Silver Power SP-S850 PSU

What's Inside

While slightly larger than the some lower power ATX PSUs which are 15cm long, the Silver Power SP-S850 is 18cm which matches others around this wattage. However, inside there's a chunk of space either side of a PCB that's barely over 12cm long - it could easily have been shoehorned into something smaller.

The large 14cm ball bearing, high flow fan is made by Globe Fan is a clear bladed to allow the four blue LEDs to shine into it from the edges. Since it's a custom model for Silver Power we don't know the exact specification, however BFG (among others) uses the same fan manufacturer in its own power supplies. According to the manual, between 0-80 percent load the noise sits between 20-25dB, but it rises sharply between 80-100 percent load to around 28 dB.

The large golden yellow heatsinks (which photograph more orange) are easily seen through the fan and are certainly a striking feature. They aren't as large as we've seen elsewhere though for this wattage, even if they are shaped to provide a high surface area.


The build quality appears high - nothing wiggles or is prone to vibration, although there is considerable use of silicone paste to lock things in. The single, massive main capacitor has an 85˚C rating and is made by Teapo, a Taiwanese manufacturer.

In an attempt to reduce voltage ripple before it gets to be processed into DC current, Silver Power uses ferrite chokes around the main AC power in-take cables as well as the earth cable. This is widely regarded as one of the cheapest ways to try to reduce ripple, which is understandable given the target market of the unit. Its overall effectiveness compared to other solutions is debated but there is certainly a considerable degree of cost effectiveness involved in this choice.


There are separate 12V and 3.3V/5V transformers, but with no dedicated 5V standby hardware or the more recently used DC-DC conversion employed.