Silent PSUs: Fortron Versus Silverstone

Efficiency

Under full load, the efficiency of 87.3% is the same as the Fortron unit, while at medium and lower loads, it is a mere 1% worse than its competitor.

The direct comparison using our fictional 250 watt system showed marginal differences, with the 87% output of the Silverstone Nightjar is again on a par. The biggest differences could be seen with our low power system. Here, the Silverstone converter performed at 71.5%, almost 5% below the Zen 400 unit.

Even in standby mode, the Silverstone unit couldn’t do any better. Without load, the power supply uses 2.57 watts, probably due to the LEDs and their controller. Even with load on the standby cable, the result is pretty unimpressive. The power supply draws almost 6 watts of power in order to make 2.5 watts of output available. The result is a marginal efficiency of 42.7%.

The Silverstone power supply is a fair bit more expensive, priced online around $200.