The be quiet! SFX L Power is a 500w fully modular unit. In past reviews, we've made it clear that in almost all cases a fully modular unit is preferred to the semi-modular design. In most cases, it is not a huge problem with the PSU. Typically, you will always need to use those particular cables anyway. However, for those that prefer to use aftermarket cables, this can absolutely kill a color scheme. The be quiet! SFXL is an 80 Plus Gold rated unit, allowing it to perform at up to 92% efficiency while under load. The unit is equipped with a 120mm "high-quality" fan, more on that later.
The be quiet! SFX L Power does not support fanless operation or any type of hybrid fan mode. I suspect that much like the other be quiet! units, the SFX L has had a lot of attention put into the chassis and fan design. The unit does utilize its own fan curve and we'll just have to see if the fan is quiet enough in the performance section.
After being unable to find any documentation on the fan, we cracked open the chassis for an up close and personal inspection. I can confirm that the fan used is a Globe Fan with model number S1201512MB. This is a Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan as denoted on the back of fan itself. It's a surprisingly thin fan. I'm used to much thicker fan chassis on these 120mm units. The fan cable is not directly soldered to the board, so if you are up to the task of replacing it, that should not be an issue.
The chassis for the SFX L Power is great. I think I can say that about every be quiet! unit we've had on the test bench, the chassis are flawless. be quiet! has always gone the extra mile to provide one of the best-looking units available. I have not seen many companies put the attention to detail into a unit to go so far as to cover up colorful internal components and even use a black PCB to keep the color scheme appropriate. The SFX L Power is shaping up to be a quality unit.
The be quiet! SFX L Power ships with a 3-year warranty. While I think we can all agree that a 5-year warranty would be much more appealing, the SFX L does gain an extra year over be quiet!'s SFX line. Taking that into account, I'm very happy that we are given 3 years on this unit.
One of the biggest if not most frustrating features of these new small form factor PSU's is the conversion bracket for full size ATX use. I don't mean that the conversion brackets themselves are difficult to install, it's just that some companies do not include them with the unit. In some instances, a conversion bracket may not be available at all. You can sit back and relax because be quiet! has you covered on the SFX L Power units. All of the units come with a conversion bracket so you can use it in a full size ATX case. It's the finer details that be quiet! seems to always get right. The customer is always put first when it comes to the design of the units.
