Corsair SF600 600w SFX Powersupply

Sebbie said:
Can you chance the 92mm fan inside the PSU with anothe one, like the noctua NF-A9x14 ??
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Theoretically yes. The PSU uses a propitiary connector with 2 wires though, so no PWM (it's voltage controlled, so the fan has to support it) and there would be some soldering and dismanteling of the old fan cable involved if you don't somehow get your hands on one of those connectors. When it comes to fan size and mounting holes, everything should fit though.
Ultimately, the question comes down to why you would even want to swap the fan. Reviews say the fan is rather silent, my SF450 will arrive tomorrow so I can't judge it personally yet. You would only gain trouble from swapping the fan, not to speak of voiding that 7-year warranty... :D
 
Corsair SF600 review is up at Tomshardware.com

Corsair SF600 Power Supply Review - Introduction

Includes complete tear-down, infrared images, and tons of ripple charts. Most in-depth review of this PSU to date.


Outperforms the Silverstone SX600-G by a large margin, but on average, their SF600 test unit was actually noisier overall (includes Corsair's comment that production models should have a less aggressive fan profile than their test unit, if I read that correctly). Mentions the need for additional cables, including more than 4x SATA (and the need for a Berg floppy adapter, but no mention of slimSATA :rolleyes:). Verdict states that the Corsair SF600 is currently the best 600W SFX PSU.
 
It's odd - I think a few reviews have said the SF600 was quieter.

I've got this lined up as the replacement for my SX600-G that's for sure. I'd have to hear the noise for myself in my day-to-day use to determine if I'll do a fan swap or whatever.
 
ghostwich said:
It's odd - I think a few reviews have said the SF600 was quieter.
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TH mentioned it being loud at full bore and louder "overall" ..so maybe it's just a case of the SF600 being quieter when drawing 400W and below, but louder from 400 to 600W or something similar (or perhaps Corsair is correct and their test unit was louder than production models, or maybe TH have one of the few non-offensive SX600-G units that are out there?).

My system will likely never be able to draw anywhere near all 600W, so a situation like that might not be an issue for me. But in all honesty, I'd much rather have a somewhat louder fan making more dB from blowing tons of air at load versus a psychotic PSU fan that often makes annoying clacky chattering noises at a lower dB whether it's under load or completely idle (ie, prefer louder natural sound versus quieter weird mechanical sound.. if that makes sense).
 
AFD said:
TH mentioned it being loud at full bore and louder "overall" ..so maybe it's just a case of the SF600 being quieter when drawing 400W and below, but louder from 400 to 600W or something similar (or perhaps Corsair is correct and their test unit was louder than production models, or maybe TH have one of the few non-offensive SX600-G units that are out there?).

My system will likely never be able to draw anywhere near all 600W, so a situation like that might not be an issue for me. But in all honesty, I'd much rather have a somewhat louder fan making more dB from blowing tons of air at load versus a psychotic PSU fan that often makes annoying clacky chattering noises at a lower dB whether it's under load or completely idle (ie, prefer louder natural sound versus quieter weird mechanical sound.. if that makes sense).
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Ah my bad, I meant the SF600 was quieter than the SF450.

My experience with the SX-600G was on par with everyone else's with regards to the chattery fan until I did something about it. Lately I have been noticing some bizarre issues at full load so I question the longevity of this PSU and will be getting the Corsair one.
 
AFD said:
Corsair SF600 review is up at Tomshardware.com

Corsair SF600 Power Supply Review - Introduction

Includes complete tear-down, infrared images, and tons of ripple charts. Most in-depth review of this PSU to date.


Outperforms the Silverstone SX600-G by a large margin, but on average, their SF600 test unit was actually noisier overall (includes Corsair's comment that production models should have a less aggressive fan profile than their test unit, if I read that correctly). Mentions the need for additional cables, including more than 4x SATA (and the need for a Berg floppy adapter, but no mention of slimSATA :rolleyes:). Verdict states that the Corsair SF600 is currently the best 600W SFX PSU.
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I maybe didn't look too carefully, but I didn't see Corsair's comment about a test unit? Also, I asked about this on Corsairs official forum, and Jonnyguru mentioned nothing about a test unit. Instead, he will try to get back the unit from them to test it himself, and also from another review site who also found the SF600 being noisier than the SF450.

