SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W
Focusing on the SilverStone Strider ST56F power supply, its appearance is quite sleek with a matte black facade. Not only is the PSU casing painted black but also the 120mm fan and fan grill are colored identical. The appearance of the ST56F and ST60F is different from previous Strider units that shipped with a high gloss titanium-black appearance, but the condition of the ST56F is quite attractive to say the least. At the end of the power supply is the on/off switch as well as the power connector. As the ST56F is not passive PFC, but rather active PFC, no 115/230V switch is needed on the power supply. Around the components on the end of the power supply is an overwhelming amount of hexagonal holes to allow for adequate airflow as only the rear and bottom portions of the PSU have any room for air movement. The fan is designed to push a fair amount of air and SilverStone engineers have ensured the fan will run silent. While the top and one of the sides remain bare, one of the sides contains a sticker with various power information such as the amperage for each of the rails as well as the AC input voltage and frequency. Moving onto the cabling, the connectors on the Strider ST56F are one 24/20-pin motherboard, one 8-pin ATX12V, one 4-pin ATX12V, two 6-pin PCI Express, two dual SATA, six 4-pin molex, and two 4-pin floppy power connectors. The average length for each of these cables is approximately 500-550mm, which should be more than adequate in most ATX cases. At this time, the ST56F is not certified by NVIDIA for Scalable Link Interface usage; however, ATI does endorse the power supply for use with CrossFire. The power connectors are also compliant with SSI and EPS12V. When it comes to the cables themselves, all of the strands are sleeved in a black nylon mesh except for the SATA and IDE molex connectors.
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Opening up the Strider ST56F PSU, on the inside we were greeted by two fair large aluminum heatsinks. At the top of the two heatsinks, there were also pieces of aluminum that had extruded horizontally. The cooling abilities of the power supply should in no way be inflamed, as there should be sufficient airflow for this 560W unit, even though the airflow is limited to the rear and bottom portions. The spacing of the internal wires is also bounded to one of the sides to ensure the airflow will not be obstructed due to an excess of misplaced wiring. Examining the sticker placed on the fan of the SilverStone 120mm unit, the fan appears to be made by ADDA with a model number of AD1212HS-A71GL, which equates to the fan being a sleeve bearing design, runs at a mere 220RPM while providing a airflow of 85.2CFM, and a theoretical noise level of 39.1 dBA. With the physical design of the SilverStone Technology Strider ST56F 560W covered, lets progress onto the performance.