It wasn’t that long ago when anything above a 450-watt model in the true SFX form factor wasn’t possible at all and even in the larger SFX-L form factor you could only find 600 watts. That has changed quickly over the years and Cooler Master has been one of the companies leading the charge with higher wattages and improvements in the small form factor focused SFX and SFX-L sizes. They even have a new model that reached 1300 watts which is just insane. That power supplies brother is the Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W which I have in the office today. As a big SFF fan I’m curious to see what all Cooler Master has to offer with their new power supplies, so let's check it out and see what is going on.

Product Name: Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W

Review Sample Provided by: Cooler Master

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

**Disclaimer**

LanOC Reviews only cover the features of power supplies due to not having the equipment to test them up to our standards. Because of this, you will not see a performance section, a final verdict, or awards. Therefore, we prefer to call this a preview rather than a review. Thank you for understanding; we keep our standards to the absolute highest for you, our reader.

Packaging

The box for the Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W is smaller than the standard ATX power supply box which is a big giveaway that it is an SFX power supply but having SFX in the name also helps and for that Cooler Master has the V SFX Platinum 1100W model name in the largest font right in the middle of the box in white and grey. That sits next to a large picture of the V SFX Platinum 1100W itself which is always great to have on the packaging. Sticking with the normal Cooler Master theme the box has a purple background that fades to black and they have the Cooler Master logo and name in the blue to purple fade stripes at the top and bottom as well as in the bottom right corner as well. Other than that the front of the box does have a black box that highlights that this is an ATX 3.0 power supply and is PCIe 5.0 ready with a 12VHPWR connection. The bottom edge has the specifications along with graphs for the fan curve and the efficiency curve which is always nice. Then on the back, they have six different pictures, each highlighting a specific feature on the Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W along with a description below the picture.

Once you open the box right up on top you have the documentation. You get two things. One is a user guide which also has a full pinout on the cables which is an understated addition, especially for any modders who want to make their own cables or want to resleeve these. The second paper has diagrams showing the recommended installation of the 12VHPR cable, these have been known to have issues when installed in tight situations where the plug doesn’t get the best contact but none of these have diagrams showing the unique right-angled 12VHPWR cable included with the V SFX Platinum 1100W so it isn’t as much help as it could be.

Along with the V SFX Platinum 1100W power supply you also get a small bag that has a black textured powder-coated SFX to ATX adapter. I have used these a lot in the past, they are great for compact cases with ATX PSU support as a way to save space and have more/better airflow or bigger cooling options. There are two sets of black mounting screws. Then you have zip ties for wire management, 7 in total, and three Velcro straps as well which are nice for bigger bundles and are reusable. The V SFX Platinum 1100W also comes with all of its cables packed in a nylon bag with a velcroed top to keep everything inside. Then next to that the power supply comes in a microfiber bag with pull strings and is sitting in a thick foam tray with a foam panel that sits on top as well.

Photos and Features

The fan side of the V SFX Platinum is as you would expect is almost completely filled with the 92 mm Hong Hua fan with a model number of HA9215SH12FD-F00. This is as large of a fan as you can fit in the SFX form factor and Cooler Master has that covered with an old school wire fan cover, only the cover doesn’t have the normal round ring shape, each ring is squared off with 45-degree corners. The fan and cover are mounted to the housing with the four black screws on the corners and the lower profile 15mm thick fan is rated at a max speed of 2800 RPM, with the amount of wattage the V SFX Platinum is capable of they have to have the cooling capacity to keep things running cool. It has a fluid dynamic bearing and going back to the fan curve graph on the box we know that they don’t have the fan turning off at low wattage, it starts at 1500 RPM, and then at 30% wattage usage it slowly starts to ramp up only getting above 2000 RPM when going beyond 80% of the rated output.

If this were an ATX form factor power supply the 1100-watt capacity would be nice but not a game changer at all. But the Cooler Master V SFX Platinum is an SFX power supply, I would put a small asterisk on that, however. For reference there are two different SFX form factors and the two share the same height and width which is a width of 125 mm and a height of 63.5, it is the length where you will find the difference between the SFX and SFX-L sizes. A normal SFX power supply is easy to spot because they are rectangular whereas SFX-L is normally as long as it is wide. The V SFX Platinum does have that rectangular shape and officially Cooler Master has the length measured at 100 mm which is the SFX standard length but as you can see in the pictures below they are measuring the housing and ignoring the plugs that stick out. This was a slick move to keep it in the compact form factor but in some cases it could still cause fitment issues. The plugs stick out 8 mm past the housing which makes the V SFX Platinum 108 mm long for my measurements. Still a lot shorter than an SFX-L at least.

