SilverStone opened its doors in 2003 and quickly became known for its stylish and quality system enclosures (that's fancy for "computer cases"). Headquartered in Taiwan, they also have corporate offices in the USA and Germany. Along with diversifying their location, they have diversified their product line. SilverStone sells hard drive enclosures, CPU coolers, system fans and, you guessed it, power supplies! We have one of SilverStone's PSU on the bench today in fact.

SilverStone aims it's Element series PSU's at the budget and efficiency minded. The ST40EF we are reviewing today was first introduced in March 2006 and is certified as an 80+ unit (80% efficiency or greater). Current street prices are as low at $60 USD (and rebates are also available). At that price, they approach the "bargain basement" variety of PSU's we often avoid. Yet, SilverStone has a pretty good reputation in PSUs. Let's see if the ST40EF is "bargain" or "basement".