DV Hardware reviews

Nowadays the amount of people prefering a silent computer system is growing and growing. For instance people who have a home theatre PC in their living room mostly want it to be silent. The subject of this review is Silverstone's SST-ST30NF Power Supply, which is entirely passively cooled by heatsinks. Since it contains no fans this PSU generates 0dBA background noise, and thus on first sight it seems to be ideal for silent computer systems.

A few months ago I already reviewed a silent PSU from Silverstone, the Silverstone SST-ST35F-G02 350W Power Supply which was a power supply with a big silent 120mm fan.



The box included the following items; the power supply, a power cable, a manual and a mounting bracket.

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Specifications
High efficiency power solution.
Optimum quality standard.
Classic design in style and tasteful shape of
Aluminum casing.
Supports two serial ATA Connector
Without fan
Background noise around 0 dBA.
Heat pipe with heat sink in ALuminum case.
Assumes PC stability
Indicator light to show state of PSU
Active PFC

Color	Silver
MAX Power	250W(100V~240V) / 300w(180V~240V)
Dimension	150mm(W) x 140mm(L) x 86mm(H)
Cooling	Without Fan
Acoustic	0 dBA
3.3 V & 5 V combine load 170W

Environmental Specification

Operation	Temp	0C~25C	Relative Humidity non- condensing	20~90% RH non-condensing
Storage		- 40C~70C		5 ~ 95 % RH non-condensing
Operating /Storage Altitude	10,000 / 40,000FT
MTBF	100,000HRS
Safety Approvals	UL/CUL , CB , TUV ,
EMC Regulation	FCC , CE

Electrical Specification

Input Voltage	100 ~ 127 / 200 ~ 240 VAC Manual select switch
Frequency	27 ~ 500 Hz un-modulated
Input Current	6A @ 115 VAC 3A @ 230 VAC

Output Specification

a. Input Voltage 200V~240V

Voltage	Minimum Load	Maximum Load
+5VDC	1A	25A
+3.3VDC	0.8A	23A
+12VDC	0.5A	18A
-12VDC	0A	0.7A
5VSB	0A	1.5A

During operation the maximum load shall not exceed 300W. The total load on +5V and +3.3V shall not exceed 180W. The total load on +5V and +12V shall not exceed 35A.

b. Input Voltage 100V~120V

Voltage	Minimum Load	Maximum Load
+5VDC	1A	21A
+3.3VDC	0.8A	20A
+12VDC	0.5A	17A
-12VDC	0A	0.7A
5VSB	0A	1.5A

During operation the maximum load shall not exceed 250W. The total load on +5V and +3.3V shall not exceed 140W. The total load on +5V and +12V shall not exceed 30A.


Something strange is that according to the manual this PSU delivers a maximum of 300W when the input voltage is 200V~240V, but only 250W when the input voltage is 100V~120V. The maximum current on the 3.3V, 5V and 12V lines is also lower when the input voltage is 100V~120V.

I don't know the reason of this, I asked it to Silverstone, as soon as I receive their answer I'll update the review.

Added: August 30th 2004
Reviewer: LSDsmurf
Score: 8/10
Related Link: Silverstone
Page: 1/2