W1zzard
May 12, 2005, 11:38 AM
[PAGE=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
I would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying me with the unit for review.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Maximum Power</th>
<td>500W</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Color</th>
<td>Black</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>PFC</th>
<td>Active PFC</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Cooling</th>
<td>12cm Fan, blue LED, 1300-2800 RPM</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Fan speed control</th>
<td>Auto and manual</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Power Good Signal</th>
<td>100-500ms</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Dimensions</th>
<td>15cm x 14cm x 8.6cm</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Weight</th>
<td>2.0 Kg</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Efficiency</th>
<td>>70%</td>
</tr>
</table>
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package3.jpg)
Box contents:
Power supply unit
English Manual
Power Cord
Three Screw packages
120mm Fan
5.25" Drive Bay Watts Viewer
Cables
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/contents.jpg)
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Connectors</th>
<th align="center">Main Power</th>
<th align="center">5.25"</th>
<th align="center">Floppy</th>
<th align="center">4 Pin CPU</th>
<th align="center">SerialATA</th>
<th align="center">PCI-E Aux Power</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">ATX 24 Pin</td>
<td align="center">9</td>
<td align="center">2</td>
<td align="center">1</td>
<td align="center">4</td>
<td align="center">2</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/cablelength.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/backside_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/backside.jpg)
Modularity is becoming more and more popular in power supplies. The placement of the individual connectors is intelligent. The hardest one to reach, when the PSU is installed in the case, is the ATX power connector, which you will probably never remove. The easiest to plug in and out are the drive connectors.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/blue_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/blue.jpg)
When switched on, the inside fan is lighting up blue.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/atx.jpg)
The motherboard power connector is compatible with both ATX 20 pin and 24 pin. If you have an ATX 20 connector on your board, just do not plug in the additional plug.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/pcie_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/pcie.jpg)
Two cables to power PCI-Express video cards are included with the PSU. Since both ends of the cable have the same plug, each plug is labelled, where it goes.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu2.jpg)
The black paint is matte and does not take any fingerprints.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/120mm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/120mm.jpg)
Thermaltake's 120mm add-on fan is way too noisy to be used in a normal PC environment - but it moves a lot of air.
[pagE=Watts Viewer, Inside & Test Equipment]
Watts Viewer
A really nice feature is the included watts viewer. It measures total system power consumption on the DC side of the power supply. If you don't like it - you won't have to use it, the PSU will work fine without the Watts Viewer connected.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv1.jpg)
The two knobs on the left and right are used to control the fan speeds of the PSU and the additional 120mm fan. What I noticed, is that you can only increase the fan speed of the PSU fan, not decrease it (compared to controller not connected).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv2.jpg)
This is the heart of the Watts Viewer. A small PCB with a microcontroller on it. The microcontroller is responsible for converting the measured watts into a suitable output for the LED readout.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv3.jpg)
The accuracy of the Watts Viewer is good, certainly not lab grade, but good enough to get a realistic feeling of the system's power consumption.
This maximum readout of 480W was achieved by adding a 120W and 100W high power resistor to the PSU output lines. When the DC side was pulling 480W, we measured 630W load on the AC side, not really efficient (76% efficiency).
Inside
If you open your PSU, your warranty is gone. We still had to peek inside it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside3.jpg)
Everything in the inside looks well cleaned up. All cables are attached and not hanging around. The plastic sheets are a good measure to prevent short circuits.
Test Equipment
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/setup.jpg
The PSU is connected to an APC SmartUPS which supplies clean 220V input.
AC current is measured using a Peaktech 4010 desktop RS232 multimeter with 0.02A accuracy.
To measure DC output voltages of the PSU we use a 20-bit data acquisition system calibrated to 10uV accuracy.
Power Factor is measured using a generic Power Efficiency Meter.
Measurements for Ripple Voltage were obtained using a 30 MHz HAMEG Analog/Digital Oscilloscope.
