Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our SilverStone Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home will void your five-year warranty, thanks to the warranty seal SilverStone applied over one of the attachment screws. But for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you do not need to, haha. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the SilverStone Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W is quite straightforward with the removal of four screws. As with many power supplies from the company, the Strider Titanium ST1300-TI's OEM is Enhance, a well-regarded manufacturer since 1986. Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent, as one would expect from the company. There are two main heatsinks inside. The smaller one provides cooling to the bridge rectifiers, while the larger one takes care of the active PFC electronics and main switchers; all of which are unpainted.
A quick tug on the shell, and we got straight to the internal inspection. The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. SilverStone has always done a great job in the past to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements, and the Enhance based ST1300-TI is no exception. The SilverStone Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W has two ferrite coils, one metal oxide varistor, four metalized polyester X-capacitors, and six ceramic Y-capacitors. This is four times the amount of X capacitors and three times the amount of Y capacitors than recommended. Considering how many modern day PSUs have missing MOVs, I am happy to see it here, as this component is used to stabilize spikes from the AC line. A Sanken STR-A6062H PWM controller for controlling standby power can be spotted as well.
On the primary side, we can see one Japanese brand Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor. Japanese brand capacitors are usually what we expect from something in this price range, so this is nothing surprising. Our 1300W version of SilverStone's Strider Titanium series incorporates three 330µF x 420V capacitors in parallel for an equivalent capacitance of 990µF. This unit is rated at 105c; whereas more value oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
The active PFC circuit featured on the SilverStone Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W uses two bridge rectifiers attached to opposite sides of the smaller heatsink. Unfortunately, I could not identify the make and model of the components; all I can see are the inscriptions "RS25...M". Further down the line, in the middle of the same unpainted heatsink, we can see two Cree C3D08060A Silicon Carbide Schottky diodes. These boost diodes are certified for up to 10A at 135c each. Four Infineon IPP50R140CP power MOFSET transistors driven by a pair of Silicon Labs Si8230BD chips are used as the main switchers on the SilverStone Strider Titanium power supply. Champion's CM6901T6X is the switching controller and CM6502S is the PFC controller. Each Infineon IPB50R140CP MOFSET can deliver up to 15A at 100 degrees Celsius continuously. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 0.14 ohm when turned on; with a typical resistance of 0.13 ohm according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance.
On the secondary side, we can see more Japanese brand capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon rated at 105c. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produce the +12V out -- while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC to DC converter within the power supply unit. Sixteen Infineon BSC014N04LS MOSFETS on the back of the main PCB are responsible for the conversion process. The BSC014N04LS's rated continuous drain current is 100A at 100c and a pulsed drain current of 400A. Drain source voltage is rated at 40V, and a RDS(on) value of 0.0019 ohm maximum and 0.0015 ohm typical. Meanwhile, a Silicon Touch PS223 4-channel monitoring IC provides over current protection, over voltage protection, and under voltage protection. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
At the back, we have a large daughterboard covering the entire rear panel for the modular cable sockets. All modular sockets at the bottom are soldered directly to the main PCB after the secondary stage to reduce power transmission loss. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of SilverStone's Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W power supply is excellent -- something we would expect from what we have seen from the company in the past. Components are arranged pretty well for optimal cooling with minimal wires running around inside, and solder points on its green PCB is quite clean in general. I would say the SilverStone branded, Enhance built ST1300-TI is generally very good with regards to the selection of components used under the hood.
Lastly, we see a 135mm fan that provides cooling to the SilverStone Strider Titanium ST1300-TI 1300W's internal components. It is connected to the mainboard using a 2-pin connector. A 135mm fan is only marginally smaller than the 140mm maximum you can fit in an ATX power supply, and it is beneficial in most cases in providing lots of airflow at lower speeds for quiet operation. Yate Loon is the fan OEM with D14BH-12 as the model number, as shown in our photo above. Further research indicates the D14BH-12 is a double ball bearing fan specified at 0.7A for a maximum of speed of 2800 rpm. The fan is not supposed to activate until the PSU is loaded to approximately 200W. Fans with ball bearings generally have much longer lifespans compared to sleeve bearing fans at the expense of noise.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
