Birthday Build – PSU, Power Supply not Penn State

To build a big, beefy computer system that has lots of peripherals to run, you need a big, beefy power supply that won’t wilt under load.  I read lots of reviews and basically decided to go with a Cooler Master bundle instead of the “best/biggest/meanest PSU” available.  What I ended up with is the Silent Pro Gold 1200W from Cooler Master.  Same company as the case.

Make no mistake this is an excellent PSU.  It just isn’t the absolute pinnacle of PSUs.  However, in the bundle I saved $50.  To get one of the 1200W to 1500W PSUs that were coming out on top of this one in the benchmark reviews would have cost an additional $100 to $150.  That’s a $150 to $200 swing to get a very small improvement in performance that I probably will never notice (hopefully).   Bleh, only two parts and I’m already making budget decisions on a system that itself has nothing to do with a budget.  Oh well, lets look at how this fits into the case.

There are quite a few excellent examples of the “extra mile” features of the HAFX case when dealing with the PSU.  Look below the 1200W label on the bottom right of the PSU.  There are rubber bumpers to rest the PSU on.  This minimizes vibration and gives the PUS breathing space for the fan that is on the bottom of the PSU.

Also, the Case itself is elevated just a bit on sled rails and is vented below the PSU giving additional air flow.  It may not seem like a lot.  But if you have tried to cool a case without these configurations you will appreciate them a lot.

The cases cable routing system sends the PSU cables out the back instead of keeping them in the main chamber of the case. 

Back side view.  This side will be completely covered.  Notice the nice little cable tie islets going up next to the grommets.  Another small attention to detail feature.

Finally the HAFX provides a sliding cover to hide the cables going out the back and to provide a mounting point for reservoirs, pumps or other accessories.  Another nice touch that %99 of cases don’t have.

We now have power.  Next we’ll work on getting the water cooling solution in place.