SilverStone DA850 Gold 850W Power Supply Review

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Conclusion

The SilverStone DA850 Gold is far from the first SilverStone power supply we have seen here at TheFPSReview. However, while power supplies from SilverStone have been mostly niche-type products here at TheFPSReview, SilverStone is a huge name in the enthusiast DIY market. So, it is fitting that today we are looking at a very much more mainstream enthusiast product from SilverStone. In the past, SilverStone has shone brightly in the niche products we have seen. The question becomes today, can SilverStone shine bright today in the more mainstream enthusiast realm? Or is the DA850 Gold a tarnished offering? Let’s see.

Build Quality

Today’s SilverStone DA850 Gold starts things out with a build quality that is good but certainly has some room for improvement. The exterior of this unit follows the current branding and format of SilverStone PSUs very closely. The one area that varies a bit is the unique fan grille we see today. Otherwise, the form, finish, and features are largely what we have come to expect from a SilverStone unit that is in the ATX12v/EPS form factor and has modular cables.

The interior of the DA850 Gold is the area where we see things that could be improved. True, the unit does feature certain very nice touches in the soldering and component selection when we see Nichicon and Nippon Chemi-con standard capacitors paired with APAQ solid capacitors. It stumbles, a bit though when we see that we get Elite solid capacitors and possibly a sleeve bearing fan. The fan may also be an FDB fan as SilverStone claims and it is possible that Yate Loon simply does not distinguish sleeve from FDB in their documentation given the shared development history.

That said, the documentation on the unit is greatly shortened compared to the versions previous units have included and it has a QR code instead. In addition to this, SilverStone is only on the hook for a relatively short three years when it comes to warranty support.

Load Testing

Today’s SilverStone DA850 Gold provides us with excellent results overall. Indeed, we saw voltage regulation of up to 0.04v on the 12v rail, 0.03v on the 5v rail, and 0.03v on the 3.3v rail. In a relative sense, the DA850 Gold does better than the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W and MSI MPG A850GF while being mixed with the ASUS ROG THOR 850W. The efficiency is excellent by absolute numbers as the unit’s efficiency ranged from 87.59% to 90.71% at 120v and 86.08% to 89.85% at 100v. Lastly, this unit passed our Torture Test in fine shape which is good to see from this unit.

When we look at the Transient Load Tests results for the SilverStone DA850 Gold, we see results that are passing. When directly loaded, the 12v rail showed a peak change of ~480mV, and the 5v rail had a peak change of ~70mV. During the 12v load, the unloaded 5v rail saw a peak change of ~60mV. In absolute terms, these results are, as stated above, passing. In relative terms, this unit does trail the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W, ASUS ROG THOR 850W, and MSI MPG A850GF. This is low point of the day for this unit.

DC Output Quality

The DC Output Quality results for the SilverStone DA850 Gold were passing and, overall, excellent. Indeed, we saw peak values of just ~25mV of ripple/noise on the 12v rail ~15mV on the 5v rail, and ~15mV on the 3.3v rail. When it comes to absolute values, these values are well within specification limits with the minor rails being the worst overall. When it comes to relative values, this unit tied the Enermax REVOLUTION DF 850W and MSI MPG A850GF while slightly trailing the ASUS ROG THOR 850W. As such, this is another very solid set of results for SilverStone today.

Noise

Today’s SilverStone DA850 Gold is a middle-of-the-road-to-upper-end capacity unit. That means that quiet is normally not the name of the game. However, this unit does have a large overhead fan design, excellent efficiency, and an open layout. That said since SilverStone has gone with trying to keep the form factor compact that large overhead fan is not as large as it could be if a larger housing had been used. The good news is the fan type used (be it sleeve bearing or FDB) is known for being quiet. So, there is a bit of give and take there.

In our testing, this unit was very well behaved. It was not until the Torture Test that we could discern the fan adding noise to our load testing environment. Given the circumstances required to reach that noise output, this unit seems to be well behaved and should work out well for most users.

Final Points

The SilverStone DA850 Gold ends up being a solidly competitive power supply today. We say competitive because at times it would be one of the better 850W units we have seen to date while at others not so much in a relative sense. In an absolute sense, the DA850 Gold gave us very good build quality, excellent voltage regulation, excellent DC Output Quality, and passing Transient Load results while also being relatively quiet.

Indeed, this unit seemed to score competitively across the board. Now, as always when something is not absolutely class-leading or unique in some amazing way, that does leave us with the question of price. Price is always tricky and, of late, it has gotten just downright bizarre because of the market. But, let’s see.

Today, we find that the SilverStone DA850 Gold can be had for $170.63. That is not a good price given what we have seen in competitive offerings from MSI and Enermax at. True, the SilverStone DA850 Gold does have a few unique characteristics going for it with its relatively short length making it viable in certain size constrained builds that those others do not. However, at the current price, unless you absolutely need those few fractions of an inch to inch in space there are better values out there. This is not solely SilverStone’s fault, of course given the current market, but it does provide a stiff headwind when it comes to the adoption of this unit over other options on the market at this time.

Discussion

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Paul Johnson
Paul is a long time PC hobbyist and tech enthusiast having gotten his start when he broke his first C64 quickly followed by breaking his first IBM XT. Most notably however, for 12 years, he served as the Power Supply Editor for one of the truly early, groundbreaking, and INDPENDENT PC enthusiast sites ([H]ardOCP) until its mothballing in April of 2019. Paul now brings the same flair and style of his power supply reviews to The FPS Review.

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