Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products -- because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects have to be taken into consideration -- of which certain criteria consists of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply, and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with, and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We're not going to try to BS you by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, it is not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimum load on the power supply, the initial power consumption was fluctuating between 12W and 13W. This is very similar in comparison to our recently reported power supplies, such as the NZXT HALE82 750W and Thermaltake Toughpower XT Platinum 1275W power supplies, tested at 13W and 10w, respectively.
The voltages with minimal load are generally accurate and within range. A basic requirement of all good PSUs is to deliver the right voltages through the rails at minimal load, or there could be problems when using it in the first place. All of the values are consistent with the rated ones; everything is pretty much as advertised with only a maximum of 0.2V difference at most. Independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment showed the Thermaltake SMART M750W delivered excellent efficiency across the board -- right up to its rated wattage. This includes its 80 Plus Bronze certification.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it; as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power -- with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P/S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. A nominal load of 185W on the Thermaltake SMART M750W had the power factor alternate between 0.95 and 0.96. As the load increases to around 200W, the power factor stabilizes to 0.97, as shown in our photo above. It should get closer to 0.99 as the load continues to increase.
When we get down to the topic of noise, the Thermaltake SMART M750W ran a bit louder than I have expected; for a budget power supply I guess it is fairly reasonable -- this was never advertised to be a quiet PSU. Using the Yate Loon D14BH-12, it pushed out a good amount of air, however, this came at a cost of noise, as the sound can be quite audible. I can hear the Yate Loon D14BH-12 when it runs, but it probably won't the loudest component in most builds; just about every other spinning component in any PC will probably run louder than this fan here. On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Thermaltake SMART M750W to be at 3.5/10 under nominal loads. As the fan spins up, the fan gets increasingly louder, as expected. This is mainly due to the usage of the 140mm fan, which can run at a lower RPM for increased airflow compared to smaller fans. Smaller fans will need to ramp up the fan speed to even match the airflow of the fan included with the Thermaltake SMART M750W. The fan probably runs a bit faster than most other builds, because of the lack of heatsinks inside, and without some form of passive cooling, the fan will need to spin at higher RPMs.
Thermaltake provided this product to APH Networks to facilitate this report.
The Thermaltake SMART M750W is definitely a 'smart' choice if you are looking for a budget oriented modular power supply. Using full Japanese brand capacitors down to the secondary caps, a good solid design, and build quality that isn't lacking, there is a lot to love in the Thermaltake SMART M750W given the price range. The only downside is that the fan runs a bit on the loud side. If you're looking for something with a decent price to performance ratio, the Thermaltake SMART M750W is a good product to consider.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
