PSU Roundup: Performance, Price, Efficiency

Features
By Daniel Schuhmann
published

Conclusion: Dragon Force and Silverstone Win

The clear “performance for your money” winner in our power supply test is the Dragon Force. The DF-530GT is a solid device that delivers its performance without any issues, running on stable voltages that never deviate much from the nominal values. But you don’t get everything for this low price, of course. There’s no cable management, no accessories, and few cables are included. More problematic for North American customers is availability. Unfortunately, this unit will likely only be an option for our overseas readers.

Thus, our overall recommendation for this round (and Best of Tom’s award) goes to Silverstone’s Strider SST-ST70F. Priced at about $139, this power supply is unbeatable given its performance. It also comes with many long connection cables, which simplify configuration in component-laden PCs and eliminate the need for add-on adapters. Although the Silverstone’s efficiency drops under full load, it remains very high under half-load and low-load conditions.

Daniel Schuhmann
44 Comments Comment from the forums
  • falchard
    That coolermaster PSU is nice that its cables are thin since its really annoying to have those stiff cables fill a small case. However, I wonder about its interference. That insulation and mesh is there for a reason, to prevent discharge and electrical interference of other parts.

    Also I can see the reason why a person wouldn't want a CPU/ATX connector on a 700w power supply. If they had an excessively power draining system like a Quad/Tri GPU with modern high end cards it will waste alot of power and using 2 lower watt power supplies is cheaper then getting 1 high watt one.
    Reply
  • dirtmountain
    Nice fluff piece. I sure wouldn't use any of these recommendations over jonnygurus or hardwaresecrets sites though.
    Reply
  • optik
    Just bought myself Zalman's ZM-750HP with cable management and heatpipe cooling.. Cost only 131 euros.. When I saw the article's header I hoped to see it being reviewed, but no such luck. Would've been nice to see how the Zalman's offerings would've fared against others.. The productline ranges from 360Watts to full 1000Watt PSU's so plenty to choose from..
    Reply
  • Proximon
    Without voltage ripple and heat tests you can't properly evaluate a power supply. At least readers can use this as a starting point for further research.
    Reply
  • http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/410
    Reply
  • dirtmountain
    +1 to doctorpink
    Reply
  • chookman
    Heat is generally relative to efficiency , due the fact that the more energy lost the more heat generated.

    Ill agree with the ripple tests too, yeh great we might have a power supply that is efficient at 100% but what if the 12v rails are hovering outside of spec...? Its a nothing review really.
    Reply
  • Please add the "S" onto the word VOLT
    Thanks
    Reply
  • jt1
    falchardThat coolermaster PSU is nice that its cables are thin since its really annoying to have those stiff cables fill a small case. However, I wonder about its interference. That insulation and mesh is there for a reason, to prevent discharge and electrical interference of other parts.
    What manufacturers use insulation and mesh that block interference? The insulation on the wires of my PSUs is standard insulation, the mesh is plastic and there strictly to hold the wires in place and prevent the inside of a computer case from becoming a birds nest of wires.

    If there are manufacturers that use materials to block interferences, I'd like like to look into their products as it sounds interesting but I'd like to hear from someone actually in the know as to if it would make any difference or not.
    Reply
  • pcfxer
    Interference on a power supply is negligible. The power runs, voltages and current are of little concern for interference. IF you want to be truly theoretical it would make a "difference".

    When I studied power engineering one would need a ton of voltage or current to be 'eligible' for most electrical phenomena to occur - theoretically.
    Reply