[PAGE=Performance, Value & Conclusion]
Performance
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/label_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/label.jpg)
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th colspan="8">Thermaltake TWV500</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>AC Input</th>
<td colspan="7">115V / 230V 10A, 50-60 Hz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>DC Voltage</th>
<td align="center">+3.3V</td>
<td align="center">+5V</td>
<td align="center">+12V1</td>
<td align="center">+12V2</td>
<td align="center">-12V</td>
<td align="center">+5VSB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Max. Output</th>
<td align="center">30A</td>
<td align="center">30A</td>
<td align="center">18A</td>
<td align="center">18A</td>
<td align="center">0.5A</td>
<td align="center">2A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center">350 W</td>
<td align="center">216 W</td>
<td align="center">6 W</td>
<td align="center">10 W</td>
</tr>
</table>
The manual lists different limits than the sticker on the PSU (correct values listed here). Thermaltake told us, that the sticker is right and that they will fix the manual.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psugraph.gif
Tested on: P4 3.0F @ 4.0 Ghz, 1.55V. ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, 1GB OCZ PC2-5400 EB, Radeon X850 XT, Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA.
All lines are fluctuating, too much if you ask me, especially if you consider that our load was not bigger than 330W. However, all lines stayed within the limits set by the ATX Specification.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/ripple.jpg
Above image shows the Ripple Voltage measurement (10 mV per vertical division, 0.1uS per horizontal division). 12mV from peak to bottom is a good result. Ripple Voltage was measured at idle.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 12V</th>
<td align="right">73.024 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 5V</th>
<td align="right">71.634 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 3.3V</th>
<td align="right">68.256 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Power Factor</th>
<td align="right">0.94</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ripple Voltage 12V</th>
<td align="right">12 mV</td>
</tr>
</table>
Standard deviation is a statistical term, which tells how far away from the average the measurements are. In other words it's the average of the average.
A large standard deviation indicates that the data points are far from the average and a small standard deviation indicates that they are close within the average.
Power Factor
Power Factor is one of the most misunderstood concepts in PSUs. For a more in-depth, technical article read here (http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/AC/AC_11.html).
To understand Power Factor, some basic terms have to be defined.
Working Power: This is the power that does some real work, ie. work of heating, lighting and motion.
Reactive Power: In order to get a motor moving, the motor must build (and sustain) a magnetic field in the motor coils, which requires power. This power does not "do" anything, but it is required for operation.
Apparent Power is the sum of Working Power and Reactive Power.
The formula for Power Factor is Power Factor = Working Power [W] / Apparent Power [VA]. For example if a circuit has a Working Power of 275W and an Apparent Power of 300VA, its Power Factor is 275W / 300VA = 0.92
The problem with Reactive Power is, that it does not do anything, and is thus not billed by your power company (unless you are an industrial customer, who has to pay additional charges if his power factor is low). The power company DOES have to provide your household with the Reactive Power, so their generator output must be higher and the grid must be able to take the increased load, overall this costs the power company money. It is also possible that low Power Factor, high-load devices have an effect on the power quality in your house.
In order to increase Power Factor, passive PFC uses a capacitor in parallel with the AC mains, because the effects of capacitance are exactly opposite those of inductance.
Active PFC uses a special circuit which acts like a resistive load (which has no Reactive Power) and feeds this power to the PSU circuit, isolating it from the mains. One effect this has, is that the overall conversion efficiency is a bit lower, since this circuit inside the PSU consumes power, which is not converted into DC voltage (this is in the range of 3%-8%).
Overall, you, as end-customer will not directly benefit from PFC. In the long-term it will save you money and problems. Less load on the grid means less likeliness of black-outs. Less load on the power company's generators means that their prices will not go up as fast as they would when they needed to buy bigger generators.
In the European Union all power supplies >70W must have either Passive or Active PFC.
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
The Thermaltake TWV500 is selling for about $140 which I find ok, if you consider the included gizmos.
