ASUS ROG LOKI SFX-L 750W
👑 The best looking SFX power supply.
Key Specs
- Form Factor: SFX
- Wattage: 750W
- Efficiency Rating: 80+ Platinum
- Modular: Yes
- RGB: Yes
- PCI-E 5.0: Yes
Pros
- Offers PCI-E 5.0 support.
- Excellent efficiency rating.
- Very quiet.
Cons
- Rather expensive.
- RGB won’t be worth it in certain cases.
2. Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold
👑 The best-priced high-wattage SFX power supply.
Key Specs
- Form Factor: SFX
- Wattage: 850W
- Efficiency Rating: 80+ Gold
- Modular: Yes
- RGB: No
- PCI-E 5.0: No
Pros
- Sports an 80 + gold efficiency.
- Fully modular cabling.
- Can be adapted to ATX cases.
Cons
- Quite loud when under load.
- The newer V2 unit is better.
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Our Recommendations
- Signs Indicating the Need for an SFX Power Supply
- Determining the Required Wattage
- Why You Can Rely on Our Recommendations
- Our Testing Methodology for the Best SFX Power Supplies
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
SFX power supplies have grown in popularity in recent months. This trend is being pushed by the market’s increasing availability of small form factor chassis, which has made SFX power supply a need for many designs. Well-known manufacturers are now supplying a larger choice of SFX power supplies with varied wattages to meet the need for compact and efficient designs.
Because of this increase in alternatives, even consumers with high-end setups and powerful graphics cards can now consider SFX power supply, as there are various versions with higher wattage capacity available. There is a large range of power supplies on the market that are perfect for your needs, whether you are trying to build a highly powerful PC in a more compact form factor.
We’ve produced this buyer’s guide showcasing the top SFX options to provide you an idea of the current market’s available power supply. Our guide will provide a wide selection of options to fit various budgets, wattage requirements, and use-cases.
Our Recommendations
- ASUS ROG LOKI SFX-L 750W
👑 The best looking SFX power supply.
Key Specs
- Form Factor: SFX
- Wattage: 750W
- Efficiency Rating: 80+ Platinum
- Modular: Yes
- RGB: Yes
- PCI-E 5.0: Yes
Introduction
ASUS has always had an eye for design and aesthetics, and with the great majority of their ROG components, you can anticipate a powerful-looking product that may be somewhat more expensive in comparison to other options on the market.
Regardless, even the more mundane components, such as a power supply, look great, sporting an RGB fan that adds some flair to your PC setup. ASUS has kept the design basic with a black and silver casing that spans the entire PSU, providing some great variance in compared to other block color units we’ve looked at in the past.
In terms of features and efficiency, this unit is PCI-E 5.0 ready, allowing you to install any new RTX 4000 graphics cards without the need for adapters; you can power the entire GPU with a single cable. This PSU is platinum rated in terms of efficiency, giving 92% efficiency at an average load of 50%, ensuring that no power is lost due to heat or noise. This PSU is also one of the quietest we’ve seen, with a noise rating of A+ on Cybernetics, making it ideal for individuals who like quiet when gaming.
Things We Enjoy…
Super quiet: The ROG LOKI SFX is one of the quietest PSUs we’ve tested, with an A+ noise rating on Cybenetics. This makes it excellent for individuals who want to design a quiet system with less coil whine or buzzing from fans and pumps.
Ideal for current GPU-powered systems: Although PCI-E 5.0 cables are not required, they reduce the amount of cable management required while keeping everything looking neat. For a modern RTX 4000 GPU, the ROG LOKI allows you to use just one wire.
Things We Dislike…
Not at all cheap: SFX power supplies are already quite expensive when compared to conventional ATX units, and this alternative sadly comes at a charge. Needless to say, we would not recommend this power supply if you are on a tight budget.
RGB can be unnecessary in some circumstances: I think the RGB on this power supply looks great, however it can be pointless in some cases. You may not be able to see the illumination from your PSU depending on the configuration of your PSU, which seems quite pointless.
Summary
The ROG LOKI 750W Platinum is a pricey SFX power supply, but I believe you get what you pay for. ATX 3.0 support, RGB illumination, near-silent performance, and a high efficiency rating are all included. If you’re ready to pay a little extra for a more feature-rich power supply, this is definitely worth considering.
Features: 4.5/5
Design: 4.5/5
Efficiency: 4.4/5
Value for Money: 4.1/5
Pros
- Offers PCI-E 5.0 support.
- Excellent efficiency rating.
- Very quiet.
Cons
- Rather expensive.
- RGB won’t be worth it in certain cases.
2. Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold
👑 The best priced high wattage SFX power supply.
Introduction
For our second decision, we went with the Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold, a more straightforward alternative at a reasonable price. In terms of pricing, I believe the bulk of buyers would perceive this PSU to be expensive at roughly $150.