Opposite of the fan side of the V SFX Platinum the power supply has a solid panel with a large black sticker that covers most of the panel. The sticker has a texture to it to try to match the texture on the black powder coat finish on the V SFX Platinum and it works but the color ends up a little darker which is why it is visible at all. The sticker has the wattage featured up top and a table showing the wattage breakdown by voltage. It of course has all of the certification logos including an 80 Plus Platinum logo that specifically mentions the rating being for 115V use. It is listed on the 80Plus website and HERE is a link if you want to check out the test results. It is on the low end of platinum efficiency on the lower end of the graph and ramps up to being titanium efficiency range at 100% capacity. This side also has a white sticker that has the serial number on it and a small icon that represents the warranty which is a 10-year warranty and given how long Cooler Master has been around that is a warranty that I would trust.

The back of the V SFX Platinum does have 2/3 of the back covered in small hexagon-shaped holes which also give a peak inside the V SFX Platinum. Then to the right is the C14 power plug. There is a Cooler Master logo below that but I was also surprised to see there isn’t a power switch at all here on the back.

Given how much Cooler Master is packing into the small SFX form factor to reach the 1100-watt capacity on this model and the 1300-watt model as well I was surprised that the sides of the housing have anything special going on. They have a C shape stamped into the most visible side which would be the one that faces out when you have the fan facing down. They have the Cooler Master logo and the V1100 model name also printed in a grey on the dark grey to black textured finish. The opposite side on the other hand has nothing at all on it, it is completely blank. Both sides do show that the bottom panel looks to have a slightly darker powder coat finish than the rest of the housing which is interesting.

I mentioned it already but having the modular cables sticking out as much as they are was a surprise when I opened things up. This is an area a lot of power supplies have been pushing their luck having them stick out more and more trying to pack in the highest wattage into the smallest cases as possible but this is about as far as it is possible with the PCB they are attached to at the back right up against the housing and even visible in between the plugs. The case does have legends for each of the plugs printed on the housing along with lines on each side showing each plug under that same legend. The 12VHWPR plug is up in the top left corner and should be easy to spot, it has a much tighter pin layout than the rest. From there the rest of that top row are all 8-pin connections which can work with the PCIe cables or the two CPU power cables with 5 plugs in total. On the bottom level, the two left plugs are both for the 24-pin motherboard power with one 18-pin and one 10-pin. Then there are three 6-pin plugs which are all peripheral power cables for the SATA and Molex cables.

In addition to being inside of the nylon storage bag, all of the cables for the V SFX Platinum 1100W also come packed in a plastic bag as well. Everything other than the power cable that is. For that, you get a standard C13 to NEMA5-15 cable. For cables, the V SFX Platinum 1100W comes with 10 modular cables plus the power cable.

Being an SFX power supply Cooler Master has gone with shorter cables for the V SFX Platinum 1100W. Without shorter cables, in any SFX-compatible case, you are going to be fighting trying to hide all of the extra cable length. The 24-pin is the biggest example of this coming in at just past 13 inches long. It does have the compact flat cables and they are all black and the PSU end of the cable has two plugs in total with one 18-pin and one 10-pin connection. In that same picture, we have two 8-pin CPU power cables which are longer with them needing to reach up to the top edge of your motherboard but they are just 19 inches in total length each and both are that same length. Of the 10 cables for the V SFX Platinum 1100W, three of them are peripheral power cables with two SATA power cables and one Molex. The two SATA power cables are the same 23-inch total length and the Molex cable is shorter at 19 inches. Surprisingly the Molex cable has four connections with the first at 5 inches, the second at 10 inches, 3rd at 14 inches, and the last at the end of the 19-inch cable. The two SATA power cables are similar with four plugs but being a little longer they have more space between with the plugs at 5, 11, 16, and 23 inches. I would love to see one of the cables have both Molex and SATA power, I know in a lot of my builds I end up needing just one of each, combo cables help cut out one full cable in those situations. The last four cables for the V SFX Platinum 1100W are then all for VGA connections. All four are 17 inches long and three of the cables are PCIe power cables with the 6+8-pin combo connection on the end, surprisingly Cooler Master did skip out on having any of the dual connection cables which are convenient but not the best for power delivery. Then the last cable is a single 12VHPWR cable which is the new form factor. That is the only cable of the 10 that isn’t the flat cable style, it comes sleeved in black sleeving still. The 12VHPWR is also unique in that one end has a right-angled connection which below I take a closer look at.

