Packaging

On the front of the box we find a photo of the rear side of the PSU on a dark background along with a sniper pointing at us. Also on the front, top right corner resides the Platinum efficiency badge. On the rear side of the packaging the military theme continues with the STR-500 posing again and right next to it we find a more interesting badge which informs us that the PSU can be overclocked to 600W with Gold efficiency rating. As it seems this unit along with the LZP-550 can easily deliver more watts but Super Flower deliberately dropped their nominal capacity in order to meet the Platinum requirements. Still a 120% overclock in max wattage while retaining Gold efficiency is remarkable, to say the least. Contrary to other packages we have examined in the past this one has the most valuable information on its bottom and top sides. There you will find the unit's specifications, the interior materials used like the brand of mosfets, caps etc. (something see on a PSU packaging for the first time) and a brief feature description.

Contents

The unit is protected by two layers of packing foam, one thick at the bottom and a much thinner one at the top and bubble wrap. The bundle includes the necessary modular cables, a nylon pouch to store the unused modular cables, an AC power cord, a set of thumb screws and a poor user's manual. Unfortunately we didn't find any Velcro ties or at least some zip ones.

Exterior

The unit is quite heavy since it has a large heatsink sitting on its top, to absorb and emit the radiated heat. Here we should note that you must install the PSU with the heatsink facing upwards since the hot air will rise; otherwise the heatsink will be useless and the unit won't be able to get rid of its internal heat.
There are ventilation holes everywhere, something natural since the manufacturer wanted to provide the best airflow possible. There also two ventilation holes are placed in the top heatsink. The unit's black matte finish is excellent and it will protect it from unwanted scratches. On the front size we find an On/Off switch, a very welcome feature and on the rear side the square shaped modular sockets are protected by silicone caps. You can connect any of the flat sleeved modular cables to any socket so there is no information about what cable goes where. Also the native cables are sleeved too but not all the way up to the connector. At least the sleeving goes up into the casing and there is a grommet around the cable exit hole.