It's also quite classical for a company to talk about "test unit", "pre-production unit", and that "production units don't have this problem". In reality, the production units may very well have the same problem, and they try to quietly fix the problem in the next revision. If some SF600 production units have a more aggressive fan profile than advertised, it will be very hard for a consumer to find out.
 
Mackan said:
I maybe didn't look too carefully, but I didn't see Corsair's comment about a test unit? Also, I asked about this on Corsairs official forum, and Jonnyguru mentioned nothing about a test unit. Instead, he will try to get back the unit from them to test it himself, and also from another review site who also found the SF600 being noisier than the SF450.

It's also quite classical for a company to talk about "test unit", "pre-production unit", and that "production units don't have this problem". In reality, the production units may very well have the same problem, and they try to quietly fix the problem in the next revision. If some SF600 production units have a more aggressive fan profile than advertised, it will be very hard for a consumer to find out.
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Yeah, I mentioned that I could have been reading into things incorrectly, but this was what TH & Corsair said in the review about it..

"We expected quieter operation, similar to what we heard from the SF450. However, Corsair decided to tune its fan profile more aggressively, leading to increased noise when the PSU is taxed (update 5/2/2016: According to Corsair's PSU PM, the fan profile of the SF600 should be much more relaxed. We are expecting for a second sample to confirm this). Delivering 600W from a compact platform isn't easy, and without adequate cooling reliability can be compromised. But given the SF600's efficiency numbers, we believe that a more relaxed fan profile could be offered."

"Another downside is the overly aggressive fan profile, which renders the PSU noisy under taxing loads. Taking into account the SF450's quiet operation, we didn't expect the SF600 to behave so differently. We noticed that even under the same load levels, the SF600 is noisier than the SF450. Clearly, Corsair has adjustments to make to its fan control circuit."



Perhaps that was only Corsair saying that TH's results for the SF600 weren't what they expected? Dunno.. for some reason, I'm still reading everything like they received an early unit that may differ in fan profile from production units (but again, I could definitely be wrong about the way I'm reading what both parties said).
 
Thanks for pointing out the update. The reviewer has access to the official fan curves from Corsair, so they should already know they expect lower noise operation for the SF600 compared to the SF450, for equal loads. Measurements is the ultimately truth though, but only if they can be reproduced and if the conditions are exact and known. Personally, I remain a little bit suspicious about the SF600. I also remember TinyTomLogans review of them, and he also said a bit ambigiously that he was more impressed with the SF450 noise wise. He was probably referring to full load noise from both units, though. But given that you have a system that never draws more than 450W, the SF600 should be the quieter one, if you honk out a few dollars more. Well, at least that's what we think.
 
Most power supply reviews you see are from "reviewers samples". Depending on the company these are anything from random ones laying around their US office, to set units that make it to multiple sites, to early production allocations simply marked for reviewers, to packaged reviewer samples complete with documentation and "goodies", to pretested and prescreend reviewer samples. Other companies drop ship from retailers or direct ship random units from the factory. We rarely have reviews the day of release or embargo on products because we try and only use retail packaged unscreened products. That, however, is not possible for some brands without buying all of your own units which most people can't afford to do. We are a good bit more fortunate in that we can and do purchase retail products both for entire reviews and to verify what has been shipped when something is amiss.
 
So would it be best to wait on buying a SF600 then? From what I read, the extra overhead is *supposed* to allow for lower fan speeds than equivalent loads on the SF450 but Corsair was too conservative with the fan curve. Is this something that will be corrected sooner than later?
 
I just won one of these bad boys over at smallformfactor.net, they were having a giveaway…

Now I have sufficient power for a mITX/GTX1070 build…!
 
Boil said:
I just won one of these bad boys over at smallformfactor.net, they were having a giveaway…

Now I have sufficient power for a mITX/GTX1070 build…!
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Should be more than enough, i've got a Silverstone SFX 450w that powers an overclocked 6600k, GTX 970, two SSDs and a optical drive fine. Still want one of the corsair 450w PSUs but the interstate said no.. you can't have one yet. (blasted potholes)
 
Just got my SF600 today and I was surprised to see it came with two little fabric drawstring bags. They're cool little additions but I'm still scratching my head as to why someone would need a set of fabric travel pouches for a psu lol.
 
