Test Setup and Methodology

The power supply was installed in the system below:

JMke's A64 Test Setup
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ S754 “CG” stepping
Mainboard	DFI Lanparty UT NF3 250Gb (Oskar Wu’s 10/15 Beta Bios)
Cooling	Stock AMD Heatsink and Fan
Memory	1*512Mb PC3200
Video	nVidia Geforce FX 5900XT

A few hours of 3DMark2001SE loops in combination with K7Burn and SuperPI, Prime95 and O&O HD defrag were used for stressing the system. The system ran stable without any hick-ups, so let’s push it a bit further:

JMke's A64 Test Extra Large Setup
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2400Mhz – 1.65v
Mainboard	DFI Lanparty UT NF3 250Gb (Oskar Wu’s 10/15 Beta Bios)
Cooling	Stock AMD Heatsink and Fan
Memory	3*512Mb PC3200
Extra	nVidia Geforce FX 5900XT
Extra	Promise Fastrack SX150 + 32Mb SDRAM Firewire PCI 3x10/100 PCI Network card 6x 7200rpm HDD’s

Again the system was powered up and ready for a full 12-hour period of system stressing:



Using the latest version of SpeedFan 3.3v / 5v / 12v lines were monitored:



The average results are quite good overall, if you’re wondering what the “tolerance” is for, well, the ATX v2.0 standard specifies a maximum and minimum value for each voltage rail. The % in the table above shows the deviation from the “ideal” value. The table below shows the maximum deviation per voltage rail:


From Planet3dnow ©

So the SilentStorm does hold its rail within the ATX v2.0 specs, and the system was rock stable during all tests, even when overclocked and stuffed with additional hardware!


Conclusion

Sharkoon targets the enthusiast with their latest power supply, the SilentStorm is a decent product which packs enough power to please the demanding user.

The unit tested today is whisper quiet and ready for the latest high end hardware, an easy 20+4-pin connector, separate voltage line for AGP/PCI-e video card, and quite a few extras make it interesting if the price is right.
The 480W model sells in Europe for €89, while it’s no budget price, it is very competitively priced for the amount of Wattage and extra’s you receive.

The main downside is the availability of this unit outside Europe, the lack of an 110V switch pretty much eliminates it from ever becoming popular on the other side of the pond.

For the EU visitors who are building a new system and want a silent and powerful power supply the SilentStorm offers a very interesting choice!

PRO
Stable voltage rails
Very silent
Future proof connectors, dedicated video card voltage rail
Competitively priced

CON
Only for 200-240V

We would like to thank Thorsten at Sharkoon for making this review possible

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