I did of course get a closer look at the new right-angled 12VHWPR connection, beyond the crazy wattage in such a small form factor this is the cooler feature of the V SFX Platinum 1100W. It is available on at least one ATX form factor Cooler Master model as well. It has a plastic cover over top of the plug, this is what is doing all of the work. The wires aren’t going in from the side, they do still bend but with the plug covering everything it gives the connection the support needed to not get moved around while staying in that right-angled form. The clip is on the outside and the sense connections are on the inside of the angle.

How well the right-angled connection works is going to depend entirely on what video card you end up using. Obviously, if you are using a card with older larger PCIe plugs none of this is a concern. But Nvidia cards with the new connection vary a lot. For all of the Founders Edition cards the plug is always up on top and even with the rest of the card and for those cards, this should work well. For aftermarket cards, a lot of those designs have a recessed connection like you can see here. These will work fine as long as the right angle is going in the correct direction, but you are going to see a few cards where it will want to turn right into the heatsink. Sadly the V SFX Platinum 1100W doesn’t come with a normal straight cable as well but worse case you should be able to flip the cable around and use the right angle on the PSU end as long as your case has room. So there are a few things to keep in mind there.

Overall

The Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W isn’t just your standard SFX power supply, Cooler Master has set out to break boundaries with their 1100-watt and 1300-watt models which are crazy numbers for a SFX form factor power supply. To reach those wattages in such a small form factor there are a few big sacrifices that are obvious when checking things out. The biggest is their definition of SFX where the housing dimensions fit the form factor but all of the modular cable connections stick out significantly past that. The V SFX Platinum 1100W also doesn’t have a power switch at all which is a big change and could be an issue if anything goes wrong and you need to power things down quickly.

Obviously, the high wattages are awesome, pushing up into the wattage needed to easily handle a high-end CPU and the highest-end GPUs with room to overclock as well. The V SFX Platinum 1100W is also a new ATX 3.0 PSU with support for the new 12VHPWR connection and with that they have a unique cable with a right-angled connection that could be very helpful in fitting things in a small form factor build, the right-angled connection also needs to line up with your power supply, Having a second backup cable that isn’t right-angled would have been a nice addition just in case. Other than that cable, all of the cables are the flat and easy-to-use cabling and you get a nice variety of connection options with short lengths for SFF builds. I would love to see a combo SATA and Molex cable for situations where you only need to hook up one of each, which would save some more space. But beyond that, you get everything you need and even a nylon bag to store extra cables as well.

With the high wattage, there is a powerful fan which when you start cranking things up runs up to 2800 RPM and there isn’t a zero-RPM model for things to stay quiet at low power usage, but silence isn’t the target here, and isn’t possible when pushing the limits of what you can fit in a small housing. The V SFX Platinum 1100W has a solid 10-year warranty. As always though looking beyond the immediate features, you should check out a few of the reviews that dive into power regulation before considering a power supply. Hardware Busters and Anandtech have done just that. The V SFX Platinum 1100W does also have its test results from its 80 Plus testing as well as the Cybernetics testing as well that have more information as well.

As far as pricing goes, the V SFX Platinum 1100W has an MSRP of $279.99. There aren’t any other SFX power supplies in this wattage range for comparison. The closest would be the Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 1000W and the Asus ROG Logi SFX-L 1000W which are both 100 watts less and also larger SFX-L sized. This puts how crazy it is that the V SFX Platinum 1100W is up in the 1100-watt range. Both of those are selling for $249, the Loki does also have RGB lighting and they are all 80 Plus Platinum rated for efficiency. So while expensive, this is the only game in town when you want this much wattage in an SFXish form factor.

Live Pricing: HERE

Author Bio

Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org

Editor-in-chief

You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.