SilverStone ST60F-PS 600-Watt 80 PLUS Silver Power Supply Review (Page 1)

Introduction

Up until today, we've focused on the high-end enthusiast offering from SilverStone. They make fantastic power supplies that hold up under torturous conditions with great performance and reliability. Today we are taking a look at something a little less high-end and more in line with what the "average gamer" or entry level enthusiast might purchase. The power supply in question is the SilverStone ST60F-PS 600W model.

The unit is designed to perform well for gamers yet keep the cost down, while not losing reliability. It forgoes some of the things we've come to expect such as top of the line efficiency, lots of accessories and large, silent fans, but still gives enough power for a single high-end video card. Sometimes modesty can be a good thing as you just want to get the job done and done well with breaking the bank. That's exactly what we expect the SilverStone ST60F-PS to do so let's dig into it and see what it has to offer.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Just as you'd hope from an entry level enthusiast style power supply, the majority of the power is supplied via a single 12V rail rate for 49A or 588W. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 20A each with a combined maximum output of 130W. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Maximum combined output is 600W. As we've said before, this should be more than enough to power a system with a single high-end GPU such as a Radeon 7970 or GTX 680.

One of the things that is nice to see in an entry level power supply is that features aren't skimped on. Many will cut protections such as OTP out of the lineup in order to save on costs. SilverStone doesn't do that and the ST60F-PS has a full complement of protections. Something else that we don't normally see in a power supply like this is a full modular design. This gives you the option to utilize SilverStone's PP05 and PP06 cable kits to customize cables to your desire. The cables that come with the unit are fully sleeved. The ST60F-PS is rated for 80 PLUS Silver efficiency and although it isn't rated for 100% continuous output at 50C, the power supply is rated at a more modest 40C. This isn't because the power supply can't handle it, but SilverStone certifies all of their power supplies at 40C including their high wattage enthusiast power supplies.

SilverStone says the MSRP on the ST60F-PS is $107.99 in the US. Newegg has the unit for $101.98 after a $10 rebate and $5.99 shipping at the time of writing. This places it towards the cheaper end of the spectrum and just what we were hoping for out of this unit. Warranty for the ST60F-PS is three years. While not the best of warranties, it is somewhat the standard for entry level units.