SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL Review Absolute and Complete Silence

At STH, we review a lot of high-end gear. Much of it absolutely screams. The SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL is the antithesis of this offering complete silence. At its core, it is a 450W power supply. There is a difference with the Nightjar, it does not have a fan. Not only does it not have a fan, but it is SFX-L size which means it is small.

SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL Key Specs

Here are the key specs from the SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL:

Clearly, the five biggest points are that it is a 450W, 0dBA, 80Plus Platinum, fully modular, SFX-L power supply.

SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL Overview

The power input side of the SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL (or SST-NJ450-SXL if you prefer the full SKU) is relatively simplistic. There is a power input, a power switch and a label showing the basic specs. You will immediately notice that SilverStone has a ribbed heatsink all metal case without air holes. The entire power supply has no moving parts and is designed to transfer heat from the internal components to the environment via the outer heatsink casing. This seal also helps prevent any coil whine if it did occur. We did not hear coil whine while this was in the test system.

The power switch is a small touch, but one we appreciate. Some OEM power supplies do not have this. In our test system, the PSU is internal, but having the switch on any external systems is helpful. One will also notice that the PSU is rated for 80Plus Platinum which is uncommon for this wattage of a power supply. For example, we have a new HPE server in the lab that has a similar wattage power supply and it is only 80Plus Silver rated. If you are power constrained, expect that this will save you a few watts.

Moving to the rear of the unit, we see what is largely the business end of the Nightjar. One can see an ATX connector, PCIe power headers, a CPU power header, and a number of SATA and accessory power headers.

The SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL is a fully modular power supply. That means that all of the power supply’s cables can be installed as needed. While the Nightjar cables are fairly long, these power supplies will often be used in small form factor chassis. As a result, there is limited space, especially for unused cables. This is an absolutely awesome feature.

We are not going to recommend putting an NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti in one of these systems, but if you are utilizing a midrange GPU and a reasonable CPU, this 450W unit will work fine.

For those that still, for some unknown reason, want to tote around a floppy disk and install that in your system, have no fear. SilverStone includes a 4pin Molex to floppy drive adapter with the Nightjar.

Experiences With the SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL

In the lab, we only had a single system that utilized SFX-L size power supplies, this was the SilverStone CS01-HS that we featured in Building the Improbable Hyper-Converged NAS with the Silverstone CS01-HS.

Since the PSU was internal, the switch was unused. Power supplies we can either take apart and wonder at the components, or we can experience. For STH readers, most of us buy power supplies to fill a need. We wanted to quickly give the rundown on this option versus the SilverStone SST-ST30SF we used in the original build. The SST-ST30SF is a 300W 80Plus Bronze power supply that has a fan and costs about a quarter of what the Nightjar costs. Here were the major points on what you get for the extra $150 or so:

• Additional 50% increased power rating, especially important for GPU systems
• Fan-less operation across the range. The SST-ST30SF is quiet at idle, but in high-end scenarios has a fan running.
• Idle power consumption savings of 1.4W
• Loaded power consumption savings of 3.1W
• Significantly easier installation and servicing with modular power cabling

To us, the modular cabling is the biggest win. 1-4W of power consumption savings is nice, but it is not worth $150 itself. We have been able to get the PSU fan on the SST-ST30SF to turn on in a few occasions, but that is no longer a concern. If you are looking for a silent system, this is what you need. You will pay for this, but if it saves an hour in installation and servicing, our readers may find that worthwhile.

Final Words

If you do not need absolute silence, then you probably can get buy with another less expensive PSU. If you can fit a full-size ATX power supply, then there are surely other options on the market. When you get right down to it, the Silverstone Nightjar NJ450-SXL has the “it” factor for a segment of users. If you need a SFX-L PSU, you want quiet, and you yearn for high efficiency, the SilverStone Nightjar NJ450-SXL is for you.