SilverStone ST60F 600W Modular PSU

The SilverStone ST60F features a 120mm quiet fan, a modular cable system and SLI certification. This 600W PSU impresses in many ways. Check out the review to see how well it performed while powering two 7900 GTXs in SLI, three hard drives and the rest of a high-end gaming rig.

Introduction

The trend as of late has been that as computers get more powerful, they require more power. Good, clean power is very important in any system, especially in systems demanding a lot of power. This is why you’ve read about the importance of getting a high quality power supply about a thousand times. While it has become cliche, it is very true. Users often overlook their PSU, and that can lead to strange stability problems that are often difficult to diagnose.

SilverStone has a good reputation for making high quality power supplies, and today the company’s 600W modular Strider ST60F power supply is on the test bench. This is an SLI-certified PSU, so gamers will definitely want to check this one out.

Features & Specifications

Features

• Quad +12V rail for superior performance
• 100% modular cables include dual PCI-E
• Powerful & quiet running 120mm fan
• Industrial class components
• Support for ATX 12V 2.01 & EPS 12V

Specifications

Max. DC Output	600W
Load Range
+3.3V +5V +12V1 +12V2 +12V3 +12V4 +5VSB -12V -5V Max.(Amps) 33A 24A 13A 18A 16A 8A 2.0A 0.5A / Peak (Amps) / / 18A / / 13A / / / Min.(Amps) 1.5A 5.0A 1.5A 1.5A 1.5A 1.5A 0.1 0 / Range(%) +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +/-10% / Ripple (mVp-p) 100mV 100mV 150mV 150mV 150mV 150mV 100mV 150mV /
combined+3.3 , +5V	170W
combined +12V	42A/504W

Input Voltage	90V ~ 264V (Auto Range)
Input Frequency Range	47Hz ~ 63Hz
PFC	Active PFC (PF>0.95 at full load)
Efficiency	75.80%
MTBF	100,000 hours at 25°C, full load
Operating temperature	0 ~ 50°C
Protection	Over current protection, Under voltage protection, Over voltage protection, Short circuit, No load operation

Connectors	1 x 24/20-pin motherboard connector (550mm)
	1 x 8-pin ATX12V connector (550mm)
	1 x 4-pin ATX12V connector (550mm)
	1 x 6-pin AUX connector (550mm)
	2 x 6-pin PCI-E (550mm)
	1 x quad SATA power connectors (2 x 500mm + 250mm)
	2 x dual 4-pin IDE connectors (500mm + 250mm)
	2 x dual 4-pin IDE & single floppy power connectors (500mm + 250mm + 150mm)

Color	black (lead-free paint)
Cooling System	Single 120mm low noise sleeve bearing fan
Noise Level	24 dBA minimum
Weight	2.9 kg
Dimension	150 mm (W) x 86 mm (H) x 180 mm (D)

Closer Look

SilverStone packs the ST60F in a nice box that boasts the features of the PSU and a carrying handle for convenience. Inside the box, you’ll find the PSU, a power cable, manual, a set of four black screws and all the modular cables.

When designing the ST60F, SilverStone decided to attempt to minimize the noise it would make. For that reason, it features a single 120mm low-noise sleeve bearing fan. Another nice decision by SilverStone was to mount the fan so that it is flush with the casing, which should make it a little easier to install in some cases.

You can see another good and user-friendly design decision in the first image below. All of the connectors are clearly labelled. You can also see that all of the cables look great thanks to black mesh. The cables are easy to connect and disconnect, and it’s easy to tell where each cable goes. Here is a list of the included cables and their lengths.

• 1 x 24/20-pin motherboard connector (550mm)
• 1 x 8-pin ATX12V connector (550mm)
• 1 x 4-pin ATX12V connector (550mm)
• 1 x 6-pin AUX connector (550mm)
• 2 x 6-pin PCI-E (550mm)
• 1 x quad SATA power connectors (2 x 500mm + 250mm)
• 2 x dual 4-pin IDE connectors (500mm + 250mm)
• 2 x dual 4-pin IDE & single floppy power connectors (500mm + 250mm + 150mm)

Test System & Test Results

In order to really test the ST60F, I configured a brand new system with a plethora of high-end components, including an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+, two GeForce 7900 GTXs, two gigabytes of DDR and several hard drives. Check out the entire test system below.

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
• Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
• 2 x GeForce 7900 GTX
• 2GB Corsair PC3200
• 2 x 80GB Hitach SATA HDD
• 1 x 500GB Seagate SATA HDD
• Lite-On DVD recorder
• Plextor CDRW

I was a little skeptical about the 600W ST60F being able to handle the power demand of this system, but the power supply handled the load just fine. I’ve been completely impressed by the ST60F over the last couple months.

To obtain the test results below, I stressed the system by running Sandra burn-in tests and 3DMark06 simultaneously. In the table, you’ll find the idle, low and high voltages that I observed during testing.

RESULTS (V)
	+12V	+5V	+3.3V
Idle	11.99	5.01	3.29
Low	11.87	4.96	3.28
High	12.04	5.03	3.31

You can see that the voltages remained quite stable during my testing. The test system remained stable, and the power supply’s fan was not audible above the case fans.

Conclusion

After a 680W PSU was unable to provide stable power in a system with two 7900 GTX video cards, I had my doubts that the SilverStone Strider ST60F would be able to do it. Fortunately, my doubts were unfounded, and the ST60F turned out to be an excellent power supply. It provided stable, consistent power to my power-hungry test system. I’m still a little surprised and very impressed by the ST60F.

Besides providing stable power and voltages, the ST60F has some great design features, like modular cables and a relatively quiet 120mm fan. Modular cables are of course great for decreasing the amount of cable spaghetti you have in your case. You only have to use the cables you need to power your components. The 120mm fan should run quiet enough to not add any noise to the typical system.

If you are building a new system and want a great modular PSU, then I highly recommend you check out the SilverStone Strider ST60F. If you want a little more power, then don’t hesitate to check out SilverStone’s other excellent offerings.

Pros:

+ Powerful and stable
+ SLI certified
+ Modular cables
+ Plenty of connectors
+ High quality

Cons:

– Physically longer than the average PSU

Final Score: 9 out of 10 and the Bjorn3D Golden Bear Award