# SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W enough for my build?



## miluthui (Dec 4, 2012)

I'm planning to build a new gaming mini ITX rig early next year, here's the specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER GeminII M4
GPU: Zotac GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition
RAM: G.SKILL ARES 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1866 (PC3-14900)
HDD: 1 SSD + 3 HDD (3.5") 
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 120 Advanced 
PSU: SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W

I'm not going to overclock anything so can the SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W PSU handle my rig? also can the Core i7-3770 run well with DDR3 1866 memory?


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## mlee49 (Dec 4, 2012)

Thats cutting it pretty close, a GTX 660 and 3770 and not to mention 3 hdd's; I'm doubtful.

edit, why wouldn't the cpu be compatible with memory speeds?  Typically the motherboard dictates maximum speeds it can support.


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## Fourstaff (Dec 4, 2012)

Yes, without overclock and with maximum stress the 3770 and 660Ti will not take more than 300w.


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## TRWOV (Dec 4, 2012)

The 3 HDDs might push it too close to the PSU limits. Couldn't you go with a single 2TB drive or something?


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## s{orpion (Dec 4, 2012)

450 watt? *for $100!!!*.. that is not wise or cheap.
(plus, Newegg user rating 3 out of 5 stars... very bad)

right now you can get a 750 watt Corsair modular for $104 after $25 rebate:
Corsair 750 watt modular PSU

** 5 star rating by over 700 users and i have personally used a few of these on friends builds... flawless beast! **

Guaranteed satisfaction for years to come!


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## TC-man (Dec 4, 2012)

Yep, that Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX12V PSU works well with the proposed setup and shouldn't cause any issues. And it's perhaps one from a small selection out of the SFX12V power supply units that can power such high-end setup in an ITX case. The other one would be the little brother of the ST45SF-G, the ST45SF vanilla, which is rated 'bronze' instead of 'gold'.

A review of the ST45SF-G by hardwaresecrets.com: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/SilverStone-ST45SF-G-Power-Supply-Review/1662

Edit:

On the other hand that Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced ITX case does support normal sized ATX power supply units. Perhaps choosing an ATX PSU rather than a SFX12V PSU. Or you want to install a bigger CPU cooler in it and such ATX power supply unit would block it?


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## mlee49 (Dec 4, 2012)

s{orpion said:


> 450 watt? *for $100!!!*.. that is not wise or cheap.
> (plus, Newegg user rating 3 out of 5 stars... very bad)
> 
> right now you can get a 750 watt Corsair modular for $104 after $25 rebate:
> ...



A couple notes: 
1) He needs a small form factor power supply, that 750W Corsair will not fit.
2) 3/5 Stars from Newegg is meaningless; even more so when theres only 6 'reviews'.
3) User rating is never as good as a quality review. Always look for quality reviews over what Joe Schmoe says.
4) Hope this helps.


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## Aquinus (Dec 4, 2012)

s{orpion said:


> right now you can get a 750 watt Corsair modular for $104 after $25 rebate:
> Corsair 750 watt modular PSU



It needs to fit in a pretty small case, you can't just get a fairly large PSU and expect everything to work out. All in all, I think 450-watt will run it because how much overhead do you want on your PSU? To put numbers into perspective, I have my 3820 running at 1.365v @ 4.2Ghz at the moment and both 6870s are idle and I'm drawing ~330-watts. Full power I'll get close to 450-500-watts with everything stressed and overclocked. IVB isn't going to draw nearly that much so I think you're good. As long as it is a reliable PSU, you should be fine but stressing any hardware more will cause it to generate more heat and degrade faster. It could add a significant amount of heat to your chassis under heavy load if you don't get something a little more capable but there is no reason why it shouldn't work.


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## miluthui (Dec 5, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> The 3 HDDs might push it too close to the PSU limits. Couldn't you go with a single 2TB drive or something?


Well on my current rig I have 4x1TB + 3TB HDD + 1 SSD. What I have in mind is I'll buy a new SSD and a 4TB HDD and then copy the data from those 4x1TB HDDs to the 4TB HDD then I'll put the 4TB + 3TB + 1TB (all my games are installed here) + the new SSD into the new rig.



s{orpion said:


> 450 watt? *for $100!!!*.. that is not wise or cheap.
> (plus, Newegg user rating 3 out of 5 stars... very bad)
> 
> right now you can get a 750 watt Corsair modular for $104 after $25 rebate:
> ...


