Specifications

Although the original Leadex platform come with Platinum efficiency, the unit is only Gold certified. SF obviously chose to lower efficiency a bit to improve pricing, and we like their way of thinking since there are only slight differences between a good Gold and Platinum unit. All other characteristics of the Platinum Leadex units were thankfully kept intact, including the fully modular cabling design and semi-passive operation. The fan is also of high quality. Its maker says it to use a Fluid Dynamic bearing, which will have the fan produce less noise and last longer than a ball-bearing variant.

The maximum operating temperature is 50°C, which is as the ATX spec recommends, and the available protections include all but OTP (Over Temperature Protection), which we think of as essential in a PSU. The unit's dimensions are pretty large because SF used the same casing for all Leadex units. The warranty is set to five years and the price looks a little high in comparison to other SF offerings we have tested in the past.

The single +12V rail can easily support two high-end VGAs, and the minor rails have more than enough juice for a contemporary system. Even the 5VSB rail is strong; that is, for a 750 W unit.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

This PSU comes with two EPS connectors and a ton of SATA and peripheral ones, but not enough PCIe connectors as six would suit such a high-end product more. The unit might run into problems with three umber-high-end VGAs running at full throttle (e.g. mining or furmark), but it could easily feed three low- to mid-end VGAs without an overclock (three AMD 7950s, for example).

Overall cable length is adequate, but we would like a slightly longer 24-pin ATX cable. It should ideally be 600 mm long. The distance between connectors is good, and all connectors use the standard AWG18 gauges.

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