To see the temperatures in real time
– AIDA64 Extreme v6.60 – Memory analysis and Benchmark suite
– MSI Afterburner v4.62 – To record the FPS and load/temperatures
– 3D/Game(s) – Rise Of The Tomb Raider set at FHD, with everything at Medium quality Settings, no V-Sync
Installation, Testing, Results and Analysis
Installing the SilverStone SX750-G PSU it in a tight environment like the DAN A4-SFX case is mostly troublesome since the stock cables are on the medium firmness. But they are not that flexible nor short enough for this particular case if you want to install the 92mm AIO, since there is limited space to route the cables. This is a niche situation but worth mentioning out for those interested since this is why we get SFX units in the first place.
As mentioned, the PSU unit will be tested in 3 different scenarios, idle, gaming scenario to simulate a real life usage and finally a torture test with the GPU & CPU at max load, in stock settings. The testing system used peaked at 369.3 W and which roughly 50% load from the total 750W available and thus we proceeded to measured the efficiency ratings and voltage oscillation.
As you can see the SilverStone SFX 750W Gold unit even at 10% load is still very close to the advertised 87% efficiently that makes it worthy of the 80 Plus Gold certification. Usually the 50% load spot is the sweet spot when it comes to PSU maximum efficiency and again it ticks it flawlessly.
When it comes to rail voltage tolerance levels, the ATX (Power Supply Design Guide) standard and Intel’s guideline, specify that a 5% variable fluctuation is acceptable. The SilverStone SFX 750W Gold unit once again delivers on both the idle and load scenarios with its tighter 3%.
The last test is the sound output. Here, the unit is quite on the loud side especially when compared to the Corsair unit. SilverStone has to do more tinkering here to fine tune the RPM curve and/or even offer the same zero-RPM mode for the 20-30% load range, as their competition.
Conclusion
The SX750-G continues the legacy of the former SFX units from SilverStone, which despite its initial impression of a downgrade from its Platinum brother, still offers excellent results in power delivery, build quality and range of connectors. Still there is no zero-rpm fan mode, which is basically the only downside here, making the SX750-G on the audible side even at 50% load.
The good:
+ High power density
+ Excellent connectivity
+ Fully modular
+ Efficient as advertised
+ Great build quality
The bad:
– No fan-stop function
– On the loud side above 50% load
– No ON/OFF switch
– Included cables are on the firm side
Glob3trotters “Performance” Award – 4.5 out of 5
Many thanks to SilverStone for supplying us with this sample!
