400-450W PSU Roundup
by Christoph Katzer on November 6, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Thermaltake Purepower RX 450W
Next up is the Thermaltake TR2 RX Purepower 450W PSU, stepping into the ring wearing the standard Thermaltake silver colors. One of the more unusual aspects about this PSU is that thermal take uses punch holes for the fan grille. This looks a bit unusual, and we can't help but think that this design will impede airflow -- double the odd considering the use of a larger 140mm fan -- but most likely this was a cost-cutting measure. A normal fan grille would provide better ventilation and we definitely think it looks better, but we aren't going to try to pretend that appearance is the most important factor when it comes to picking out a power supply.
The label indicates 14A and 16A outputs on the 12V rails, which is a bit lower than we would expect, but the combined power is also 30A and the result is the same as the previous two models. The columns for the 3.3V and 5V rails are a bit confusing, as you have to read the text above to find out that the maximum combined power of these two rails is 140W. The ratings end up being similar to what we find on just about any other 450W power supply, however.
The Thermaltake unit has also all cables sleeved, even between connectors. Since this is a modular power supply, Thermaltake includes a small bag where unused cables can be stored. The main ATX cables are 50cm long, which might not be long enough for use in full tower cases. The package includes six Molex connectors and four SATA connectors plus a single 6-pin PCI-E connector. That may be inadequate for a high-end system, but it's more than sufficient for midrange computers.
The inside is a typical CWT layout with the filtering stage in the top row and the poorly designed heatsinks all over the place. A large fan can reach most components on the PCB, but the heatsinks act like an umbrella since there is simply no space where air can come through. There are more and more Thermaltake power supplies out there, and each one has these lousy heatsinks. It's no wonder that all of these units have a bad thermal management and in most cases need to have a little piece of plastic installed under the fan to direct the air in the right direction. Only bad thermal designs need this kind of help. Instead of taking the brute force approach of a 140mm fan, it would be better for Thermaltake to spend a bit more effort on improving their heatsinks.
Next up is the Thermaltake TR2 RX Purepower 450W PSU, stepping into the ring wearing the standard Thermaltake silver colors. One of the more unusual aspects about this PSU is that thermal take uses punch holes for the fan grille. This looks a bit unusual, and we can't help but think that this design will impede airflow -- double the odd considering the use of a larger 140mm fan -- but most likely this was a cost-cutting measure. A normal fan grille would provide better ventilation and we definitely think it looks better, but we aren't going to try to pretend that appearance is the most important factor when it comes to picking out a power supply.
The label indicates 14A and 16A outputs on the 12V rails, which is a bit lower than we would expect, but the combined power is also 30A and the result is the same as the previous two models. The columns for the 3.3V and 5V rails are a bit confusing, as you have to read the text above to find out that the maximum combined power of these two rails is 140W. The ratings end up being similar to what we find on just about any other 450W power supply, however.
The Thermaltake unit has also all cables sleeved, even between connectors. Since this is a modular power supply, Thermaltake includes a small bag where unused cables can be stored. The main ATX cables are 50cm long, which might not be long enough for use in full tower cases. The package includes six Molex connectors and four SATA connectors plus a single 6-pin PCI-E connector. That may be inadequate for a high-end system, but it's more than sufficient for midrange computers.
The inside is a typical CWT layout with the filtering stage in the top row and the poorly designed heatsinks all over the place. A large fan can reach most components on the PCB, but the heatsinks act like an umbrella since there is simply no space where air can come through. There are more and more Thermaltake power supplies out there, and each one has these lousy heatsinks. It's no wonder that all of these units have a bad thermal management and in most cases need to have a little piece of plastic installed under the fan to direct the air in the right direction. Only bad thermal designs need this kind of help. Instead of taking the brute force approach of a 140mm fan, it would be better for Thermaltake to spend a bit more effort on improving their heatsinks.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
37 Comments
View All Comments
Christoph Katzer - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Yup and before the use of very bulky heatsinks made the power supplies heavier. Today the components are better and the heatsinks are getting smaller again (Seasonic and FSP standard design for example).Pale Rider - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
It's easily the best of the "lower" power choices.JarredWalton - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
We already reviewed the Seasonic 330W and 500W, and given that Seasonic is the ODM of the Corsair and Antec units... except while Corsair is basically identical to the Seasonic model, Antec messed around with the fan to cut costs or something. 430W S12II and 450VX are pretty much the same PSU.Modular - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Page 2: "360W combined equates to 15A when both are "fully" loaded."-Should read 30A fully loaded.
Page 5: "The original design used two 17A 12V rails (as does the Earthwatts)"
-Per this review http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=51&...">http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=51&... the Earthwatts line isn't really 2 12v rails either. No biggie, but just wanted to clarify.
The Ultra is listed as a V-Series when it's actually the XVS, which is basically a step above the V-Series in that it has the flex cables and is modular.
Overall this was a pretty informative review. I'm glad that you included heat sink temps and fan noise, and it's really good to see the ripple included.
drebo - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
In the retail computer sales business, I don't consider a $60 430W power supply to be a "Budget" power supply. That's more of a midrange, and is generally overkill for most of the computers sold. Even the Ultra is too expensive to bother with for most of my customers.I'd like to see a true budget roundup. Powersupplies in the $20-30 range. Like those from Athenatech or Maxtop(Q-Max) or even the lower-end Thermaltakes. I realize that they're going to be pretty crappy results, but I think it's important to see, comparitively, how they do. If it were up to me, all of my customers would be using Antec EarthWatts power supplies, but they don't understand why the extra money is necessary. With information like this, it would be far easier to convince them to spend the extra $20.
magreen - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
I second that call for lower cost PSU roundups. I was under the impression that FSP makes decent enough PSUs. Can you include reviews of their 350W, 400W and 450W models? They won't have active PFC, but let's be honest, most users don't care at all about that.Iger - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
+1 actually. I'd really like to understand what kind of performance can one expect from a low-end psu. Then again, Ultra probably answers the question, at least vaguely. I just wish we'd have a bigger choise of psus in europe... And better prices <sigh>Christoph Katzer - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
No choice in Europe? Which country are you living in? Most shops are sending the stuff all around Europe already and you'll probably find even more in Ebay.The problem with a low end PSU roundup is that I am living in Europe as well and it will not be easy to convince a company to send me their stuff when the shipping is triple the cost of the actual product. But let us find a way and in the beginning of next year we will see what we can do...
xsilver - Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - link
Also, has it been investigated whether there are differences between varying PSU's coming off the assembly line?I would like to think that the high end manufacturers could produce identical products but Im not so sure the QC of the cheapo PSU's will give u the same PSU every time. eg. some cheap psu's seem to live on through torrid abuse and yet some just die only after 1 month of use.
Super Nade - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Hi,Why did you guys cut down on the internal component analysis? Hate to see a single picture and a few cursory words about the internal architecture. Load testing aside, I find everything else a bit boring. You had a nice thing going looking at the components, why cull it? If you decided to shorten the reviews, you could have trimmed the part about acoustics. ;)
Regards,
Super Nade
OCForums