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SilverStone Strider Platinum 750W Power Supply Review
SilverStone recently expanded its Strider line with three new Platinum-rated units with capacities ranging from 550W to 750W. The family's flagship is being tested today, which includes fully modular cabling and compact dimensions.
SilverStone's ST75F-PT is the only Platinum and fully modular 750W PSU with a 14cm depth. It has decent overall performance, however it should have a longer hold-up time and a second EPS connector.
Reasons to buy
+
Full power at 48 °C • Efficient • Ripple suppression at +12V • Silent • Compact dimensions • Quality electrolytic caps • FDB fan • Semi-passive operation • Fully modular
Reasons to avoid
-
Price • Performance of the 3.3V rail • Single EPS connector • No fan-test option • Hold-up time • Warranty (Update 8/12/2016: this issue has been addressed since SilverStone increased the provided warranty to five years)
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Introduction
At this year's CES, SilverStone introduced its new Platinum Strider line, which shows up just after the Strider Titanium family in the company's portfolio. There are currently three units in the Strider Platinum family covering the low- and mid-wattage categories. SilverStone doesn't have its favorite OEM, Enhance Electronics, making them, but rather Sirfa/High Power. Although Sirfa usually focuses on budget platforms, we know it's capable of delivering higher-end hardware as well.
As you can see, compact dimensions (just 14cm long) are the Strider Platinum's main feature. SilverStone takes the power density of its products seriously, and it builds some of the highest-capacity models able to fit in small form-factor enclosures. Of course, cramming more hardware onto a tiny PCB inevitably leads to warmer operating temperatures, affecting the lifetime of crucial components like electrolytic capacitors. So, if you want to keep a high-capacity power supply in a small footprint cool, there are really only two options: arm it with a strong fan and make it noisy, or put a big emphasis on efficiency to minimize thermal output. SilverStone takes the latter route with its Strider Platinum.
Today's review unit is at the highest-end of the Strider Platinum family. The ST75F-PT is a 750W PSU able to support potent gaming PCs with a couple of high-end Nvidia graphics cards. The only weakness we spotted right off the bat is the single EPS connector (many enthusiast-oriented motherboards need an EPS and an ATX12V connector, or a pair of EPS connectors). We expect 750W power supplies to include two EPS connectors; SilverStone really needs to fix this moving forward. Other notable features include fully modular cabling, semi-passive operation, a single +12V rail and the Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) fan.
According to the ATX spec, a PSU should be able to deliver its full power continuously at up to 50 °C. However, the ST75F-PT only has a 40 °C max temperature rating. That doesn't mean the unit won't operate above 40 °C, but we expect its fan profile is optimized for temperatures under this threshold. We'll know for sure soon enough, since our tests are conducted at greater than 40 °C.
SilverStone enables all of the necessary protection features, including over-temperature protection, which is essential on a PSU with a semi-passive fan mode. While some companies give you the option to choose between semi-passive and normal operation, SilverStone unfortunately does not. On the bright side, this is among the smallest 750W PSUs available, and it's one of the few that is fully modular as well.
We can't skip to the next section without commenting on SilverStone's short warranty. Much of the competition provides five or even seven years. EVGA raises the bar as high as 10 years; meanwhile, SilverStone is stuck at three (Update 8/12/2016: SilverStone informed us that the warranty of this product has been increased to five years). The company would be wise to increase the coverage on its products to match the competition.
Power Specifications
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Rail
3.3V
5V
12V
5VSB
-12V
Max. Power
Amps
22
22
62.5
3
0.3
Watts
120
750
15
3.6
Total Max. Power (W)
750
The single +12V rail can deliver up to 62.5A, so it'll easily drive a couple of high-end graphics cards. The minor rails have enough capacity as well, while the 5VSB rail is a little stronger than what we normally see.
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Cables And Connectors
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Modular Cables
Description
Cable Count
Connector Count (Total)
ATX connector 20+4 pin (550mm)
1
1
4+4 pin EPS12V (750mm)
1
1
6+2 pin PCIe (550mm+150mm)
2
4
SATA (600mm+150mm+150mm+150mm)
2
8
Four-pin Molex (600mm+150mm+150mm) / FDD (+150mm)
2
6 / 2
The main ATX cable should really be 5cm longer, reaching 60cm. SilverStone intends for this PSU to end up in smaller enclosures, but some enthusiasts will inevitably want to use it in larger cases as well. The single EPS cable is quite long at 75cm, and the distance between connectors (on the cables with multiple) is ample.
Again, the number of EPS and PCIe connectors is low for a 750W PSU considering that some models with similar capacity come with two EPS and as many as six PCIe connectors. At least you get enough SATA and four-pin Molex connectors. SilverStone also equips the ST75F-PT with a couple of Berg (FDD) connectors.
All of the cables consist of 18-gauge wires, which are recommended by the ATX spec.
Power Distribution
Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.
