The Silverstone ST30SF & ST45SF SFX Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on January 26, 2017 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- 80Plus Bronze
- SilverStone
- SFX
- ST30SF
- ST45SF
Conclusion
From our review of the ST30SF and the ST45SF, it is apparent that SilverStone designed these units with a very specific purpose - to market reliable SFX PSUs with good power quality at the lowest possible cost. Above all else we have to consider that we are talking about $45 (ST30SF) to $55 (ST45SF) products (after rebate) and we would find it difficult to even recommend ATX PSUs inside this price range. Finding similarly priced SFX PSUs can be a tremendous challenge, meaning that SilverStone has very little competition to worry about in this segment of the market.
We believe that, considering the design requirements and price range of the ST30SF and the ST45SF, the designer did an excellent job. Both of the units are of excellent quality, with a clean design and proven components. The power output quality is very good, with strong regulation and low noise even under very high operating temperatures. Only the energy conversion efficiency is mediocre, with both units barely suggesting that they can justify their already low 80Plus Bronze certification with an input of 110VAC, and marginally failing it with an input of 230VAC.
The compact size of the SFX units paired with the mediocre efficiency result to the undesirable situation of having high thermal losses inside a device with limited cooling capacity, i.e. to poor thermal performance. An ATX unit would have no problem dissipating these thermal losses even without larger heatsinks, by only making use of the sheer airflow that a full size 120 mm fan can provide. This is not an option with SFX units, where the space for both the heatsinks and the fan is very limited. Even the low profile 92 mm fans found in the ST30SF and the ST45SF are considered to be very large for such designs. In summary, the ST30SF and the ST45SF will be reasonably quiet while the system is idling but not when heavily loaded: if you are planning to power a powerful GPU with the ST45SF, it is very likely that it will be louder than the card itself.
In summary, the SilverStone ST30SF and the ST45SF are competitively priced SFX units, designed to offer a low-cost and yet high quality option to users that want to build low-power systems or simply do not care much about acoustics. Even though they can get significantly loud if heavily loaded, their quality and power output are excellent. With their very low retail prices, SilverStone practically has no competition, with the ST30SF and the ST45SF being virtually the only widely available choice for a high quality, low cost SFX PSU.
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jabber - Thursday, January 26, 2017 - link
PSU is a key component. Plus if you buy a quality one, it may well be the only part that carries over to the next build.Achaios - Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - link
Speaking of it, the only component that has carried itself over to my present build from my first 2008 gaming PC build, is the DVD-ROM drive. It comes very handy with games such as GTAV and the 6 DVD's that came with it.I admit though that if I knew what I know now about PC's, it is possible that I would have kept the original Cooler Master PSU that came with my Cooler Master case, provided that it wouldn't have failed.
Samus - Thursday, January 26, 2017 - link
I personally love PSU reviews. It's interesting to see where corners can be cut to shave costs, and how different manufactures market and how OEM's approach different designs.jabber - Friday, January 27, 2017 - link
I think on my 5820K build back in May I spent more time looking up the PSU than any other part.Samus - Saturday, January 28, 2017 - link
I believe it. I've had a PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad since 2008 go through a PC I kept for 3 years, a mining rig, and now back to a SLI gaming pc. It has had an incredibly hard life being run at 90% load 24/7 on the mining rig for almost 4 year so non-stop, and now it's driving a Xeon workstation with two 980's...It's quiet, has been reliable, and it wasn't even that expensive ($120?) it's 80 Plus but I don't know what tier.
PSU is something everyone should pay attention too. A crappy one could actually result in an unstable PC, especially under load, and a quality one will save money over the long run.
ZipFreed - Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - link
This, so much this. I've seen so many builds over the years both from friends in RL and all over the web with high-end parts and absolutely garbage PSU choices. If you're going to spend $500+ on a CPU you can absolutely afford the +$50 necessary for a quality PSU.I was finally able to build my own rig when I was about 10 years old after always using hand me down parts. I did a ton of research and a quality PSU was something I consistently saw mentioned. Used PCP&C Silencer and have continued to use high-quality PSU's and am currently pushing 30. In that time I've never had a single PSU related failure and have peace of mind knowing my hardware is covered if something happens.
I've been using mainly Seasonic the past 5-6+ years and generally re-use both my PSU, Case and Watercooling loop with 2-3+ different CPU/GPU/Mobo combos before refreshing everything every 18-24 months and repurposing the old stuff. First SS unit is almost 8 years old and it's ran a heavily overclocked system from day 1 and never skipped a beat and is still going strong.
PSU is the lifeblood of your machine, why skimp out?
just4U - Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - link
many on this site likely care simply because they build their own PCs and build for others... I always pay particular interest to which oem is making the unit..and what the reviewers thoughts are on the overall quality.caten - Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - link
I care. +1 for PSU reviews, especially for the more mainstream wattage sizes. I have a mITX system so another +1 for SFX.NZLion - Thursday, January 26, 2017 - link
These seem like very low wattages for modern power supplies. Is my perspective skewed? Is this likely sufficient for the sort of system that would normally use a PSU in the SFX formfactor?For reference, I have a system that uses an SFX PSU, but I went for a 600W unit and even that I felt was a worryingly small margin over the requirements of my system.
flgt - Thursday, January 26, 2017 - link
I would have thought most SFX power supplies are used in small, lower performance machines. Also most likely integrated graphics. So I'm thinking average system power demands of around 100W. As other posters have noted, it's not a good idea to install oversized power supplies as the increased static power kills efficiency at light loads.