SilverStone Strider Gold Evolution 750 W Power Supply Review

Secondary Analysis

The SilverStone Strider Gold Evolution 750 W uses a synchronous design in its secondary, meaning that the diodes were replaced with transistors in order to increase efficiency. In addition, this power supply uses a DC-DC design, meaning that it is basically a +12 V power supply, with the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs generated by two smaller switch-mode power supplies attached to the main +12 V output. This is also done to increase efficiency.

The +12 V output is rectified using four IPP023N04N MOSFETs, each one capable of handling up to 90 A at 100° C in continuous mode, or up to 400 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with an RDS(on) of only 2.3 mΩ.

Figure 14: The +12 V transistors

The +5 V and +3.3 V power supplies are located in two individual printed circuit boards, and each one uses an APW7073 PWM controller and four STD85N3LH5 MOSFETs, each one capable of handling up to 80 A at 25° C or 55 A at 100° C in continuous mode, or up to 320 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with an RDS(on) of 4.2 mΩ.

Figure 15: One of the DC-DC converters

Figure 16: One of the DC-DC converters

The secondary transistors are controlled by a PS232S chip, which supports over voltage (OVP), under voltage (UVP), and over current (OCP) protections. There are four +12 V over current channels available, but the manufacturer decided to use only one of them, thus making this unit a single-rail design.

Figure 17: Monitoring circuit

The electrolytic capacitors used in the secondary are also Japanese, from Chemi-Con, and labeled at 105° C, as usual.