The SilverStone Strider Gold S 1500W PSU Review

Conclusion

The Strider Gold S 1500W may not be the most advanced but it is the most powerful PSU SilverStone currently offers. SilverStone is a company that designs and produces many non-standard cases for HTPC and SFF systems, therefore having a PSU with massive external proportions in their product ranks would not offer the correct synergy. The ST1500-GS is "only" 180mm long - longer than a standard ATX PSU but much more compact than the majority of equally powerful units. However, compactness alone is not enough to win in this segment of the market. Such power is unnecessary for typical HTPC, living room gaming and SFF systems. Virtually no enthusiast would purchase a 1.5kW unit for its external proportions alone and an extremely small number of users would even attempt to compress a system that requires this level of power inside a small chassis.

Regardless of its proportions, the ST1500-GS does match the competition in both quality and performance. The designer of this unit did an outstanding job with the layout, creating a compact and yet a very clean and powerful platform. Despite its relatively small size, they do not cut corners by removing filtering components or using smaller heatsinks. The only exception is the lack of an on/off switch, which would be of considerable size in order to hold such a large input current and apparently the designer decided not to install one at all. SilverStone is using high quality components as well, all coming from very reputable manufacturers. Albeit crude, the assembly quality certainly has room for improvement but it does not cause reliability concerns. Strangely, the warranty period of this unit is, at the very least, unclear. There is no mention of the warranty length on the box or in the web page of the PSU. Only the manual mentions, "Most SilverStone PSUs are covered by a 3 year warranty. For some models the warranty may vary from 1 to 5 years (North America) or 2 to 5 years (EU)". The warranty period should be clearly mentioned on the packaging and online.

In terms of performance, the ST1500-GS does not break any records but does very good overall. It is strange that SilverStone rates this unit for operation at 40°C, as it proved capable of delivering its promised power and performance at much higher temperatures without issues. Most likely, SilverStone is playing it safe, as the power output of this PSU is massive, its proportions are compact and some people may actually install it inside a case not exactly suitable for such monstrous systems. The energy conversion efficiency is good and resists high temperatures well, while the power quality remains excellent even when the internal temperatures of the PSU are very high. As the company promises, the ST1500-GS is also fairly quiet - at least while it is not heavily loaded. This should please the majority of the users, as everyone want their systems to be comfortable when performing casual tasks, such as web browsing or watching a movie, but few would even notice the noise of the system while gaming.

In conclusion, the SilverStone Strider Gold S 1500W is not only compact but also is a high quality PSU that performs very well overall. The ST1500-GS has only one true enemy - its own price tag. With a retail price of $350 including shipping at the time of this review, it is one of the most expensive consumer PSUs in existence. There are several other high performance 1500W PSUs that are considerably cheaper and excellent 1200W PSUs may be purchased for nearly half the price. Even though it truly is a very good product, the price tag of the Strider Gold S 1500W PSU is unquestionably going to limit its sales.