As one of many best-known corporations within the high-end PC peripherals enterprise, SilverStone wants little introduction. The firm has made a reputation for itself with its number of boutique merchandise, particularly off-beat and compact designs. And, though the corporate has diversified over time into a number of different segments of the market, their distinctive circumstances and various energy provide items (PSUs) stays their most defining product traces to this present day.
It’s a area that SilverStone has grow to be so entrenched in that though different corporations produce compact PCs and associated peripherals as effectively, none of them are actually attempting to be SilverStone’s peer. As a consequence, SilverStone is without doubt one of the only a few corporations with a real number of small kind issue energy and cooling options, reasonably than only a token machine or two. Even with comparatively commonplace, ATX-compliant gear, SilverStone’s energy merchandise are likely to have nice power-per-volume ratios.
For at present’s assessment, we’re looking on the FX500, a really totally different PSU than the everyday ATX fare that we sometimes cowl. SilverStone’s FX500 is a Flex-ATX format PSU, with the tiny bodily proportions that entails, and but can output as much as 500 Watts whereas assembly 80Plus Gold effectivity commonplace. Few OEMs – not to mention retail corporations – trouble to develop superior PSU platforms which might be smaller than the complete ATX format, making compact PSUs an underserved market. All advised, now we have seen a couple of high-end SFX items prior to now couple of years, however nothing smaller and even totally different than that. This makes the the Flex-ATX FX500 a really uncommon product, as one of many solely high-power Flex-ATX PSUs available on the market.
| Power specs ( Rated @ 40 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 – 240 VAC, 50 – 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 14A | 17A | 41.67A | 2.5A | 0.3A |
| 90W | 500W | 12.5W | 3.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 500W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
SilverStone provides the FX500 PSU in a easy cardboard field that’s half the dimensions of bins designed for ATX merchandise. The paintings on the field is simplistic, with a plain blue/white coloration theme and an image of the PSU itself on the entrance aspect of the field. Inside the field, the PSU is merely wrapped in a bubble bag, with SilverStone betting that its small proportions and low weight are sufficient to stop injury throughout transport.
Inside the field, we discovered solely the fundamentals that include any retail PC PSU. Altogether, the PSU comes with 4 mounting screws, an AC energy cable, and fundamental educational leaflets. There aren’t any cable straps, cable ties, or different equipment of any type.
| SilverStone FX500 | ||
| Connector sort | Hardwired | Modular |
| ATX 24 Pin | 1 | – |
| EPS 4+4 Pin | 1 | – |
| EPS 8 Pin | – | – |
| PCI-E 6+2 Pin | 2 | – |
| PCI-E 8 Pin | – | – |
| SATA | 4 | – |
| Molex | 3 | – |
| Floppy | 1 | – |
The SilverStone FX500 Flex-ATX 500W PSU
External Appearance
A mere look on the FX500 as soon as unpacked is sufficient to go away most consultants questioning how a designer managed to suit a platform with 80Plus Gold effectivity at 500 Watts inside such a small chassis. The physique of the FX500 is merely 81.5mm/3.21″ (W) × 40.5mm/1.59″ (H) × 150mm/5.91″ (D), occupying barely 1 / 4 of the quantity of a typical ATX PSU. Even its personal cables take up more room than the physique of the PSU itself.
The sticker with the unit’s electrical certifications and specs covers many of the high floor, with consumption airflow vents on the remaining. Despite the very restricted design choices, SilverStone’s engineers did attempt their greatest to make this PSU aesthetically interesting. As a consequence, the FX500 has an all-black chassis, cables, and connectors. The cables are of “flat” sort, with out exterior sleeving, in an effort to reduce their quantity as…
