The Seasonic Vertex SAKURA is a well designed power supply that targets mainly the Asian market. The adoption of cherry blossom tree graphics will be sure to divide opinion, but personally I think it's actually a really nice looking chassis design.
If you have a system that uses around 500-600 Watts of power under load, this makes a great choice, especially if you want low noise operation. In our UK climate, the fan didn't spin up very often under 550w ‘real world' loads, ensuring a pleasant gaming experience. It also helps that the unit is at its most efficient in this area too. If you need more that 750 Watts of constant load, then the noise levels will rise significantly.
Technically, while not a class leading unit in any area, it also does not exhibit any glaring technical problems to cause concern. Ripple suppression is decent, load regulation is good, and it is able to deliver a sustained 1100 Watts of power without any issues. In our testing it achieved around 92% maximum efficiency levels at around 50 percent load.
Seasonic have released this unit as a limited edition – and it is only available in Japan, part of Asia and to the US, exclusively via Micro Center HERE. Seasonic have confirmed with me that this is not planned to be released in Europe. The recommended retail price is $289.99. Thankfully Micro Center seem to be maintaining that MSRP without adding extra at time of publication.
If you live in one of the regions you can actually buy this unit and you fancy building a pink and white PC as shown on the first page of this review, then this would certainly fit the aesthetic. I have a strong affinity with Asian culture myself so I find it all very appealing, but like everything in this market, it's all down to personal taste. If you do manage to find one of these, we would love to see a system build with it on show – please email myself allan(at)kitguru.net.
Pros:
- Fully modular.
- Lovely white cabling.
- Silent operation for most PC builds.
- Nicely finished.
- Relatively compact design.
- Visually appealing.
- 12 year warranty.
- Limited edition.
Cons:
- Only sold in selected countries.
- Expensive.
KitGuru says: Technically the Vertex Sakura is proficient and I feel that the release of limited edition versions with custom colour schemes is both fascinating and brings something fresh and exciting to the market. This Sakura edition is elegant and will look stunning inside a white and pink PC following an Asian ‘cherry blossom' theme. We are looking forward to see what ‘Limited Edition' Seasonic create next.