Silverstone Strider Gold Evolution 750W PSU Review

External Design of the ST75F-G

Silverstone supplies the ST75F-G PSU
with all of its modular cables attached, a display which is somewhat
frightening as the space which the unit occupies seems excessive, even if it is
not any greater than that of any other similar unit. The steel body of the unit
has been sprayed with a textured grey paint and Silverstone placed a metallic
badge with the company’s logo over the cooling fan’s engine, but that is about
as far as aesthetic and functionality improvements go regarding the body of the
unit itself.

Strangely, Silverstone placed the
sticker with the electrical specifications of the ST75F-G on the side of the
power supply, a spot usually reserved for decorative stickers. The sticker will
be visible if the side panel of the case is windowed over the PSU compartment
area.

Instead of decorating the sides of
their power supply, Silverstone engraved their company name and logo on the top
side of the ST75F-G. This will be visible if the PSU compartment is at the
bottom of the case and the power supply is installed with its fan facing
downwards, if the case is very well lit of course.

The rear of this power supply is
quite busy, with eleven connectors for the modular cables placed tightly next
to each other in two rows, a sticker with a basic legend indicating for which
cable is each connector meant for and even a row of vents to eliminate warm air
pockets inside the body of the power supply. Users need to be careful because
the four blue PCI-E cable connectors are similar to the black EPS 8-Pin
connectors and, even if the cables are keyed and will not fit without
significant force, equipment will be damaged if the wrong connector is used.

In order to reduce electronic noise
which is relatively common with high performance VGA cards, Silverstone
installed 2200uF capacitors on the PCI-E connectors of this unit. Although it
certainly is a welcomed feature, the capacitors also add bulk, fortunately not
very close to the end of the cable.

The front side of the Silverstone
ST75F-G power supply is entirely plain and we do mean entirely; only the A/C
receptacle can be found, with not even a simple on/off switch. Such a switch is
not really necessary with units of that level but it is good to be there, even
if only to turn the PSU off when you are not planning to use the system for prolonged
periods of time in order to stop it from unnecessarily wasting energy.