ThermalTake PurePower PST520W ATX PSU -
Page 2
You know, it's amazing what a PC consumes power wise these days. Manufacturers really need to take a good look at this problem as it is a growing concern. Take a Pentium 4 3.6 GHz Prescott based PC armed with the now mid-range Radeon x800 XT PE, three HDs, a DVD-writer and CD Writer. When windows boots it'll use up no more than like 120-130 Watts.
The minute you overclock your processor and graphics card, and use the HDs and optical drives, your wattage will rise to about 350-400 Watts and can, at very stressful points, peak even higher. That still leaves plenty of room to play around. However, for every additional HD or optical drive you need to add 10 Watts and that's where the problem nowadays is.
Do you choose the Guru path of
SLI or Crossfire ? Add another 75-100 Watts to the margin we just set. Do you have a dual CPU based rig or Dual Core processor ? That'll cost you about an extra 80 Watts and then there is additional cooling to ventilate all these "hot" gadgets. Therefore always choose a PSU with plenty of 'breathing' space for future upgrades and devices.At this time I suggest you get at least a 400 Watt PSU for any mediocre PC. With a lot of HD's and extras like active fans and case-mods such as lights, or if simply powering a high-end gaming rig, go for something even higher than 400 Watt. A 520 Watt PSU today is not that bad of a specification for today's high-end computers.
See, my point is this, we need a good PSU these days, and in the near future probably diesel backed up generators in our gardens :)
Right, let's have a peek at the PurePower distribution voltage rails:
OUTPUT |
INPUT | |||||||
VVoltage Rail |
+5V |
+12V1 |
+12V2 |
-12V |
+3.3V |
+5VSB |
Input Voltage Range |
100 - 240 VAC |
Max. Load |
30A |
15A |
15A |
0.3A |
30A |
2.0A |
Input Frequency Range |
47 - 63 Hz |
Min. Load |
1.0A |
1.0A |
1.0A |
0.0A |
0.5A |
0.0A |
Input Current |
8 / 4 A |
Load Reg. |
+5% -5% |
+5% -5% |
+5% -5% |
+10% -10% |
+5% -5% |
+5% -5% |
Hold-up Time |
16ms |
Ripple V(p-p) |
50mV |
120mV |
200mV |
120mV |
50mV |
50mV |
Efficiency |
>70% |
What seems a little odd are the two 12volts rails, I mean it's fantastic that there are two of them if you decide to do some SLI/Crossfire gaming yet they are 15 Amps each. A single GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card can peak towards 20-22 AMPs. DUAL in SLI NVIDIA recommends 30 Amps in total on the 12 volts rail. You need to keep in mind that you have 2x15 AMPs available, thus 30 AMPS. To put this to the test we are going to hook up two 7800 GTX cards in SLI in a test rig to see if this PSU can keep up with it.
Power Factor Correction - PFC
The PurePower PSU we tested was model W0073, I mention this specifically as this model has a very nice feature called active PFC. To put it in simple terms, Active PFC PSUs are more expensive and from a power consumption point of view more efficient. Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its highest efficiency.
There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. This PSU has active PFC. Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is definitely more expensive to produce an active PFC power supply.
Right, allow me to commence with both the beginning and the end results straight away. Ladies and gentlemen .. it's time to start the "Extreme Makeover" ...
Before: this is "Julia" 14 months of age ... and ugly ... gosh.
After: we did a 130 USD plastic surgery this is the end result. Now that already speaks for itself doesn't it ? Notice how little wiring comes out of the PSU. One cable leads towards the 5.25" drive bay distribution box, and all the way down at the bottom you can see the mini distribution box (mini-PST)
Thermaltake's take on a gaming keybpad results in the Flare Board, a 44-Key, USB plug & play, keypad with a comfortable layout tailored for games. It's easy to use, but it feels a little mushy and we wish the LED's lit more of the keypad and less of the desk.
ThermalTake Mozart With Media Lab
Today we are entering the mysterious world of the HTPC .. the Home Theater PC. A PC that has been built for the sole purpose of playing back music, movies and or media files, basically a multimedia center. And that is not an easy mission, as everybody has different goals, budgets and tasks for such a PC. Essentially this is a review about the Thermaltake Mozart. Look at the choices and building part of the HTPC as an additional bonus in this review.
ThermalTake PurePower PST520W ATX PSU
Thermaltake has taken moddable PSU's to the next level ... and in a very clever way, I must add. The PSU we will be testing today is a truly hefty SLI/Crossfire ready piece of gear. It carries the label "Pure Power P.S.T. Series" and this model comes with a 520 Watt rating.
Thermaltake Tai-Chi Super Tower Case
Thermaltake recently released a new PC case. Targeted at the high-end and enthusiast consumer with a diminutive amount of money to spare, Thermaltake offers a new series of PC ATX/BTX ready casings. It's widely compatible with all mainboards and has a certain balanced feel to it. It's huge, it's heavy, it's impressive, it's beautiful and it's called the Tai Chi.