FnordMan said:
Should be more than enough, i've got a Silverstone SFX 450w that powers an overclocked 6600k, GTX 970, two SSDs and a optical drive fine. Still want one of the corsair 450w PSUs but the interstate said no.. you can't have one yet. (blasted potholes)
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The parts list I have, excepting the ITX1070 (yeah, I am calling it that now…) comes to 291 watts on PCPartsPicker; so I can only assume trading out an Asus GTX970 DCMOC for an ITX1070 would be close to the same overall wattage… If so, this SF600 should be running silent most of the time, and barely breaking a sweat under full system load…! I am exciting, now only nine (9) more assorted parts to go…! Chassis, MB, CPU, HSF, RAM, SSD, GPU, chassis fan, & fan grill/guard… The last to keep anything out of the bottom-mounted chassis fan, I am talking cables here, which is right behind the PSU…

shinjinian said:
Just got my SF600 today and I was surprised to see it came with two little fabric drawstring bags. They're cool little additions but I'm still scratching my head as to why someone would need a set of fabric travel pouches for a psu lol.
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Doesn't Corsair usually include one fabric drawstring bag for the cables, as in, for storing your extra cables…?!? Maybe you just got an extra bag in your package…
 
Boil said:
The parts list I have, excepting the ITX1070 (yeah, I am calling it that now…) comes to 291 watts on PCPartsPicker; so I can only assume trading out an Asus GTX970 DCMOC for an ITX1070 would be close to the same overall wattage… If so, this SF600 should be running silent most of the time, and barely breaking a sweat under full system load…! I am exciting, now only nine (9) more assorted parts to go…! Chassis, MB, CPU, HSF, RAM, SSD, GPU, chassis fan, & fan grill/guard… The last to keep anything out of the bottom-mounted chassis fan, I am talking cables here, which is right behind the PSU…



Doesn't Corsair usually include one fabric drawstring bag for the cables, as in, for storing your extra cables…?!? Maybe you just got an extra bag in your package…
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Looking at the tomshardware review it looks like the second pouch included for the psu is actually a thing. I think it's pretty odd but I won't complain about having a couple of nice little pouches for odds and ends leftover when I put together my latest rig.
 
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Looks like Corsair just added the SF-series to their parts/accessories page..

Power Supply Parts and Accessories


Right now, the only cable they're selling is the Type-3 SATA x4 (short, flat-ribbon). Could be wrong, but from other pics of that part #, it looks like it's probably the same SATA cable that ships with the SF600 & SF400. Though it could still be useful for folks not wanting to use splitters for 5+ drives, or for those needing to reach drives mounted in separate areas of their case. Might also be a weird work-around for those that have issues connecting just one cable to a closely stacked set of 2.5" drives (ie, M1), by using the flat end SATA connector of each cable connected to each drive (probably not an ideal solution, though).
 
AFD said:
Looks like Corsair just added the SF-series to their parts/accessories page..

Power Supply Parts and Accessories


Right now, the only cable they're selling is the Type-3 SATA x4 (short, flat-ribbon). Could be wrong, but from other pics of that part #, it looks like it's probably the same SATA cable that ships with the SF600 & SF400. Though it could still be useful for folks not wanting to use splitters for 5+ drives, or for those needing to reach drives mounted in separate areas of their case. Might also be a weird work-around for those that have issues connecting just one cable to a closely stacked set of 2.5" drives (ie, M1), by using the flat end SATA connector of each cable connected to each drive (probably not an ideal solution, though).
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Damn you got me happy but that's already been up for about 1 week .

IIRC, a lot of type-3 cables work. I know the 24 pin connector does not tho
 
Hanakuso said:
Damn you got me happy but that's already been up for about 1 week .

IIRC, a lot of type-3 cables work. I know the 24 pin connector does not tho
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Yeah, that particular cable has been available for a while.. but must've just been tested to work w/SF recently (wasn't an SF section last weekend when I looked, and don't think anyone here mentioned it). Don't remember reading about the partial compatibility w/type-3 before, thanks!

Based on the many user reviews that are all complaining about sub-par cables on an otherwise near-perfect PSU, I really do expect that Corsair will have to address this at some point with a revised cable set. Would be very foolish of them not to.
 
AFD said:
Yeah, that particular cable has been available for a while.. but must've just been tested to work w/SF recently (wasn't an SF section last weekend when I looked, and don't think anyone here mentioned it). Don't remember reading about the partial compatibility w/type-3 before, thanks!

