SilverStone Strider Gold 650 W Power Supply Review

Secondary Analysis

As one would expect in a high-efficiency power supply, the SilverStone Strider Gold 650 W uses a synchronous design, where the Schottky rectifiers are replaced with MOSFETs. Also, the reviewed product uses a DC-DC design in its secondary. This means that the power supply is basically a +12 V unit, with the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs produced by two smaller power supplies connected to the main +12 V rail. Both designs are used to increase efficiency.

The +12 V output uses four IPP041N04N MOSFETs, each one supporting up to 80 A at 100° C in continuous mode, or up to 400 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with a maximum RDS(on) of 4.1 mΩ.

Figure 16: The +12 V transistors

As explained, the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs are produced by two DC-DC converters, each one located on an individual daughterboard soldered to the main printed circuit board. Each converter uses an APW7073 integrated circuit, which drives one CSD86350Q5D integrated circuit, which has two MOSFETS inside, each one supporting up to 40 A at 25° C in continuous mode and up to 120 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with a maximum RDS(on) of 5 mΩ.

Figure 17: One of the DC-DC converters

Figure 18: One of the DC-DC converters

The outputs of the power supply are monitored by a PS223 integrated circuit, which supports over voltage (OVP), under voltage (UVP), and over current (OCP) protections. There are four OCP channels, one for +3.3 V, one for +5 V, and two for +12 V. The manufacturer, however, decided to use only one of the +12 V channels available, resulting in this unit having a single +12 V rail.

Figure 19: Monitoring circuit

This power supply uses a mix of solid and electrolytic capacitors in its secondary. The electrolytic capacitors are also Japanese, from Chemi-Con and Rubycon, and labeled at 105° C, as usual.

Figure 20: Capacitors