Silverstone has announced the Hela 2050R PSU, packing 2,050W alongside enough connectors to run multiple machines’ worth of power. It also boasts Cybenetics Platinum efficiency rating, all while being capable of delivering full capacity 24/7.
Measuring 150mm (W) x 86mm (H) x 180mm (D), the Hela 2050R is designed with a single massive 12V 170A rail and uses Japanese electrolytic capacitors for an extended lifespan. In other words, it offers 882 watts per litre. These components are cooled by a 135mm dual-ball bearing fan featuring zero-rpm mode under 40% load. Cool and quiet.
Hela 2050R also carries Cybenetics’ Platinum rating, which means up to 91% efficiency and 0.975 overall power factor. The usual OCP, OPP, OVP, SCP, and OTP protections are also present.
Connector-wise, you’ll find one 24-Pin for the motherboard, two 8-Pin for the CPU, 14 6+2-Pin PCIe for graphics/addon cards, three 12+4-Pin (12VHPWR) for graphics cards, 12 SATA, three Molex, and lastly one Floppy connector.
Silverstone’s PSU won’t just work in any old outlet, though. Hela 2050R requires a 200 to 240-volt socket to deliver its entire 2,050 watts. If plugged into 100 to 115V AC, the maximum capacity is reduced to 1650 watts.
This is enough juice to drive two or even three RTX 4090 cards in SLI. Maybe even four with some undervolting, as each is rated for 450W by default. Though, to be fair, most of us won’t even be able to combine the power of two, let alone four. Nvidia has all but terminated Scalable Link Interface (SLI) support. Some professional tasks can still benefit from multiple GPUs, but the NVLink required no longer appears on the best graphics cards and games rarely support the feature.
For those new to PC gaming, SLI lets you run more than one graphics card in tandem, combining their power. Don’t be fooled into thinking this would double or triple your frame rate, though. In reality, the second graphics card ran at slower speeds, and the technology was plagued with visual tearing and choppy gameplay—if games managed to run at all.
Due to these issues, Nvidia stopped SLI driver support on January 1, 2021. This meant that GPUs newer than the RTX 2000 series would not include this technology. But Nvidia wasn’t alone, AMD has also let go of its CrossfireX technology due to similar difficulties and limitations, marking the end of multi-GPU gaming.
All this to say that 2,050W of power is clearly beyond the needs of any gaming machine. If not for the single 24-pin cable, the Hela 2050R could at least be handy for those dual-system chassis. Though if you are an extreme overclocker, you may be able to leverage this capacity when overclocking high-core count CPUs or GPUs using LN2. For example, recent Threadripper overclocking records required around 1,600W to power the beast.
Silverstone hasn’t yet shared any pricing for the Hela 2050R PSU. Looking at the Hela 2050 (non-R) £500 tag, we can expect around the same, if not a bit more. We know, however, that each is backed by a five-year warranty.
