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SilverStone DA1000 vs. OP1000-E: Dueling PSU's

Silverstone is certainly no slouch when it comes to high end power supplies. HardOCP has been using its PSUs for quite a while with great success. Let's see what two of its best 1000 watt units has to offer.

SilverStoneTek is a company best known for their high quality cases but their product lines extend into other components such as cooling, power, fans, storage, and so on. As a company Silverstone has built up this impressive product repertoire in a very short time having been founded in 2003. Today, however we are interested in their power supplies which are comprised of the Strider, Decathlon, Element, Nightjar, Zeus, Gemini, and Olympia model lines that range from 350w to 1200w DC output. Today we are looking at a pair of 1000w SilverStone power supplies from the Decathlon (DA1000) and Olympia (OP1000-E) lines respectively.

Impervio Electronics Co. Ltd. is a rather small design company founded in 2006. From whom we first heard about via their work with SilverStone. As such many US customers have PSUs that Impervio has designed but are sold under the SilverStone label, but they also provide the power supplies that OCZ brands as the EliteXStream. Impervio's main focus in power supply development has been on high wattage ATX and redundant power supplies which leads nicely into the enthusiast market. Impervio’s first unit we reviewed did quite well, so today’s look at the SilverStone 1000 watt units certainly has potential.

Clash of the Greek Inspired Power Supplies

It has been some time since we have seen a 1000 watt power supply from SilverStone, but the last 1000 watt unit we saw (the original Olympia 1000w) was certainly a godly creation fit for its name when it came to raw voltage regulation. Today, SilverStone steps back up with not one but two 1000 watt power supplies. Most obviously one is a modular build while the other is not. What separates the DA1000 from the OP1000-E, and how do these units stack up in SilverStones's lineup?

Decathlon DA1000

The Decathlon series is highly recommended for overclocking enthusiasts and the DA1000 is no different by providing the simplicity of 100% modular cable managing system with the all-mighty 80A +12V single rail. Capable of outputting 1000 watts of pure adrenaline to any multi-processors CPUs through its dual PCI-E 8pin connectors and six PCI-E 6pin connectors, the DA1000 can support a variety of power usage up to three high-end graphic cards effortlessly. If you are looking to find something that will provide stable and continuous power to your multi-processors system with top of the line power hungry add-ons, then the low ripple and noise within +/-3% voltage regulation of this all-around power will definitely carry out its task with ease.

Olympia OP1000-E

As SilverStone’s power user level power supplies, OP series models are also designed for heavy duty server and workstation use. The OP1000-Evolution was built to withstand enormous loading requirements of high-end industrial server PCs at above average temperature of 50°C so its ability is unmatched by ordinary power supplies. Its voltage regulation is within ±3% for outstanding stability with a compact size (150mm) for easy integration. If the goal is to build a future proof multi-core CPU and GPU system, the OP1000-E is a must have with its 80A +12V single rail.

Moving on let’s see what we can expect when a user purchases the SilverStone Decathlon DA1000 or the Olympia OP1000-E at retail in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.