Amazon.com: Customer reviews: SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply with +12V Single Rail, Active PFC (ST45SF)

Top positive review

Like a small nuclear reactor in your small PC, minus the small amounts of radiation

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2011

I got this PSU for my shoe-box sizedThermaltake Power Supply Mini Case Mini ITX 200 VL52021N2Uto replace the included ThermalTake 220 watt power supply unit, and they both seem to be the exact same size. However, the SilverStone is much beefier and the build quality is very impressive. With a Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge CPU and a Radeon HD 6850, the 450 watts should be more than enough.

It was really nice of SilverStone to include four black case thumbscrews and four black mounting screws since the ThermalTake ones were pretty crummy. 6-pin AND an 8-pin PCIe power connectors really simplify things if you get a powerful video card. The 80 Plus Bronze rating shows you're getting a thoroughly modern and efficient PSU in a SFX form factor, although you do pay the price for it. I also considered a SeaSonic 350w (less power, too plain) and an Athena Apollo 470w (never heard of them, no 80 Plus).

I did a quick check of the voltages and all three rails, 3.3v, 5v and 12v, were slightly over while idle, which I think is good. In practice, it has been absolutely rock stable and amazingly quiet even under load. If you are building a mini-ITX PC, you don't have many choices, so I would highly recommend spending a little extra and getting the SilverStone ST45SF. The power supply is the foundation for the stability of your entire system and this one makes very few compromises for its SFX form factor. Lastly, it's also very quiet, easily drowned out by my video card and CPU fan even at idle.

UPDATE: So mine failed (Aug 7, 2011). When I turn on the PC, the fans would spin a few seconds, then turn off, and repeat this forever. I RMA'd it with SilverStone and they sent a new replacement unit within a few days! So even though America is crumbling around us, SilverStone came through with awesomeness and they deserve a beer. Fingers crossed this one lasts longer.

UPDATE (Mar 29, 2012): It's still going strong, surviving many torturous 4+ hour gaming marathons and it has the brutal job of exhausting the heat from the CPU as well as its own heat (the GPU is off in its own thermal world). It's brutal because of how tiny the case is and how much power I tried to stuff in it, but my PC has been absolutely stable with not a single crash or unexpected shutdown. *No need to knock on wood*

37 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Daniel Warren

A bit noisy, be but it works. Solid construction.

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2018

It makes a bit too much noise for my taste. I'm most likely pulling too many watts from the thing with my system, making the fan spin at Max. I suggest choosing a higher Watt and higher efficiency if you are going to be pulling close to the maximum 450 Watt like me. That way the power supply will be less stressed and the fan can spin slower.

116 total ratings, 80 with reviews

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From the United States

anime-npc

Like a small nuclear reactor in your small PC, minus the small amounts of radiation

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2011

Verified Purchase

I got this PSU for my shoe-box sized Thermaltake Power Supply Mini Case Mini ITX 200 VL52021N2U to replace the included ThermalTake 220 watt power supply unit, and they both seem to be the exact same size. However, the SilverStone is much beefier and the build quality is very impressive. With a Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge CPU and a Radeon HD 6850, the 450 watts should be more than enough.

It was really nice of SilverStone to include four black case thumbscrews and four black mounting screws since the ThermalTake ones were pretty crummy. 6-pin AND an 8-pin PCIe power connectors really simplify things if you get a powerful video card. The 80 Plus Bronze rating shows you're getting a thoroughly modern and efficient PSU in a SFX form factor, although you do pay the price for it. I also considered a SeaSonic 350w (less power, too plain) and an Athena Apollo 470w (never heard of them, no 80 Plus).

I did a quick check of the voltages and all three rails, 3.3v, 5v and 12v, were slightly over while idle, which I think is good. In practice, it has been absolutely rock stable and amazingly quiet even under load. If you are building a mini-ITX PC, you don't have many choices, so I would highly recommend spending a little extra and getting the SilverStone ST45SF. The power supply is the foundation for the stability of your entire system and this one makes very few compromises for its SFX form factor. Lastly, it's also very quiet, easily drowned out by my video card and CPU fan even at idle.

UPDATE: So mine failed (Aug 7, 2011). When I turn on the PC, the fans would spin a few seconds, then turn off, and repeat this forever. I RMA'd it with SilverStone and they sent a new replacement unit within a few days! So even though America is crumbling around us, SilverStone came through with awesomeness and they deserve a beer. Fingers crossed this one lasts longer.

UPDATE (Mar 29, 2012): It's still going strong, surviving many torturous 4+ hour gaming marathons and it has the brutal job of exhausting the heat from the CPU as well as its own heat (the GPU is off in its own thermal world). It's brutal because of how tiny the case is and how much power I tried to stuff in it, but my PC has been absolutely stable with not a single crash or unexpected shutdown. *No need to knock on wood*

37 people found this helpful

Helpful

laptopboone

An excellent PSU for small builds!

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

SO cute and little, quiet, and works well. I had it for almost no time, because it didn't seem strong enough to run my AMD 7950 GPU, but I wanted to find out. It really isn't supposed to; AMD states a minimum of 500 watts and some amount of amps on the 12v rail that I thought this had, but whatever. Live and learn. I do wish the cables were modular on this model at no extra cost, but whatever. This product is truly a marvel; it really hits you how small this is when it's in your hand.

