[ad_1]
SilverStone is known to the domestic user for its expensive and high-quality cases, which it has been producing for over ten years. But its assets include not only chassis for building computers, but also cooling systems, power supplies, sound devices, drive pockets and all kinds of accessories, from monitor stands to SATA controllers and Wi-Fi accessories.
Readers have already familiarized themselves with the cases of this brand on the pages of our resource, but power supplies were new to us. Whether they will also be of high quality, we will try to find out on the example of the Strider series device.
SilverStone Strider Platinum 650W (SST-ST65F-PT)
The 650 W power supply that meets the energy-efficient 80 Plus Platinum standard was tested, the devices of which are highly efficient – at the level of 90/92/89 percent for a load of 20/50/100%, respectively. The model in question comes in a small black box with silver elements, on the sides of which only the main features of this device are indicated, namely, compact dimensions with a quiet cooling system, a modular design with all detachable cables, the presence of only one 12-volt line and high stability of output voltages .
The scope of delivery corresponds to the level of the product. In addition to the instructions, a set of detachable cables and a power cord, it includes nylon ties, Velcro ties and two sets of mounting screws, one of which is with a knurled head.
As mentioned above, all cables are detachable. The length of the main one, for powering the motherboard, is 55.5 cm, for powering the processor – 76 cm. The number of other cables is as follows:
- two double 8-pin (6+2) connectors for powering PCI-E video cards (56+15 cm);
- two with four power connectors for SATA devices (61+15+15+15 cm);
- two with three power connectors for IDE and one for FDD (60+15+15+15 cm).
All cables are flat, but unlike many competing solutions, they are soft and will be easy to route inside the case when assembling the system.
Externally, the power supply is made solidly, the black case and wire grille are one of the main features of a modern retail product. The compact dimensions attract attention – the device takes only 140 mm in depth, and this is with a modular design!
On the outer panel there is a switch, on the inner panel there are connectors for connecting power cables for PC devices. The connectors for video card cables are prudently of a different color, although they differ in keys from the same shape for powering the processor.
Strider Platinum 650W has only one +12V line, which will avoid skew if the load is connected incorrectly, when previously it was easy to “hang” a video card and drives on one line, and only a processor on the other. Now this will no longer happen. The manufacturer promises as much as 650 watts on this line, and this is the nominal value of the device. The combined power for voltages of +3.3 and +5 volts is 120 watts, which is more than enough for a modern system.
3 A is allocated for the “duty room”, and -12 V is content with 0.3 A, which is again within the normal range by today’s standards.
| Power rail | +3.3V | +5V | +12V1 | –12V | +5Vsb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. load current, A | 22 | 22 | 54,2 | 0,3 | 3 |
| Combined power, W | 120 | 650 | 3,6 | 15 | |
| Total maximum power, W | 650 | ||||
There are already familiar active PFC and the ability to operate the device in the entire range of mains voltage. Of the various protections, they are declared against current and power overload, over and under voltage, short circuit and overheating.
So, if we figured out the appearance of the power supply, and there are no complaints about it, then it remains now to check the internal structure. And no problem with him either.
The SST-ST65F-PT model is assembled qualitatively on the basis of the Sirfa “platinum” platform, which uses a resonant converter in the high-voltage part with a synchronous rectifier in the low-voltage one. The first allows you to control key transistors so that they switch at zero current, which reduces the degree of heating of the elements, and the second uses field-effect transistors instead of Schottky diodes, which again reduces heat dissipation and increases efficiency.
The unit is controlled by the Infenion ICE2HS01G controller, located on a separate board, and the 3PCS01 chip responsible for the active PFC, also located on a small board. Another board is provided for the PS223 monitoring chip. It also has a connector for connecting a fan.
In addition to the specified additional boards in the block, there is another one on which a DC-DC converter for voltages of +3.3 and +5 volts is located.
Power elements are cooled by thin aluminum radiators with small fins at the ends. A cooler is also provided for the diode bridge. There are several temperature sensors on the radiator of the output transistors, thanks to which, apparently, there is a finer adjustment of the fan speed than if there was one sensor.