750W may be overkill for my system I think plus I want to try a small form factor PSU



TC-man said:


> On the other hand that Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced ITX case does support normal sized ATX power supply units. Perhaps choosing an ATX PSU rather than a SFX12V PSU. Or you want to install a bigger CPU cooler in it and such ATX power supply unit would block it?


Well the problem is I'm gonna buy everything oversea so it has to be small enough for me to carry it back. I live in Vietnam where most of the parts above are not available for purchase so I'll have to travel to Singapore to buy all the stuff. And since I'm going for a small size rig everything should be small and compact right?


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## miluthui (Dec 7, 2012)

I just found out that Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W only has 3 SATA connections so guess I'll have to settle with just a SSD + 2 HDDs then. 

Also is the COOLER MASTER GeminII M4 a good CPU cooler? anyone here tried it with the same motherboard and case like mine?


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## Aquinus (Dec 7, 2012)

miluthui said:


> I just found out that Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W only has 3 SATA connections so guess I'll have to settle with just a SSD + 2 HDDs then.
> 
> Also is the COOLER MASTER GeminII M4 a good CPU cooler? anyone here tried it with the same motherboard and case like mine?



 Don't base your rig around a half-decent PSU. Just get a nicer one if your budget allows for it and if it doesn't get a slower CPU. Since you won't be overclocking I bet that a 3570 would do just as well for less. Granted if you got a 3570 there is less need to get a different PSU, but something a little bigger, like 550-watt might be good.


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## Fourstaff (Dec 7, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Don't base your rig around a half-decent PSU.



That Silverstone is about as good as you can get for SFX PSUs, and it is certainly at least equal to budget Corsairs.


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## miluthui (Dec 7, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Don't base your rig around a half-decent PSU. Just get a nicer one if your budget allows for it and if it doesn't get a slower CPU. Since you won't be overclocking I bet that a 3570 would do just as well for less. Granted if you got a 3570 there is less need to get a different PSU, but something a little bigger, like 550-watt might be good.


Well the first PSU I had in mind is SeaSonic SS-660XP 660W 80 Plus Platinum but it's not available for purchase in my country and if I buy it oversea how could I carry that big thing back home? If I lived in the US like you I would just go buy all the computer stuff on newegg then now that would make my life easier.

And what you're trying to say is the i5-3570 still provides good performance and consumes less power than i7-3770 even though they both have 77W TDP?


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## Fourstaff (Dec 7, 2012)

miluthui said:


> Well the first PSU I had in mind is SeaSonic SS-660XP 660W 80 Plus Platinum but it's not available for purchase in my country and if I buy it oversea how could I carry that big thing back home? If I lived in the US like you I would just go buy all the computer stuff on newegg then now that would make my life easier.
> 
> And what you're trying to say is the i5-3570 still provides good performance and consumes less power than i7-3770 even though they both have 77W TDP?



Yes the 3570 will consume slightly less compared to 3770, but not enough to warrant attention imo


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## miluthui (Dec 7, 2012)

http://ark.intel.com/compare/65702,65719

i7-3770 for me then


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## McSteel (Dec 7, 2012)

miluthui said:


> I just found out that Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W only has 3 SATA connections so guess I'll have to settle with just a SSD + 2 HDDs then.
> 
> Also is the COOLER MASTER GeminII M4 a good CPU cooler? anyone here tried it with the same motherboard and case like mine?



You can always use a Molex to SATA adapter if you need more SATA devices. The ST45SF-G has 2 4-pin Molex connectors.

As for the GeminII, it should be adequate. Other potential solutions would be the Arctic Freezer 11 LP and Noctua NH-L9. The larger one, NH-L12 is just about too high, I think, since it's 66mm tall w/o top fan, and the CM Elite 120 has ~65mm of CPU HSF clearance.


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## miluthui (Dec 8, 2012)

McSteel said:


> You can always use a Molex to SATA adapter if you need more SATA devices. The ST45SF-G has 2 4-pin Molex connectors.
> 
> As for the GeminII, it should be adequate. Other potential solutions would be the Arctic Freezer 11 LP and Noctua NH-L9. The larger one, NH-L12 is just about too high, I think, since it's 66mm tall w/o top fan, and the CM Elite 120 has ~65mm of CPU HSF clearance.


