The SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL 450W SFX PSU Review: Passive Excellence
by E. Fylladitakis on April 4, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- SilverStone
- Passive Cooling
- SFX
- SFX-L
- Passive
The recent trend of building high performance entertainment and gaming PCs for the modern living room is compelling manufacturers to reduce their systems' dimensional proportions, slowly but steadily increasing the popularity and market of small form factor (SFF) products. With PC case and system manufacturers trying to compete with both each other and gaming consoles, the selection of SFF cases increases with each passing day.
Yet despite the increasing popularity of SFF cases/systems, there is still a rather limited selection of SFX PSUs available, with most manufacturers shyly releasing a unit or two. SilverStone, thankfully, is an exception to this rule, as they are one the few companies that is almost entirely focused on the SFF/SFX market and offer a very wide range of products. For SFX PSUs alone, we have reviewed their mainstream ST30SF and ST45SF units, as well as the exceedingly powerful SX700-LPT and SX800-LTI.
In today's review, we are taking a look at another SFX PSU from SilverStone, the Nightjar NJ450-SXL. A quick glance at its electrical specifications reveals that it is a highly efficient design with an 80Plus Platinum efficiency certification. But what makes the Nightjar NJ450-SXL really unique is that the PSU is entirely passively cooled. Passive PSUs are as rare as hen’s teeth and this is a scarce chance to see what a reputable company has managed to develop for a passive power supply in an SFX form factor.
Power specifications ( Rated @ 40 °C ) | |||||
AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
MAX OUTPUT | 16A | 15A | 37.5A | 2,5A | 0.3A |
100W | 450W | 12.5W | 3.6W | ||
TOTAL | 450W |
Packaging and Bundle
SilverStone has us used to practical and aesthetically simple packaging. The packaging of the Nightjar NJ450-SXL is no exception, with a mostly black cardboard box that is focused on highlighting the product’s features and protecting it during shipping.
Despite the class of the PSU, SilverStone only supplies the absolute minimum items required. Inside the box, we found only the four typical black mounting screws, an AC power cable, and a thorough manual. There are no cable ties, straps, adapters, or any other accessories included in the Nightjar’s bundle.
The SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL is a fully modular PSU and every cable can be detached, including the 24-pin ATX cable. All of the cables are ribbon-like, “flat” type, and relatively short when compared to typical ATX products. The shortened cables are the reasonable choice considering that the PSU may be installed in very confined spaces where every millimeter matters. Plus, since SilverStone does not supply an SFX-to-ATX adapter, they probably expect that users will not be installing this PSU in an ATX case anyway.
SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL | ||
Connector type | Hardwired | Modular |
ATX 24 Pin | - | 1 |
EPS 4+4 Pin | - | 1 |
EPS 8 Pin | - | - |
PCI-E 6+2 Pin | - | 4 |
PCI-E 8 Pin | - | - |
SATA | - | 8 |
Molex | - | 3 |
Floppy | - | 1 |
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PeachNCream - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I had no idea what a Nightjar was until I looked it up. I had previously thought it was some gamer l33t or comic book anti-hero silliness, but its an actual type of real world bird. That's actually somewhat classy for a marketing department. Kudos to Silverstone for it (and shame on me for not knowing previously).dromoxen - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
No mention of price ? gbp/usd/eur ? these are expensive £166 .. I think the review is a coded way of saying that for most* people the benefit of this over a cheaper fan-ned PSU would not be worthwhile esp as the heat gazinter the case. i would be a customer except for that reason, pretty much got everything right , flat modular short black cables, enough to power any modern GPU. super efficient.But I reckon they should get into the HDPLEX market for super tiny PSU (DC-DC) those are way too expensive atm. (but more efficient?)
PhilipSMazza - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
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JTBM_real - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
I have some experience with PC noise.Most audible noise is coming from HDDs and high rev fans.
My approach is to buy a low noise case - I use Cooler Master.
Install the largest fans the case support.
Have SSDs only in the PC.
If you have to have HDDs at least set up your system not to use the HDDs all the time. Put everything you use often to the SSD.
Get a PSU with large fan and highest efficiency you can afford.
CPU cooler again with a large fan.
GPU should went air into the case.
The low noise case dims all noises from inside. PSU noise is not audible over other sources of noise.
Keyboard can create a lot of noise too...
beginning - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
Glad to see a passively cooled PSU being reviewed here. Thank you.