However, there are a plethora of alternative 850W power supplies that are priced similarly due to their unique features or the fact that this is rather high wattage. Regardless, I believe this Cooler Master SFX unit is reasonably priced and will be accessible to people in need of a higher-power device.
Moving on to specifications and features, this is one of the more conventional and uninteresting power supplies we’ve seen, but it does the job in terms of performance.
This power supply has a gold efficiency rating, which is backed up by Cybernetics. The noise rating is a little disappointing, with a Standard+ designation, implying that it may be slightly louder when under load.
I assume you’ll be able to easily drown out the noise by using a quality headphones. This power supply also includes an SFX-to-ATX converter, allowing you to simply adapt the unit to a larger chassis if you decide to upgrade later.
Key Specs Cooler Master V850 SFX Gold
- Form Factor: SFX
- Wattage: 850W
- Efficiency Rating: 80+ Gold
- Modular: Yes
- RGB: No
- PCI-E 5.0: No
Things We enjoyed
Fully modular cabling: Cable management can be difficult and unpleasant at times, but using modular cables will help you to keep any clutter to a minimum. The V850 Gold does include fully-modular wires, allowing you to plug in only what you need and nothing more.
Although we’d like to see a more firm efficiency certification for larger wattage devices, the V850 Gold still has an 80+ gold rating, which will reduce any power lost as heat or noise.
Things We Dislike
Not the most quiet unit: Unfortunately, the V850 SFX Gold, while a good alternative, is a little louder than other models. If you prefer a silent system, we recommend purchasing a different device with better fans.
The V2 unit is superior: Although this version of the V850 Gold SFX is slightly less expensive than the V2 version, the newer choice offers various advancements and improvements that make it a desirable alternative in comparison to the older PSU.
Summary
Cooler Master’s V850 Gold SFX unit is a more reasonably priced higher power unit with an 80+ gold efficiency rating, completely modular wiring and a bracket that allows this PSU to be used in a bigger case.
This power supply is slightly louder than its newer sister, but if you’re ready to accept the noisy alternative, this less expensive device is worth considering.
Features: 3.8/5
Design: 4/5
Efficiency: 4.2/5
Value for Money: 3.8/5
Pros
- Sports an 80 + gold efficiency.
- Fully modular cabling.
- Can be adapted to ATX cases.
Cons
- Quite loud when under load.
- The newer V2 unit is better.
Signs Indicating the Need for an SFX Power Supply
Your case will be the primary determinant of whether you require an SFX power supply. While not many cases now support the SFX size, there are a few of choices on the market that may catch you off guard.
For example, the Lian Li O11D Mini appears to be a quite big case, however it only supports SFX PSUs. And, if you’ve already chosen your case, you may want to reconsider or look into what kind of SFX power supplies are available to guarantee you don’t run into any problems while installing all of your components.
Determining the Required Wattage
Calculating your system’s power demand might be a difficult task at times. As an example, I was recently in a similar circumstance where I wanted to figure out how many watts I needed after a large GPU upgrade, and sadly,
I got to the conclusion that I will need to update. But how do you solve this? The best approach to calculate your build wattage is to use your GPU. A high-end system with an RTX 4090 or a 7900 XTX will almost always necessitate a PSU of 850W or above to avoid sudden spikes on your OPP.
Transient spikes are another factor to consider. It is critical to select a power supply that protects you and your components from excessive voltage and wattage during a power surge. There are two approaches to this.
One, purchase a PSU with a high wattage capacity; this way, if there is a spike, OPP is unlikely to kick in. Alternatively, if you’ve purchased a lower-wattage PSU, make sure it’s a good one.
A power supply with good tolerances on the protection systems, so that if a spike occurs, it does not damage the voltage rails in your PSU and simply turns off.
Why You Can Trust Us
When a new component arrives at the GeekaWhat office, our team of PC hardware experts will not hesitate to test and assess it right immediately.
After putting it through its paces with a variety of gaming and productivity benchmarks, the results are utilized to create a comprehensive picture that we can then use to compare to the rest of the market in terms of quality, performance, and value for money.
If you want to understand more about our editorial staff and promise, visit our website’s About Us page.
How We Tested
In order to test and evaluate the best SFX power supplies, there are a number of factors that we take into account, these are:
Efficiency
Noise Levels
Modularity
ATX 3.0 Support
Aesthetic
Value for Money
Conclusion
Best SFX Power Supply: ASUS ROG LOKI 750W SFX Platinum
When a new component arrives at the GeekaWhat office, our team of PC hardware experts will not hesitate to test and assess it right immediately.
After putting it through its paces with a variety of gaming and productivity benchmarks, the results are utilized to create a comprehensive picture that we can then use to compare to the rest of the market in terms of quality, performance, and value for money.
If you want to understand more about our editorial staff and promise, visit our website’s About Us page.