I know that I can use a Molex to SATA adapter to power up the SATA device but the Molex connector is already used for the case fans should it still have enough power to run the HDD properly? I would use it for an optical drive only just to be safe. 

Furthermore that Cooler Master 120 Advanced case can only handle up to 3 HDDs. If I add the 4th HDD I'll have to use the 5.25" bay which I'd like to avoid because I'll have to buy a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter plus there's no air flow at all in the 5.25" bay so it's not a good idea to put the HDD there as it'll run very hot.

The Arctic Freezer 11 LP and Noctua NH-L9 look nice but it seems they don't provide enough cooling. Right now I have my eyes on the new Thermalright AXP-100, hope TPU will review it soon.


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## Neuromancer (Dec 8, 2012)

MORE THAN handles. 

Most people love over buying wattage, what they forget is the efficiency curve. 

PSUS are most efficient from 50-80% load. 

Which is where you should be when loaded.

If you intend to run OCCT PSU killer test, then no. But that is unreal example of PC Usage.

I game, my x79 CPU in MW3 hits almost 12% load, and my GPU (580GTX SC) sometimes hit 60% at 1920x1200 all tweaks on. 

It is generally lower.

At full load your card uses 150W.

Depending on your HDD age, that is probably more than the rest of your system combined. 

A new 450W is what we are talking about yes? Everything else is new or close enough to it that cap agining is not even in question.

HOWEVER, in 3-5 years you might need to replace your PSU (which honestly should be done anyway, as cap aging is WAY more a PSU issue than anything else anymore. It really all depends on the build quality. I am not partial to the specifics of that particular unit. Generally speaking Silverstone makes high tier stuff though. 

But as things get older the use more energy, and psus put out less energy over time. But I am not sure how true that is anymore with tantalum and other solid caps.

Worst case scenario, your HDDS at full load on all of them simultaneously, draw 45w. And that is assuming they are old 7200 RPM drives, and every BIOS now supports staggered spin up by default, so.. you wont ever hit that. (8W load I beleive is average for a 1TB drive. and much less when not spinning, which is why SSDs are not proven to have any energy savings because while max wattage changed, average wattage didnt).

EDIT: My system is a 750W PSU doing a 3930K at 4GHz, 32GB of RAM, 580GTX SC, 3 750 GB HDD a 2TB hdd a 1TB HDD and a 150GB Raptor, PLUS it powers a USB powered HDD. 6 system fans from 120-200mm in size and a kuhler 920 (with 2 fans on it as well)

I do not have any issues.


EDIT EDIT: Sorry I did not read the whole thread before posting. 

IT was already answered silverstone 450W is enough


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## miluthui (Dec 8, 2012)

In 3-5 years I might switch to a gaming laptop, this may be the last desktop PC for me


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## Neuromancer (Dec 8, 2012)

I would never suggest that, I would use a 5 year old desktop before a laptop for gaming. But that is me. (I really cant understand the tablet/smartphone market either). Whats a decent gaming card cost for upgrade? $100 bucks new, maybe less used? At 1080P anyway. Look at Xbox 


Yes your system will work well till you get a gaming laptop in half a decade


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## miluthui (Dec 8, 2012)

Actually at first I wanted to get a gaming laptop instead of building a new desktop since laptops are quite powerful now and should handle gaming well plus it's easy to carry around. But in the end I chose to build a new desktop since my current one is a big full tower and already 5 years old now I want to try something smaller, this will be my 2nd and probably final attempt of building a desktop PC to show off my friends. After this I'll go all portable


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## miluthui (Dec 12, 2012)

It seems the COOLER MASTER GeminII M4 will block access to 1 slot of RAM and the CMOS battery on ASUS P8Z77-I so guess I'll have to choose a different CPU cooler, the Xigmatek PRAETON LD964 looks like a good choice as it also has Direct Contact Heat Pipes and it's even smaller than the GeminII M4 only 45mm in height!

Heck ASUS even used the Xigmatek PRAETON LD964 to demonstrate in their ASUS P8Z77-I review video: ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe Motherboard Hands-on Review - ... so can't go wrong with this!


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