Based on the many user reviews that are all complaining about sub-par cables on an otherwise near-perfect PSU, I really do expect that Corsair will have to address this at some point with a revised cable set. Would be very foolish of them not to.
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The cables are not sub par in my thinking. Just really stiff. Maybe that's sub par to others I don't know. Quality in performance is good. One thing for people to try is when using these stock cables try warming them up first to get them to bend easier. Someone said it worked so worth a try. Just don't melt them. LOL
 
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SF600 with a custom set of cables becomes a truly great PSU. I have it in M1 and the system is completely silent under no load (under load it's very noisy since I have 980Ti FTW from Evga - considering a switch to a reference 1080) and there is no total mess as in the case when the default cables were used (fortunately, only for short time).
 
Skott said:
The cables are not sub par in my thinking. Just really stiff. Maybe that's sub par to others I don't know. Quality in performance is good. One thing for people to try is when using these stock cables try warming them up first to get them to bend easier. Someone said it worked so worth a try. Just don't melt them. LOL
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Good idea, thanks! Now are you talking about using a hairdryer at a safe distance, or just warming and bending them by hand?

Dunno.. I just feel very spoiled by the quality, flexibility and connection options of my Silverstone PP05-E cable set (which were cheap, and included both 90° and 180° SATA cables w/slimSATA), and am just slightly worried about making my mostly tidy M1 a complete mess with the Corsair cables. I'm sure I can figure it out I suppose, but my case is pretty crammed as it is.

Just seems like a relatively easy thing for Corsair to address.
 
You could always use the silverstone cables and just repin them. For the connectors that don't fit, you could swap on the corsair connectors instead.

I've already started doing that since I have 4 sets of silverstone cables
 
Hanakuso said:
You could always use the silverstone cables and just repin them. For the connectors that don't fit, you could swap on the corsair connectors instead.

I've already started doing that since I have 4 sets of silverstone cables
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Lol, I have 3 sets myself. Short of Corsair cloning the Silverstone PP05-E set, I'm thinking you're right and that retrofitting a Silverstone set with Corsair connectors would be the most ideal solution for me.

I've only ever depinned molex with a tool suited for just that.. would de/repinning the Corsair end connectors be similar? And how did you figure out which wire needs changed to which position.. just follow the wires on each cable and compare?
 
What do you do with the extra sensing pins if you repin the silverstone 24pin cable?
 
I recently made my own cable set for this PSU, which was very necessary. Trying to shove that 24pin cable into a small case is like trying to fit a steel rod into a place it doesn't belong.
 
Mackan said:
I recently made my own cable set for this PSU, which was very necessary. Trying to shove that 24pin cable into a small case is like trying to fit a steel rod into a place it doesn't belong.
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What lengths did you make them? I have a node 202 and using the 24pin cable was a NIGHTMARE in this case.
 
AFD said:
Lol, I have 3 sets myself. Short of Corsair cloning the Silverstone PP05-E set, I'm thinking you're right and that retrofitting a Silverstone set with Corsair connectors would be the most ideal solution for me.

I've only ever depinned molex with a tool suited for just that.. would de/repinning the Corsair end connectors be similar? And how did you figure out which wire needs changed to which position.. just follow the wires on each cable and compare?
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Yeah with a pin remover it's very easy. I just matched them up and made sure all the cables are like the Corsair pinouts.
 
So does anyone have a recommendation on whether I should get the 450w or the 600w? I normally go with more than I need but there's a decent price difference between the two models.

I'm currently running a i5-6600k, 16GB DDR4, 1 m.2 & 2x SSDs, and a GeForce 670GTX. All are stock clocked. I'm planning to upgrade to Pascal or Polaris later this year.
 
Bankie said:
So does anyone have a recommendation on whether I should get the 450w or the 600w? I normally go with more than I need but there's a decent price difference between the two models.

I'm currently running a i5-6600k, 16GB DDR4, 1 m.2 & 2x SSDs, and a GeForce 670GTX. All are stock clocked. I'm planning to upgrade to Pascal or Polaris later this year.
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Unless you're running dual cards or go for a particularly power hungry AMD gpu there's no way you'll need more than 450w.
 
