silverstone sg05 450w and hd 7870 compact gaming build

[Bambooz]

Teapos only have 2 series with low enough ESR to be used in PSUs. I'm guessing shuttle/FSP is using the SC series in there.
Teapos in general are bottom of the barrel stuff. They do OK in well ventilated PSUs, but other than that, they're just plain junk. Sure sign of cost cutting, or planned obsolescence.

Samxon GF are a well known bad series. LG liked to use them in their LCD monitor PSUs. Fixed so many of them over the years that I lost count..

The CX400 was a better unit overall, being basically a rebranded Seasonic S12 II.
The replacement CX430 is quite disappointing, even though it works out fine most of the time.

It's CWT OEM, i.e. the same guys that were responsible for all the failing Antecs about 5-7 years back.
The CX430 V2 is basically the same thing (and still CWT OEM), except replacing the Samxon GF with the GT series and a few modifications here and there.

I built countless systems with the CX400 without thinking much about it. Good bang for the buck and it was a Seasonic..
The CX430 (V2) .. meh.. better off going for a Delta Electronics based Antec EA-380D or 430D instead. The EA-380D has the exact same rating for the 12V rail (28A combined = 336W) as the CX"430".. go figure lol

I'm gonna stop posting about PSUs in here now.. getting a bit too far off topic IMO

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The other cost cutting part of the CX430W is the use of sleeve bearing fans. In fact it is more likely this will wear out before a capacitor issue! Most of the reviews were done in the US too where the PSU has huge rebates which made it look better value than it is in the rest of the world. Anyway,the Antec EA380D and XFX Pro 450W are both Seasonic units for around the same price in the UK,although the second generation XFX unit has had cost cutting with less cables.

The inherent problem is that almost all of the SFF units use FSP as an OEM though(Silverstone,Shuttle and Be Quiet!),and the only way to get a "better" PSU is to get a much bigger case.

The thing is though with a Core i5 and an HD7870 2GB,I suspect the 450W unit in the SG05 and 500W unit in the Shuttle are fine for what the OP uses. Like I said the previous Shuttle units have lasted me quite a long time and that is probably down to the fact I try to be conservative with the components I use and kept the systems well ventilated(even at the expense of noise).

Edit!!

It seems the Shuttle 500W unit uses a Teapo primary and Nippon-Chemicon secondarys.




All are 105C rated parts it seems.

[Bambooz]

Anyway,the Antec EA380D and XFX Pro 450W are both Seasonic units

nope.avi
The EA-xxxD are Delta Electronics OEM (hence the additional D). The XFX Pro/Core are Seasonic (S12 II, like the CX400 was)

The inherent problem is that almost all of the SFF units use FSP as an OEM though(Silverstone,Shuttle and Be Quiet!),and the only way to get a "better" PSU is to get a much bigger case.

Or look around for Seasonics offerings..
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=276
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=277

Edit!!

It seems the Shuttle 500W unit uses a Teapo primary and Nippon-Chemicon secondarys.

[IMGasdf]http://www.thelab.gr/gallery3/var/albums/reviews/reviews-photos/Shuttle-SX58H7-PRO/IMG_8152_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMGdfgdsf]http://www.thelab.gr/gallery3/var/albums/reviews/reviews-photos/Shuttle-SX58H7-PRO/IMG_8155_small.jpg[/IMG] [IMGfasdasfd]http://www.thelab.gr/gallery3/var/albums/reviews/reviews-photos/Shuttle-SX58H7-PRO/IMG_8153_small.jpg[/IMG]
All are 105C rated parts it seems.

Nippon Chemicon and Rubycon on the secondary. Both Japanese. Doesn't get much better than that. And all that in a Fortron? I'm impressed :O

PS: the primary capacitor is pretty much irrelevant 90% of the time (unless it's undersized (capacitance) for the wattage, which is rare)
Primary caps don't get pounded anywhere nearly as hard as the secondaries, and even the crap brand 85°C units hardly ever fail..

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

nope.avi
The EA-xxxD are Delta Electronics OEM (hence the additional D). The XFX Pro/Core are Seasonic (S12 II, like the CX400 was)

Just checked - it is a Delta unit. The Silverpower Gorilla 400W is another version of the base unit the CX400W is based on.

Or look around for Seasonics offerings..
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=276
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=277

The Seasonic units are not easy to find and are expensive in the UK. The sub 300W Seasonic units can be found,but generally even the FSP units are just more common. It is rather a shame though.
Companies like Silverstone still use the FSP units in their Sugo series,which TBH are the most popular SFF systems outside Shuttles. It wouldn't suprise me if it a combination of cost and willingness to produce tailored models which is the facto here. I suppose cases like the Q08 can take full ATX PSUs at the expensive of a bigger case.

Nippon Chemicon and Rubycon on the secondary. Both Japanese. Doesn't get much better than that. And all that in a Fortron? I'm impressed :O

PS: the primary capacitor is pretty much irrelevant 90% of the time (unless it's undersized (capacitance) for the wattage, which is rare)
Primary caps don't get pounded anywhere nearly as hard as the secondaries, and even the crap brand 85°C units hardly ever fail..

Good thing too - I use that unit myself!!

Anyway,I think we need to answer the question the OP has asked now!!

[nickchong]

wow.. lotsa useful information from you guys..Thanks, I'm probably going for the recommended shuttle now since the asrock z68 board on scan isn't available. although the sg05 is definitely a much smaller case and costing £100 less overall to build.

[nickchong]

i was reading the review, and found that they have a watercooling solution for the machine.. is that necessary? will the water cooling help with gpu overclock? Would it be better for me to just go with a reference hd7870 card if i'm gonna watercool it?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry for the,ahem,slight deviation there!! The chap who reviewed the case,actually only installed the water cooler to see if it would work - he actually was on OcUK talking about the review and how he got the case from Shuttle.

I assume you have a copy of Windows 7 64 bit??

The following build uses parts from Ebuyer and the free postage.



The Shuttle should be better suited if you want to get a reasonable overclock out of the Core i5 2500K when compared to the smaller mini-ITX motherboards. However,as with any SFF don't push them too hard,ie, try not to push the voltage too high on the CPU.

The HD7870 although well suited for a SFF PC build due to its low TDP is still relatively expensive IMHO. There are better value cards such as the HD7850 2GB,HD6950 2GB and GTX560TI 448 1.28GB which can be had for under £200.

Another option is the Silverstone SG07 and SG08:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...lus-bronze-psu

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...nd-side-window

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...s-bronze-black

However,by the time you add a Z68 mini-ITX motherboard and a suitable cooler,and the added cost of a slimline optical drive,the cost is similar to the Shuttle.