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Introduction:
First, a little about the company,
Thermaltake Technology
Co., Ltd.. They are best known as Thermaltake or Tt.
This next blurb is from their website on their company
structure:
“Thermaltake Technology Co., Ltd. started its core
business based on our extensive knowledge of PC thermal
management during the era where the area of performance CPU
cooling was only exclusive for "overclockers" or PC
enthusiasts. With the company's initial launch of Orb
coolers, it created waves of shocks and appraisals
throughout the gaming and overclocking communities.
Thermaltake quickly became the name gamers turn to when they
need high-end and reliable thermal solutions.
With company's core business of CPU cooling still growing at
a vast rate, Thermaltake made another grand entry to the PC
chassis industry. To date, Thermaltake has always been
considered as the pioneering company that revolutionized the
PC chassis industry with Xaser series enclosures. The
typical and traditional beige and plastic front panel design
was outdone by Xaser series chassis's atypical gaming red
and aluminum front panel. It was also the first enclosure
available to public with Hardcano unit which provided users
full control over computer's thermal management system.
In the year 2002, Thermaltake announced Purepower line of
power supply unit for the ever-growing power-hungry PCs.
Purepower series PSU quickly gained recognition with its
extensive warranty and high-reliability guaranty.
Today, Thermaltake has grown into a world-class company with
state-of-the-art testing and R&D facility based in Taiwan
along with 60+ engineers and ID team covering each
application segment such as Liquid Cooling, Air Cooling, PC
Enclosure and Power Supply for main-stream users, high-end
solutions, system integrators and industrial applications;
thus achieve Thermaltake's company motto, " COOLall YOUR
LIFE " !” ~
more info
I've reviewed countless
Thermaltake products over the years.
Tt has come a long way since it first starting
manufacturing fans and coolers. Now they manufacture quality cases,
water cooling kits, power supplies and much more.
My first review on
a Tt fan product was way back in July, 2001. In Dec. 2002, I had
a look at their first Silent PurePower 420W Power Supply.
Since then I've reviewed many different PurePower series
power supplies. Today, I'm looking at another Silent PurePower,
the latest
600W Power Supply model.
Packaging:
Thermaltake
shipped this product to me in a cardboard box, along with foam packaging snow to
prevent damage and to prevent it from moving around.
The Power Supply Unit (PSU) box comes with a
handle and has plastic shrink wrap around it. If the plastic
shrink wrap is removed, it could mean the product was opened.
If this is the case, I would recommend contacting the reseller
or Tt directly.
Also note, the PSU itself has bubble wrap to further prevent
damage. It's very important that a product is packaged
correctly because they can and often do sustain damage when
not. It's comforting to see that most companies nowadays
take great care in insuring their products arrive safe and
sound.
Included
with this product is a Power Cable, four Screws for mounting
the PSU in the case, User's Manual, and the Power Supply.
Specifications:
This
particular product is available in one model,
PURE POWER-600AP
(Part No.: W0083RU).
This
power supply has a continuous wattage of 600 which is
ample power for today’s computer systems.
Now how is this wattage determined? Well to understand this, you need to know
what rails are.
Rails are
basically well regulated transformers which convert domestic
current into the voltages that your computer system can use.
There are essentially two different rails: the +3.3/+5v rail
and the +12v rail.
In this
particular case the approximate maximum peak output of the
+3.3/+5v rail is 170 watts and the +12v is 425 watts, which
is essentially how the wattage of this power supply is
determined.
The 3.3/5v rail is responsible for the motherboard, memory,
PCI cards, AGP card and so on. The 12v rail is responsible
for the HDD’s, DVD, CD-ROM, fans, etc.
Ok, let's get into the details and specifications!
Here are the peak amps on each rail. The +3.3V is 30A, and
the +5V is 28A. Unlike most power supplies with only one
+12V rail, this product has three. The +12V1 is 14A, +12V2
is 23A and the +12V3 is 15A. Also, the AC input specs are: 115VAC/230VAC, 50~60Hz,
10A.
This power supply meets the SSI EPS
ATX
12V v2.1/2.2 specification. For additional information
on form factors please visit
Form Factor website. This basically means that a
power supply must be able to sustain full load in 50°
C (122°
F) ambient conditions. Although, power output on all models
will decrease ~1°
C starting at an ambient temperature of 40°
C. Having the ATX 12V v2.01/2.02 specification is important
because some power supplies tend to overheat and shut down
the system under max load. Higher end power supplies float in
the ~85% range. This PSU is 80% efficient. Note that the more efficient a power supply
is, the less heat will be generated, and therefore it won't require
excessive cooling.
