The SilverStone Strider Platinum 550W PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 8, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- PSUs
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- 550W
- SilverStone
- 80Plus Platinum
SilverStone is a well-known manufacturer of PC cases and PSUs, famed for their obsession with small form factor and proprietary systems. They are one of the very few companies for whom a large portion of their retail products consists of SFX and compact cases, alongside with several proprietary ATX designs, such as the Fortress FT05 that we reviewed a few months ago. Such designs, even though they are frequently made to support ATX PSUs, have limiting PSU compartments and can cause compatibility problems with longer, high output units.
To combat that, SilverStone is focusing most of their PSU designs to be as small as possible, frequently adhering to the ATX standard. Almost every ATX PSU they currently market with a power output under 800 Watts is just 140 mm long. Even the most powerful PSU they currently produce, the Strider Gold S 1500W unit, is only 180 mm long, significantly shorter than other designs of equivalent power output.
Along these lines, today we are having a look at SilverStone's Strider Platinum series. As the name suggests, these are the 80Plus Platinum certified designs that SilverStone currently offers. The series consists of three units sharing the same core platform, all just 140 mm long, with their power outputs ranging from 550 to 750 Watts. A quick look at their specifications reveals numerous interesting features, as well as the fact that these are units whose performance is rated at 40 °C. We put the 550 Watt version of the Strider Platinum to the test and examine its features, performance, and value.
| Power specifications ( Rated @ 40 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 20A | 20A | 45.9A | 3A | 0.3A |
| 105W | 550W | 15W | 3.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 550W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
The cardboard packaging of the Strider Platinum is of typical size and sturdy enough to provide protection during transport. Aesthetically, the theme is simplistic and serious, focused mainly around large silvery areas reflecting the “Platinum” topic of the PSU. The main features of the PSU are printed on the front side of the box, while more specific details can be found on its sides and rear.
SilverStone supplies a fairly rich bundle alongside with their Platinum series units. Inside the box we found a standard AC power cable, four black mounting screws and four black thumbscrews, a few cable ties, four long cable straps and a well-written manual.
The modular cables of the Strider Platinum are "flat" type, ribbon cables, including the main 24-pin ATX cable. All of the wires and connectors are black, with the sole exception being the PSU side connectors of the PCI Express cables, which are blue.
| SilverStone Strider Platinum 550W | ||
| Connector type | Hardwired | Modular |
| ATX 24 Pin | - | 1 |
| EPS 4+4 Pin | - | 1 |
| EPS 8 Pin | - | - |
| PCI-E 6+2 Pin | - | 2 |
| PCI-E 8 Pin | - | - |
| SATA | - | 8 |
| Molex | - | 6 |
| Floppy | - | 2 |
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tarqsharq - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
First sentence of the Final Words section broke.revanchrist - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
SilverStone ST60F-TI is even more mind blowing. 600W Titanium and very compact in size. Also fully modular.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
Titanium rated power supplies would be a lot more appealing if you lived in a region that used 230V for the main electric line. North America uses 115V and any Titanium rated PSU would function (at best) at Platinum level efficiency there.Daniel Egger - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
Not sure where you got your information from but this seems to be incorrect according to a quick check with Wikipedia.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/super-fl..."80 Plus Titanium is where it's at. Applicable only in regions with 220~230VAC domestic power, 80 Plus Titanium requires a PSU to offer at least 94 percent efficiency at 20 percent load, at least 96 percent efficiency at 50 percent load, and at least 91 percent efficiency at 100 percent load."
The way I read it is that 80+ Titanium efficiency only worked in households supporting 230V lines, however, if you're at 115V, you wouldn't get the full 80+ Titanium efficiency you'd probably be at around 80+ Platinum efficiency rating.
Also note that the efficiency requirements are different for regions with different main electric supplies. North America, Brazil, Japan, etc has lower requirements to hit the same efficiency benchmarks (Bronze, Silver, etc) than 230V countries.
Daniel Egger - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
How about you check with some authoritative source? I get you don't trust Wikipedia, how about the official homepage? http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppli...The only case where 80 Plus Titanium isn't defined is 115V industrial, which doesn't apply here. For any other case it is defined and a lot stricter than Platinum.
nevcairiel - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
Fact remains that PSUs are generally more efficient when running at 230V, and the 80 Plus specification reflects that by lowering the limits on 115V.The comment about Titanium JoeyJoJo123 quoted probably applied to one particular PSU which was 230V Titanium but didn't quite reach it for 115V, which may be a bit harder to hit?
Daniel Egger - Saturday, April 9, 2016 - link
> Fact remains that PSUs are generally more efficient when running at 230V, and the 80 Plus specification reflects that by lowering the limits on 115V.True but besides the point. If a product is rated for "80 Plus Titanium" compliance it actually needs to comply with the requirements in each category and in each category Titanium has stricter demands than the Platinum tier. In other words: If you take a Titanium unit and operate it at 230V it needs to match the Titanium requirements for 230V, if you take the same unit to NA and operate it at 110V it still needs to comply with the Titanium requirements but the ones for 110V (which are a bit less strict than the 230V ones but still stricter than the Platinum tier at the same voltage).
Daniel Egger - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
This is one very sexy PSU indeed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention...dreamcat4 - Saturday, April 9, 2016 - link
Hey Anandtech! The Silverstone SX700-LPT 700W Platinum SFX-L is finally due to become avavailable and start shipping this month / very soon. After unspecified teething / production issues has delayed production. Therefore now would be a very good time to review it.