SilverStone Strider Plus - 500W Modular Power
by Martin Kaffei on October 10, 2011 4:10 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- SilverStone
- Strider Plus
- 500W
Conclusion
The SilverStone Strider Plus 500W is basically a good power supply with a fully modular connector system. The number of connectors and their distribution on the cables could be better, and there are no noteworthy features outside of the modular cables. During the load test the regulation of the output voltage is sufficient, and the efficiency is high for an 80 Plus Bronze model. The contents of the package are also very satisfying.
The power supply uses a well known layout from FSP, and it's a cheaper design. The PSU is nothing special, corresponding to what we have seen in many other models. The EMI filtering is well equipped, but a varistor in the entrance would be an advantage. All output cables should be proteced with heatshrinks, and while some of them are we would like to see the others protected as well. The relatively low-end OST and CapXon capacitors are acceptable for a PSU in this range, while the fan is pretty low-end as well. The result is higher acoustic noise than some other PSUs.
As our test shows, the power supply can provide the rated output without any complications. The efficiency at 10% could be somewhat higher, but few will notice the loss of a few extra watts. The voltage regulation on our crossload test 2 could also be better, but this is a typical problem for this kind of converter. The ripple and noise voltage is always low, and the power factor is high at all loads and input voltages.
The delivery contents of the power supply are quite remarkable. The many cable ties and illustrated manual are more typical of higher price class PSUs. While some will want more than three Molex connectors (on a single cable no less), the six SATA plugs are adequate. The 24-pin and 4+4-pin connectors are 55cm long, which is enough for most larger cases. The two 6/8-pin PCI-E cables might be better on separate cables as well, but for users with a single GPU the close proximity of the connectors can be useful, particularly in smaller cases. The sleeving could also be better, but this is a matter of taste and qualitatively not a disadvantage.
You can find the SilverStone Strider Plus online starting at around $70, which is by far the cheapest price for a fully modular 80 Plus Bronze power supply. On the other hand, if you don't need modular cables, you can find the Antec HCG 520W starting at $56, or the non-modular Strider Plus 500W will set you back $60 (with a $10 mail-in rebate). The competition also includes the popular and very favorable OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W, which you can now get for $30 after $20 MIR. If you prefer a quiet PSU and don't need modular cables, our pick of the bunch would be the HCG-520W; however, the modular SilverStone Strider Plus 500W is still an attractive offer.
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24 Comments
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magnetik - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - link
Load is not shared among multiple 12V rails, and a pure load test is not why I'd like to see this. Almost every power supply review is done with a SunMoon power supply tester, and current is current no matter what's pulling it.The reason I want to see every connector hooked up with the most power hungry components is partially to see if the power supply holds up.
I actually hold a strong belief that people are buying into too much power these days. If there was a review that showed you can stably run a power hungry GPU, motherboard, 3 optical drives, 5 hard drives, a fan controller and a floppy drive with a 550W PSU, people would have a little faith in "low power" PSUs.
Not saying that this guy could power a GTX 580 + everything else, but I see people buying Corsair 850W PSUs to power a system with one Radeon HD 6850. Power supply reviews need to start showing what the limits are for these PSUs.
ClagMaster - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
Long time I saw a power supply review at Anandtech.I think I could do better with a Seasonic 520W Bronze power supply.
Although not fully modular for the main power cable, the ipower supplies are very quiet and well made.
Sabresiberian - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
Long time since last PSU review? It's been only a couple of months, and only a month before that they did one. Anandtech isn't "PSU Review", it's for a bunch of different kinds of electronic hardware, so every other review isn't about power supplies.Also, most sites like this don't review items unless a manufacturer sends it in to be reviewed. You want to see a PSU reviewed, you might contact the manufacturer and suggest it.
As for doing better, I have to agree, this unit wouldn't be my choice.
;)
DesertCat - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
One of the big advantages that this PSU has over others in its class is not just that it is modular but that it is also not as deep as its competitors. The Strider Plus is 140mm long while most of the modular competition in the 500-750W range are 160mm long. Why does that matter? Well... many small cases, particularly those of the mini-itx variety, have room for an ATX PSU but not if it is too long.If you look around at reviews of cases like the Lian Li PC-Q11 or PC-Q08, people have lots of issues with 160mm long PSUs bumping into the front fan (PC-Q11) or the hard drive cage (PC-Q08). Shorter power supplies don't have that problem. Now there are several power supplies out there with fixed wiring that are only 140mm long, but then a person usually has to deal with tucking the cables somewhere. That can be a problem if a person is dealing with a small case. Having the combo of short + modular is a very nice solution for some. In addition, people can even order Silverstone's PP05 short cable kit (usually a $19-26 option depending on who it's purchased from) and cut down on their cable clutter even more.
That said, the true king of short PSUs is Nexus which has the NX-5000 Rev.3 (530W) and NX-6000 Rev.3 (630W) that are only 125mm deep. Those are fixed wire units, though, and they tend to be hard to find in the U.S. and relatively expensive.
sep - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
I have this powersupply sitting in my CM 690 case and plan to move it next year to the PCQ11 case and PP05 short cable kit. It's a great powersupply for HTPC or Server IMO. It's very efficent below 100watts.Those complaining about noise, well my unit is pushing 114-120watts and I can only tell if it's on my the blue led fans ; )
Thanks Anandtech...nice review. -JC
beginner99 - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
Just another standard psu. I would like to see more low wattage (modular) PSU with decent amount of SATA power connectors with decent length and space between connectors. Most layouts know make it impossible to just use 1 cable for: sdd, hdd, optical drive setup. It's silly.epobirs - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
My last build was mostly straightforward but a bit tense because the spec called for a very expensive motherboard and some other bits that made the cost of a mistake far higher than normal. But it was the power deployment that was the real pain. This case put the PSU in the base rather than at top but that only change the location of the hassle of dealing with thick cable bundle.A modular PSU that let me use only as many cables as needed and didn't end in an inflexible all-in-one bundle could have reduced the hassle that day a fair bit. In the past they were always too high end for the machines I was making but that appears to be changing for the better.
flipmode - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
I have this power supply. It's sitting on the shelf where it will likely remain forever. The fan is simply too noisy. I was quite bummed to find that out.I have a fully cabled PSU in my case and not only is it fully cabled but the cables are long. I have found that this has allowed me to do the cleanest cabling job yet because I can route the cables behind things where as with shorter cables I usually have to make straight runs.
Cheers.
marvdmartian - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
Why in the world would the main (24-pin) power cable need to be modular? It's not as though you can get by without it, right?DesertCat - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
Having the power cable as modular allows people to use their optional short cable set (PP05). That includes a shorter power cable which can be helpful if people are dealing with a small case and want to keep down the clutter.