Given the compactness of the device, the input filter was partially transferred to another scarf located above the network connector. The remaining elements are located on the main board.
Well, the last additional PCB is a board with connectors for connecting detachable cables. It has several polymer capacitors on it, so it performs not only transit functions.
As for the containers in the rest of the chains, the products of the Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con are used everywhere. The input capacitor is 470uF, operating voltage 400V, rated for 105°C. The latter is extremely rare in blocks and is usually used in semi-passive solutions, which gives hope for a quiet operation of the fan.
The assembly quality of the unit and the soldering of the boards are simply excellent, there is nothing to complain about, everything is done at the proper level. Neither flux residues nor “snot”, as is the case with some manufacturers, can be found here.
This whole structure is blown by a 120 mm Globe Fan S1202512L fan on a plain bearing with a rotation speed of 2000 rpm and a two-pin connection. Interestingly, the label says “hydrodynamic”, although the manufacturer’s nomenclature lists a model with a regular sleeve. Perhaps the vendor quietly updated the lineup, or is it just some kind of trick.
It doesn’t spin at all at system startup and stays still when idle, but launching a gaming app causes it to spin at 675 RPM in near-silent mode. Reaching the rated power increases the speed to 960 rpm, while the fan is audible, but without extraneous overtones. A slight overload of the power supply leads to 1100 rpm – although it is already clearly audible, it still does not annoy at all with its work.
Test Methodology
It is impossible to conduct a full test without an appropriate stand, so the power supply was tested using a conventional system assembled from the following components:
- processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0@4.5 GHz);
- motherboard: MSI Z170A Gaming M7 (Intel Z170);
- Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems;
- RAM: HyperX HX430C15PB3K2/16 (2×8 GB, DDR4-3000, 15-16-16-35-1T);
- video cards: Gigabyte GV-N770OC-2GD (GeForce GTX 770);
- hard drive: Kingston SSDNow UV400 240GB (240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s).
Testing was carried out in the Windows 10 x64 environment on an open stand. To create the maximum load on the system, the LinX 0.6.5 and FurMark 1.17.0 utilities were simultaneously launched for 30 minutes, and the Valley benchmark acted as a gaming benchmark.
The increase in load required us to use our old configuration:
- processor: Intel Core i7-975 (3.33@4.02 GHz, Bclk 175 MHz);
- motherboard: ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer (Intel X58);
- cooler: Noctua NH-D14;
- RAM: Kingston KHX2000C8D3T1K3/6GX (3×2 GB, DDR3-2000@1750, 8-8-8-24);
- video cards: ASUS ENGTX295/2DI/1792MD3/A and Inno3D GeForce GTX 295 Platinum Edition (GeForce GTX 295);
- hard disk: Samsung HD502HJ (500 GB, 7200 rpm, SATA-II).
Here testing was carried out in the Windows 7 x64 HP environment on an open stand. The gaming load was running the first Crysis at 1920×1080 with AA8x in SLI mode. To create the maximum load on the system, the OCCT 3.1.0 utility was used with a 30-minute power supply test in full screen mode. One of the GeForce GTX 295 cards was only as an additional element.
The Basetech Cost Control 3000 was used to measure the total power consumption of the system, also capable of displaying peak power, current, mains frequency, power factor, etc. on its LCD screen. possible efficiency of the device. Errors in such calculations can be 5%. The voltages were checked with a UNI-T UT70D digital multimeter.
In addition, we decided to slightly expand testing by taking temperature readings inside the power supply, fan speed and noise level under a particular load.
The temperature was measured using the Scythe Kaze Master Pro panel, the sensors of which were located on the radiators inside the block and at a distance of 1 cm in front of the fan (#1) and behind the outer wall (#2).
For fan speed results, a UNI-T UT372 non-contact tachometer was used. The maximum speed was fixed for each of the power supply testing modes.