Helpful

James Z.

Excellent PSU but a Stingy Company - 4.5 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2011

Verified Purchase

1. PSU is heavy in hand. It means Silverstone has used good materials on this product.

2. Black finish looks and feels excellent.

3. VERY quiet in the case. Fan noise is barely noticeable.

4. Enough power for an AMD A8 CPU, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 2TB HDD, Blu-ray drive, and Radeon 5870.

5. I paid for FULL price (now it's $10 cheaper on Amazon) for this PSU and expected to receive a PSU with ALL cables sleeved. This is nearly a standard practice for today's high-end PSU manufacturers. But Silverstone is SO STINGY on sleeving PSU cables. PSU has cables sleeves on 24 pin power wire and a few other wire, but leaves SATA cables, Molex Cables, and the Floppy cable all exposed. I have to pay extra $15 to buy cable sleeves.

I should have deducted TWO stars for you, Silverstone. The cable sleeve is something should be done correctly the first time, not on Version 2.0 or 3.0!!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Daniel Warren

A bit noisy, be but it works. Solid construction.

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

Helpful

pnc

So far, a great power supply.

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

It's early days yet; I only installed this last night. However, it seems like a class act: not only did the unit appear solidly built but there was also complete hardware and a perfectly fitting SFX to ATX bracket. Zip-ties were even included as well as a velcro strap to help keep wiring neat. Wires were long enough and there were more than sufficient plugs for my two SATA drives, my DVD drive and a floppy as well as fans. Obviously it works fine or I would have not given it five stars.

If anything goes wrong, I'll amend this. So far, it's perfect.

Helpful

Jacob

Outstanding bargain and very quiet

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

Just tried this new supply out and find it to be working well enough. Fan is very quiet. Hard to believe they can pack so much power into such a small space! I bought this for use in either a 2u or 3u enclosure for a later build. Outstanding deal - nothing can touch the $/Watt in an SFX form factor. Time will tell on durability but it is Bronze rated.

Helpful

Henry

Fan crakling noise (updated)

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

Had this PSU for about 4 months. It works fine however the fan started making some abnormal noise, like crackling noise. I called Silverstone support about a replacement. While they offer 3 year warranty, I have to pay for shipping and I'm without a power supply for who knows how long. I will update post if I decide to ship item back for a replacement.

UPDATE: I bought a cheap PSU while I sent this item for repair. Total time after mailing took about a week (and the company is in the same state I reside, California). The repaired item began making the same noise within a week of using. After reading some comments it is possible that the noise was caused by the graphics card drawing too much power, although I was within the requirements. I no longer use this PSU because I switched to full size case. I've changed my rating from 1 to 2, since this seems to work for most people and there aren't too many options out there.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Massaro

This was the perfect addition to my HTPC build

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

This was the perfect addition to my HTPC build.

The PSU that came with my HTPC case was loud and not powerful enough for my build. This PSU is 150W more and has plenty of sata connections for all my devices. It fit snugly into my case and looks better with the black than the original silver one that it came with.

For those of you looking for a decently priced PSU for a small form factor HTPC case, this is an excellent choice. Very quiet so you wont need to blast the audio in order to override the sound of your PC.

Helpful

Josh

Small Form Factor!

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2012

Verified Purchase

Used this for my first PC build. I'm still waiting on one more part to arrive before completing my build and firing it up for the first time to see if this power supply works. Will update rating if anything goes wrong.

Chose this power supply for an HTPC build using the Silverstone ML03B case (also purchased here on Amazon). I chose this SFX power supply to give more room in the case. It has all of the connectors that I need and then some.

The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is because the ATX cable was almost too short for my build. The case allows me to install the PSU either fan up or fan down, but the length of the ATX cable only allows this PSU to be installed in the fan up orientation, which places the fan away from the vent in the case. Some of the blame is on me for not double checking measurements. The placement of the ATX connector on the back of the MB seems to be pretty standard (for intel boards at least), and this PSU was recommended for this case on the Silverstone website, so I would have expected to work a little better.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with this PSU.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sammy

Was working great. Keyword "was"

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

This power supply was working perfect for the first 6 months of use, however, a few days ago my computer started to have issues. Screen was going crazy with random lines and computer was randomly shutting off. I just assumed I had overclocked my GPU too far, reset everything to default and it seemed to be fine. For all of 5 minuets. Then the computer made a loud "pop" and shutoff for the last time. Now it no longer turns on. I have unplugged and re plugged the power cable several times, and sometimes the little light on my GPU turns on for a second (signaling it is recieveing power) just to turn off a second later. This clearly is a power supply issue, as I took a full atx supply I had laying around and got the computer to boot just fine. Very frustrated!

***Update***
I reached out to silverstone and they are going to send a replacement. Updated review from 1 to 4 stars

2 people found this helpful

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SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply with +12V Single Rail, Active PFC (ST45SF)

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SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply with +12V Single Rail, Active PFC (ST45SF)

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