A power supply is always a critical part of any system. My experience in the last year with Seasonic X-series Gold-rated power supplies has been excellent but there is one deficiency in Seasonic's lineup. SilverStone has been making very good power supplies but I have been holding off on purchasing one until now because a new model perfectly fits a need I have.

My interest in Mini-ITX systems has forced me to consider some more compact power supplies. Many ATX power supplies are 160 mm long or longer and just do not fit in small cases. Some cases even require an SFX power supply like the SilverStone FT03-Mini I wrote about recently.

Some Micro ATX cases require a power supply with shorter depth like the SilverStone ST50F-P which is only 140 mm deep. The problem is that I have decided to stick with 80 Plus Gold rated power supplies for my systems due to the increased efficiency. Up to this point I have not had any smaller power supply options that are 80 Plus Gold Rated.

SilverStone has had their well regarded ST45SF 450 watt SFX power supply out for some time but this was once again only an 80 Plus Bronze rated power supply and is not modular in any way.

ST45SF-G

The SilverStone ST45SF-G changes everything! This new 450 watt SFX power supply is not only 80 Plus Gold rated but also fully modular.

The ST45SF-G features one silent 80 mm fan and an impressive array of connections for such a small power supply. Along with the typical 20/24-pin motherboard power connector and 4/8-pin EPS/ATX 12V connector, this power supply features one 8/6-pin PCIe power connector and one 6-pin PCIe power connector which together support nearly any graphics card on the market. There are also three SATA power connectors, two 4-pin molex power connectors, and one 4-pin floppy power connector.

The connectivity options are great although it might have been nice to one or two more SATA power connectors. What I intend to investigate as soon as my power supply arrives is whether it is possible to use the SilverStone PP05 Short Cable Set with this power supply which would also have the added benefit of allowing you to use a different selection of cables so that you could perhaps support four SATA power connectors instead of having a floppy power connector. I will report back on this once I have a unit in hand.

One other very nice feature is that an SFX to ATX power supply bracket is included with the ST45SF-G so you can use this compact power supply in place of a larger ATX power supply as a drop-in replacement.

Availability

As of this weekend, the SilverStone ST45SF-G is now available to order from Newegg and also for pre-order from Amazon.com. I have two units on order from Amazon.com and I received a notification that they will ship by the end of August or beginning of September.

Update: The ST45SF-G is out of stock from Newegg again.

I expect this power supply to be very popular and most likely difficult to obtain after the initial stock sells out. There really is nothing like it on the market and I am very much looking forward to receiving my units.

It is a perfect fit for SilverStone's own FT03-Mini as well as the BitFenix Prodigy. I am working on a new compact Mini-ITX system that still has space for a decent graphics card and this power supply will almost certainly power it. It will also likely be a good fit for the upcoming SilverStone SG09 Micro ATX case as well.

I will be writing up both the ST45SF-G when it arrives and my experience with it in several different builds as I complete them. Check back soon for more coverage.