This power supply also has Active Power Factor Correction
(PFC). Active PFC is preferred over Passive PFC because it
provides a more efficient power frequency. This reduces total
harmonics, corrects input voltage, and it allows for a full
input voltage range. The disadvantage is that it increases
the cost of the power supply. This PSU has a
0.99 Active Power Factor value.
Additionally, this product is 100% Hi-pot,
Chroma,
ATE (Automatic
Test Equipment)
& Burn-in function tested. So what the heck does all that mean?
Well, production Hi-pot testing ensures insulation integrity.
Chroma is a world recognized leader in power supply testing
equipment which includes automated power supply test
systems, electronic loads, programmable AC power supplies
and related equipment to support the power conversion
industry. Finally, Burn-in is really a stress test and means
it was tested at full load and still meets specs.
A power supply also needs to be fail-safe. This unit has
Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Under Voltage Protection (OVP), Short Circuit Protection (SCP), Over Load Protection (OLP),
and Over Temperature Protection (OTP).
Also, it's Safety/EMI Approved: CB, CE, FCC, UL, CUL, and TUV
certifications.
Ever wonder who actually makes a particular PSU? Most
companies like Tt do not make the Power Supplies in-house.
Rather, they are made by an original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) which are probably unknown to most of us. So, how does
one go about finding out who actually made it? Well, that's
very simple. Just get the number which is below the UL logo.
In this case it's
E144195.
Now visit this
UL Database site and enter the number.
A closer look:
Like the majority of new power supplies on the market,
this one meets environmentally-friendlier power standards.
Now,
let's get a size measurement; 14cm(L) x 15cm(W) x 8.6cm(H).
Please note that power supplies have to meet the ATX
standard. This means that the width and height are usually
the same, although the length can vary.
This power supply has a black mirror paint finish and comes
with a large 120mm fan. The overall look is basic,
nothing really fancy here like a modular design or windows.
Some PSU fan grills are mounted on the outside of the power
supply and this could pose a problem with some cases.
Thankfully this PSU fan grill is recessed. The 120mm fan supplies more than enough air circulation
though, and keeps the inside of the power supply cool. Even when the 120mm is running it's virtually silent, and
that's great. I dislike a power supply that has loud fan(s).
Also,
there are plenty of honeycomb ventilation holes to assist in
cooling. This honeycomb design is used on many new Power
Supplies and is much better than a standard
grill design which is inefficient .
This product
has auto switching so there's no need to manually switch
between 115V/230V before installation. Also, note the power
cable connection and the power switch.
This power supply has plenty of leads and they are all
sleeved. This reduces the cable mess and increases air flow
inside the case.
Leads/Adapters:
1- 24(20) pin Main Motherboard Lead
1- 4/8 (4+4) Pin ATX 12V Motherboard Lead (4 to 8 pin
adapter included)
2- 6 Pin Video Card Lead (for PCI-E Video Card)
2- 4 Pin FD Lead (for Floppy drives)
8- 4 Pin Acc Lead (for HD, CD, DVD, etc)
4- SATA Power Lead
2- Case Fan Only Connector
Also note, the 4 pin leads are gold plated and have easy grip connectors which
makes connecting/disconnecting components quick and easy.
Testing:
For testing this Power Supply I used the following test
setup:
Motherboard: DFI UT nForce4 SLI DR Motherboard
CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 3000+ @ 2.7GHz Processor
PSU: Thermaltake Silent PurePower 600W Power Supply Unit
Video Cards: 2 x BFG 7800 GT Video Card
Hard Drives: 2 x WD Raptor 74GB HDDs in RAID0
Drive: Plextor PX-712A DVD±R/RW Drive
Memory: OCZ EB DDR PC-4000 2GB Memory
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card
Please remember that when testing this power supply it was
done with the system overclocked to 2.7GHz. Also, the system
was at maximum load. The results were taken with a
Multimeter, not
through system software.
Conclusion:
The Thermaltake Silent PurePower 600W Power Supply has
lots of good things going for it. First and foremost, it has
efficient power and lots of it. 600 watts is more than
enough for most systems on the market. It's even enough for
server and robust gaming applications. It also has dual PCI
Express Video Cards leads for SLI/Cross-Fire setups. This is
something hardcore gamers will definitely appreciate. It's
even dual-core CPU ready. All this and it's quiet, too.
120mm fans are the choice for most high wattage power
supplies these days and it's no wonder. They offer plenty of
cooling power but remain relatively silent. It even looks
great with the black mirror finish paint job. This product
has all the essential ingredients for an excellent Power
Supply.
Pros:
-
Very high quality power
- Active PFC
- Dual PCI-E Video Card Leads
- Quiet 120mm fan
- All cables are sleeved
Cons:
- No modular leads
- Not officially NVIDIA SLI certified (Although, Tt told me
it's at their lab for testing)
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