Silverstone Hela Series 850R Platinum (850W)

Rating: 8.5.

Silverstone recently launched a new series of HELA Platinum power supplies and today we look at their 850 watt model, priced at around £220 in the UK. This unit is fully modular with an ultra-quiet 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan and incorporates Japanese capacitors throughout.

We consider 80 Plus Gold certified power supplies an entry level option now for our audience, so when we get offered Platinum or Titanium power supplies we see this as a good thing. To achieve such efficiency, companies generally have to spend a little more on higher quality components which we like.

HELA 850 PLATINUM AT A GLANCE:

• 100% modular cables.
• Super flexible black flat cables.
• All Japanese electrolytic capacitors.
• Supports 12VHPWR PCIe connector with ATX 3.0 and PCIe Gen 5 standard.
• 24/7 continuous power output with 50c operating temperature.
• 180° angled SATA connectors designed for stack mounted hard drives.

The front of the box highlights the efficiency of the unit, alongside a high resolution photograph of the supply in the corner.

The rear of the box showcases the cabling, alongside specifications and efficiency data and graphs.

The bundle includes some datasheets, screws, cable ties and a regional specific power plug. Silverstone have opted for flat cables to allow for greater flexibility when it comes to cable management.

We have no issues with the cable configuration highlighted in the table above. All of the cables are free from capacitors. As a PCIe 5.0 unit, a native 12VHPWR cable is also supplied.

Connectors:

The Silverstone 850R Platinum is a colour neutral design – ideal if you are using a themed system build without a PSU shroud to hide it.

Behind the quirky shroud is a 135mm fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) fan, we will take a closer look at this later in the review when we open the unit.

One side of the power supply is vented with a power switch and cable connector. There is also a ‘semi fanless switch' which allows the fan to remain off, until a specific load/temperature is reached. This is ideal for keeping noise levels lower when the power demand is less.

The 850R can deliver almost 71A on the +12V rail and 22A to both +3.3V and +5V rails.

Silverstone are using a Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan (FDB) rated at 12V, 0.50A. Model number S1352512EH. The fan controller is a STC STC15W408AS unit.

The OEM for this unit is High Power and the overall design is very clean throughout.  Soldering quality is pretty good as well.

The primary side is APFC, Half Bridge & LLC Converter. The Secondary side using synchronous Rectification & DC-DC convertors. The two primary capacitors are Japanese – quality caps from respected company Rubycon rated 400V, 470uF, for a combined 940uF @ 105C. Resonant controller is a Champion CU6901VA and the transient filter comprises 4x Y Caps, 2x X caps, 2x CM chokes, 1x MOV and a Champion CM02X as a Discharge IC.

This unit ships with OCP, OVP, OPP, OTP, SCP and UVP protections.

Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. We run at 35c in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.

We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• Extech digital sound level meter
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA

We test in a single +12V configuration.

Load regulation is very strong with the rails holding with 1.5% of recommended specifications.

We managed to get the power supply to deliver 933W before it would shut down, delivering around 83W more than rated specifications.

Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.

The power supply dealt with the demanding cross load test very well. It was tasked with 60A on the +12V rail and it held at 11.99V.

We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum.

ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.

Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.

Noise suppression is very good with +3.3V and +5V rails peaking at 15mV. The +12V rail peaked at 25mV at full load.

As we would expect efficiency levels are very high across the range of loads – peaking around 94% and dropping to around 91% at full load.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the power supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide

10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The fan in this unit is almost inaudible at most load situations. It is only when pushed to around 700 watts load that the fan ramps up quickly to cope with rising temperatures inside the chassis.

The high levels of efficiency help keep the internals of this power supply running quite cool, even under higher load.

At 933 watts, this unit managed to deliver efficiency at 89.8%.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Silverstone HELA Series 850R is a great power supply. The neutral colour scheme will suit a variety of systems and the build quality is very high grade throughout.

This High Power design is clean with use of high quality 105C-rated Japanese caps, and the test results highlight an all-round capable unit, without any discernible weaknesses. Ripple suppression falls within industry rated parameters and the unit passed our cross load test with flying colours. It was also able to deliver over 930 watts sustained without shutting down as well.

The choice of flat cables and fully modular design ensures that the build phase is as easy as possible. You only connect the cables you need, and their flexibility means that hiding them isn't too difficult.

During operation the Silverstone HELA 850R is quiet and it is only really above a sustained 700 watt demand that the large fan speeds up quickly to deal with rising internal heat throughout the chassis. If you want to build a good gaming system with a draw of around 500 watts , then this power supply will remain very quiet during real world extended gaming sessions.

In the UK this power supply is available for around the £220 inc. VAT price point – it is listed on Overclockers UK for £219.95 at time of going to press and you can buy it HERE.

Pros:

• Quiet under extended load.
• Quality Rubycon 105C-rated Japanese capacitors.
• Fully modular.
• Flat cabling.

Cons:

• Expensive unit.

KitGuru says: The Silverstone Hela Series 850W power supply scored well throughout all our testing. This is a capable, fully modular unit that deserves some serious consideration if low noise levels and high quality power are a primary concern. It comes highly recommended.

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