Introduction

We would like to thank Seasonic for supplying the review sample.

Seasonic is one of the most experienced PSU manufacturers out there, since they started manufacturing PSUs quite some time ago. Actually Seasonic entered the PSU market in 1980, to support the legendary Apple II and the first IBM PCs. After two and a half decades and many innovations and significant milestones Seasonic was the first manufacturer that won the 80PLUS efficiency certification, in 2005. Four years later, in 2009, the hi-end X PSU series hits the market and obtains numerous awards and top ratings from every expert PSU reviewer.

The refreshed X series currently counts six members with capacities ranging from 400W to 850W. The two smaller members have a significant difference from the rest, they are totally inaudible since they use only passive cooling. As efficiency goes higher, energy dissipation is minimized so lower cooling capacity is needed and with sophisticated designs the cooling fan can be omitted. Of course in order to completely eliminate the need for active cooling some conditions must be met, with the most significant being the limited capacity of the PSU because the more power a PSU outputs the more its temperature increases. And PSUs are very prone to high temps. So Seasonic decided to go fanless only with the two smaller members of X series, the X-400 and X-460. The latter will be the test subject of this review.

Specifications

X-460FL features a full set of protections including of course OTP, an essential protection for a fanless PSU. Its price is on the high side but we should not forget that this PSU actually plays alone in the field since there are very few fanless PSUs available and their prices are set around the same level, although their technology and features are far behind Seasonic's fanless PSUs.


The PSU features a single +12V rail, a wise choice since its capacity is low.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

X-460FL has one additional PCIe connector compared to X-400FL, so it's able to support a hi-end VGA. Also, in the above scheme you see an instance of "FDD Y adapter". This is a 150 mm long separate cable that can be connected to a Molex and provides two floppy power connectors. From the four peripheral and SATA cables up to three can be connected at the same time on the modular panel. The two PCIe connectors and the EPS one use thicker 16 AWG wires, the FDD Y adapter 22 AWG and all other cables the normal 18 AWG.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.