Loam said:
won't the fan stay off longer if there's more overhead?
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In theory yes but from all the reviews the sf450 is quiter because the sf600 fan was programmed to be more aggressive with active cooling. It'll actually switch on more than the 450. Though this is purely what I hear on the reviews of them, I only own the 600w so I can't give a first hand comparison.
 
shinjinian said:
In theory yes but from all the reviews the sf450 is quiter because the sf600 fan was programmed to be more aggressive with active cooling. It'll actually switch on more than the 450. Though this is purely what I hear on the reviews of them, I only own the 600w so I can't give a first hand comparison.
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shit...I literally just got home from buying the 600 lol. How's your experience with it been? I opened it but I'm not sure if I'm going to test it or not since I don't have the adapter bracket and my M1 is still in the mail.
 
Loam said:
shit...I literally just got home from buying the 600 lol. How's your experience with it been? I opened it but I'm not sure if I'm going to test it or not since I don't have the adapter bracket and my M1 is still in the mail.
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Its been pretty quite so far although I haven't put it through any stress tests. The 450 Is said to be a little quiter but I don't really think it'll be quite enough to make a big difference from the 600.
 
shinjinian said:
In theory yes but from all the reviews the sf450 is quiter because the sf600 fan was programmed to be more aggressive with active cooling. It'll actually switch on more than the 450.
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I posted this info earlier from the Kitguru review, comparing the noise of the SF450 and SF600..

Code: 
SF450     @250W=31.4dB, @350W=32.2dB, @450W=33.3dB
SF600            @300W=<28dB,         @450W=33.8dB

300W on the SF600 is actually quieter than only 250W draw on the SF450, and the same at 450W. The SF600 probably doesn't get crazy loud until it's over 450W, which wouldn't even be an option for the SF450.

If this info is correct and fairly consistent between samples, then for my system (stock 4790k, 970, bunch of drives/fans - which usually draws well below 300W from the wall IIRC), the SF600 would be the better choice (pricing aside).
 
Yeah looking at the data on review sites where they actually measure sound it seems to be quiter/as quite as the 450. Honestly for a $20 price difference it makes sense to get the sf600 even if it was slightly noisier as some people have claimed. That extra wattage might come in handy if a dual gpu card tickles your fancy down the road or for unexpected upgrades, which is exactly why I got it instead of the 450.
 
Also remember that its usually the GPU that makes the most noise in a pc so you shouldn't be hearing the psu at all no matter which psu you choose. That's my thoughts about it.
 
I am eyeing a GTX 1070 (the 1080 is out of budget, this is already going to cost an arm and a leg) + EPC612D4I + I7-6800K + Noctua C14 + 64GB RAM build next month in an Ncase M1. Is this the PSU to get? 150W for the GPU, 140W for the CPU, 50% load perhaps is the best for the noise and efficiency (is this true?) so I am looking for a 600W PSU. In everyday coding I do not think I would load the GPU much (but the CPU would often go full throttle!) so I would expect quiet from this monstrosity I am planning :)
 
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As already stated by others, for a $20 difference, the SF600 is a no-brainer; plus, 'future-proofed' for transitioning to a mATX build & dual GPUs…
 
Boil said:
As already stated by others, for a $20 difference, the SF600 is a no-brainer; plus, 'future-proofed' for transitioning to a mATX build & dual GPUs…
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The US price is about $30 difference ($120 vs $90 at Amazon/Newegg), but I do agree the SF600 is still probably the better choice even at a higher differential (if the noise output is in fact similar below 450W).

Skott said:
Also remember that its usually the GPU that makes the most noise in a pc so you shouldn't be hearing the psu at all no matter which psu you choose. That's my thoughts about it.
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100% agree. Unfortunately, that has never been the case with my current build while using either the Silverstone ST45SF-G or SX600-G
 
Skott said:
Also remember that its usually the GPU that makes the most noise in a pc so you shouldn't be hearing the psu at all no matter which psu you choose. That's my thoughts about it.
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This is pretty much it. I decided to keep the SF600. It's passive for everything except running the GPU full throttle, and by then the GPU fans completely cover the sound from the PSU fan. For anything non-GPU or CPU intensive more than likely the fan will be off.

Corsair really nailed it with this one IMO. Now they just need a better cable set and some 180-degree sata power cables. It's impossible to use the sata power cable on more then one drive in the M1.
 
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