Silverstone Strider 850w ST85F PSU

Introduction

Back in October, Silverstone gave me the first look at their latest 750w modular power supply named the ST75F. This PSU proved to be a big improvement over its predecessor the ST60F, but still suffered from some of its original flaws. Today we’re back again, and this time looking at the ST85F. In case you hadn’t already guessed, the ST85F is the latest in the line of Silverstone’s modular units, based around the ST60F and ST75F but with a total power output of 850w and a few extra tweaks along the way.

Visually the ST85F is the same as its predecessors in almost every way (externally at least), and for this reason I’d suggest that anybody who has already read our ST75F review should turn to pages 5, 6 & 7 to avoid a severe case of Déjà Vu. Over these few pages I’ll be finding out what changes have been made internally, and if they have had any effect on the power supply’s performance.

Packaging

Having reviewed quite a few Silverstone products on Overclock3D I was fairly confident of what to expect from the ST85F. The unit comes in a double walled black cardboard box with a design that ties in with the rest of the Silverstone range.

This standardised design makes it easy to pick out Silverstone products among the other brands, and the unit’s specifications are clearly visible on all sides of the box.

In all honesty, nothing much has really changed between the packaging design of the ST60F, ST75F and ST85F. The front and top of the box still show pictures of the power supply along with its vital statistics. However, unlike it’s predecessor, the ST85F utilises dual +12v rails, rather than the quad +12v rails used on previous models. This step backwards could well be a good move by Silverstone, ensuring that there is enough power on the 12v rails for the most hungry graphics cards.

Turn the box around to the side and we can see that Silverstone have included some more detailed information on the unit. A lot of focus is on its safety features, which include OCP (over current protection), UVP (under voltage protection), OVP (over voltage protection) and SCP (short circuit protection).

As with the previously reviewed ST75F, the ST85F is protected from scratches by a clear plastic bag with no other padding to protect the unit from larger knocks included. I know that I’ve complained about this before, but it would be nice to see Silverstone paying a bit more attention to packaging even if just for aesthetic appeal.

The ST85F package includes the following items:

• Silverstone ST85F manual.
• Black case screws.
• Power cord.
• ST85F Power Supply.
• Canvas cable bag.