Over the past few years the requirement for high-quality power supplies has become a real issue. Since processors and graphics cards have really started to suck down power, there has been a greater demand for power supplies to perform. Computers are generating a lot more heat these days and for this to happen they need more power. The power requirements of the latest and greatest computers are enormous. The power situation has reached a point where anything under 400watts is obsolete.

While basic office type computers can get away with crummy generic 350w power supplies, more powerful gaming systems certainly cannot. Doing so would result in serious system instability issues that can even place components such as the motherboard at great risk. High performance power supplies maintain a constant flow of power and at the same time continue to deliver enough power. There are also a few other attributes that help make power supplies such as the Silverstone Strider ST56F such quality products.

In fact Silverstone actually offer a huge range of power supplies, designed for a wide range of different purposes. For example the Zeus series consists of four high powered units, all designed to deliver maximum performance. The Nightjar series features a completely passive power supply, meaning it is totally silent. The bulk of their power supplies form the Strider series, in all there are eight power supplies ranging from 360w through to 600w. Todays review item being the Strider ST56F is one of the bigger wattage items outputting an impressive 560watts.

Silverstone claim that the working efficiency of the Strider ST56F is greater than 80% thanks to a brand new design that makes use of the latest components. The Strider ST56F is significantly more expensive than its 460watt version, around $40 US more expensive. The 600w version on the other hand is another $40 US more again, costing a huge $175 US. Keep in mind though that the 600w version does feature a completely modular design where as the 560watt and 460watt versions are not modular at all. Nonetheless, at $135 US the Strider ST56F is reasonably expensive, even for a high quality 560watt PSU.