The noise level was measured with a UNI-T UT352 sound level meter in a typical quiet room at a distance of 1, 0.5, 0.1 and 0.01 m from the device under test. With the help of a speed controller and a tachometer, the fan speed was restored, corresponding to each mode of testing the power supply. Background noise did not exceed 34 dBA.
It should be borne in mind that such a technique at this stage is far from ideal and will be supplemented and changed as it is used.
Test results
The obtained data are entered in the table. In brackets for voltage are percent deviations from the norm, for power consumption – the approximate net load on the power supply.
| GTX 770 | GTX 770 | GTX 770 | GTX 295 SLI (LGA1366) | GTX 295 (LGA1366) | GTX 295 + GTX 295 (LGA1366) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Idle | Burn, Game | Burn, Max | Burn, Game | Burn, OCCT | Burn, OCCT |
| Power consumption, W | 56 (~48) | 272 (~255) | 374 (~345) | 670 (~610) | 690 (~630) | 775 (~700) |
| Line +3.3V, V | 3,37 (+2,1) | 3,33 (+0) | 3,36 (+1,8) | 3,31 (+0,3) | 3,33 (+0,9) | 3,31 (+0,3) |
| Line +5V, V | 5,08 (+1,6) | 5,07 (+1,4) | 5,07 (+1,4) | 5,07 (+1,4) | 5,07 (+1,4) | 5,08 (+1,6) |
| Line +12V1 (MB), V | 12,24 (+2) | 12,18 (+1,5) | 12,17 (+1,4) | 12,1 (+0,8) | 12,11 (+0,9) | 12,07 (+0,6) |
| Line +12V2 (CPU), V | 12,25 (+2) | 12,21 (+1,7) | 12,18 (+1,5) | 12,16 (+1,3) | 12,09 (+0,75) | 12,06 (+0,5) |
| Line +12V3 (VGA1), V | 12,24 (+2) | 12,16 (+1,3) | 12,14 (+1,2) | 12,12 (+1) | 12,05 (+0,4) | 12,03 (+0,25) |
| Line +12V4 (VGA2), V | 12,24 (+2) | 12,17 (+1,4) | 12,15 (+1,25) | 12,15 (+1,25) | 12,05 (+0,4) | 12,05 (+0,4) |
| Fan rotation speed, rpm | 0 | 675 | 675 | 690 | 960 | 1100 |
| Noise level, dBA (1 m) | – | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34,3 | 34,6 |
| Noise level, dBA (30 cm) | – | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34,5 | 35,8 |
| Noise level, dBA (10 cm) | – | 35,3 | 35,3 | 35,8 | 38,3 | 42,6 |
| Noise level, dBA (1 cm) | – | 44,8 | 44,8 | 45,1 | 55,2 | 59,2 |
| Thermosensor No. 1 | 24,5 | 24,9 | 25,2 | 25,3 | 25,1 | 25,7 |
| Thermosensor #2 | 24,5 | 26 | 26,5 | 26,6 | 27,1 | 27,1 |
| Thermosensor No. 3 | 47,3 | 38,2 | 40,3 | 42,1 | 47,8 | 49 |
| Thermosensor No. 4 | 45,2 | 31 | 32,6 | 34,8 | 37,8 | 39,1 |
So, the tested power supply slightly overestimates the output voltages, but they are within the normal range and do not even go beyond the 3% threshold, which is fully consistent with the manufacturer’s statement. The noise level is minimal up to the standard gaming load. I would like to note a weak level of heating of the radiators – nevertheless, the used circuitry makes itself felt.
conclusions
The reviewed SilverStone SST-ST65F-PT Strider Platinum power supply left a good impression thanks to its package and excellent characteristics. When building a system, a future user will have no problems with neatly laying cables inside the case, for which the manufacturer prudently included several different types of ties in the accessory kit, and modders will highly appreciate the presence of knurled screws. The compact dimensions of the device will allow it to be used in cramped cases, and the stability of the output voltage will eliminate problems during the operation of the assembled PC. The noise level is also on top – it is absent as such in the standard operating mode and appears only at maximum load. An excellent block in all respects with a moderate cost for a “platinum” solution!
[ad_2]