Conclusions

SilverStone Strider ST50F provides one of the best cost/benefit ratios for users looking for a good mainstream 500 W power supply. First, it can truly deliver 500 W at 50º C, which is outstanding. Second, the number of power plugs this unit has is more than a mainstream user will ever need: two 6-pin auxiliary power plugs for video cards, six SATA power plugs and six peripheral power plugs. And the third highlight from this power supply is its efficiency, above 85% if you pull up to 300 W, 84% if you pull 400 W and 80% or 82% if you pull 500 W, depending on the load pattern. And fourth we could make this power supply to deliver up to 598.5 W.

Compared to other 500 W power supplies we have reviewed recently, Antec EathWatts 500 W and Corsair VX450 W (which is the same power supply as this model from Antec but with a different housing) are better products because they provide a little higher efficiency, have overloading protection up and running, and provide a lower level of noise and ripple.

On the other hand, SilverStone Strider ST50F is a better product than Enermax Liberty DXX 500 W, which, amazingly enough, is more expensive than the reviewed product.

When you compare prices, this unit is unbeatable: it costs only USD 67 at Newegg.com, while Antec EarthWatts 500 W costs USD 90, Corsair VX450W costs USD 75 and Enermax Liberty DXX 500 W costs USD 100. It is also cheaper than Zalman ZM460B-APS (USD 85 at the same store), a power supply that uses the same project as the reviewed unit and we suspect that they might be identical (we will review this power supply from Zalman very soon to see if this is true or not).

The only problems we can see with this power supply is the lack of a MOV on the transient filtering stage and the lack of an overload protection circuit, and that is the only reason we are giving it our “Silver Award” seal instead of our “Golden Award”. But, like we said, this is a terrific product.

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