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Modular
Two PCI-E connectors
Watts Viewer
Low ripple noise
Four SATA connectors
Sleeved cabling
24-Pin ATX Connector
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Unstable Voltages
Add-on fan too noisy
Low efficiency
</td></tr>
<tr><th>7.5</th>
<td>Thermaltake's implementation of PSU modularity is nice and clean. The watts viewer is a feature you may not actually need, but it is definitely cool to see the numbers moving.<br />
Unfortunately, voltage stability was not that great. If you are not overclocking at all or just a bit, then this will have absolutely no effect on you. Hardcore overclockers should check out other PSUs.</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td></td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
I would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying me with the unit for review.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Maximum Power</th>
<td>500W</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Color</th>
<td>Black</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>PFC</th>
<td>Active PFC</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Cooling</th>
<td>12cm Fan, blue LED, 1300-2800 RPM</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Fan speed control</th>
<td>Auto and manual</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Power Good Signal</th>
<td>100-500ms</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Dimensions</th>
<td>15cm x 14cm x 8.6cm</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Weight</th>
<td>2.0 Kg</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Efficiency</th>
<td>>70%</td>
</tr>
</table>
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/package3.jpg)
Box contents:
Power supply unit
English Manual
Power Cord
Three Screw packages
120mm Fan
5.25" Drive Bay Watts Viewer
Cables
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/contents.jpg)
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Connectors</th>
<th align="center">Main Power</th>
<th align="center">5.25"</th>
<th align="center">Floppy</th>
<th align="center">4 Pin CPU</th>
<th align="center">SerialATA</th>
<th align="center">PCI-E Aux Power</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">ATX 24 Pin</td>
<td align="center">9</td>
<td align="center">2</td>
<td align="center">1</td>
<td align="center">4</td>
<td align="center">2</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/cablelength.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/backside_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/backside.jpg)
Modularity is becoming more and more popular in power supplies. The placement of the individual connectors is intelligent. The hardest one to reach, when the PSU is installed in the case, is the ATX power connector, which you will probably never remove. The easiest to plug in and out are the drive connectors.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/blue_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/blue.jpg)
When switched on, the inside fan is lighting up blue.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/atx.jpg)
The motherboard power connector is compatible with both ATX 20 pin and 24 pin. If you have an ATX 20 connector on your board, just do not plug in the additional plug.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/pcie_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/pcie.jpg)
Two cables to power PCI-Express video cards are included with the PSU. Since both ends of the cable have the same plug, each plug is labelled, where it goes.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psu2.jpg)
The black paint is matte and does not take any fingerprints.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/120mm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/120mm.jpg)
Thermaltake's 120mm add-on fan is way too noisy to be used in a normal PC environment - but it moves a lot of air.
[pagE=Watts Viewer, Inside & Test Equipment]
Watts Viewer
A really nice feature is the included watts viewer. It measures total system power consumption on the DC side of the power supply. If you don't like it - you won't have to use it, the PSU will work fine without the Watts Viewer connected.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv1.jpg)
The two knobs on the left and right are used to control the fan speeds of the PSU and the additional 120mm fan. What I noticed, is that you can only increase the fan speed of the PSU fan, not decrease it (compared to controller not connected).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv2.jpg)
This is the heart of the Watts Viewer. A small PCB with a microcontroller on it. The microcontroller is responsible for converting the measured watts into a suitable output for the LED readout.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/twv3.jpg)
The accuracy of the Watts Viewer is good, certainly not lab grade, but good enough to get a realistic feeling of the system's power consumption.
This maximum readout of 480W was achieved by adding a 120W and 100W high power resistor to the PSU output lines. When the DC side was pulling 480W, we measured 630W load on the AC side, not really efficient (76% efficiency).
Inside
If you open your PSU, your warranty is gone. We still had to peek inside it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/inside3.jpg)
Everything in the inside looks well cleaned up. All cables are attached and not hanging around. The plastic sheets are a good measure to prevent short circuits.
Test Equipment
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/setup.jpg
The PSU is connected to an APC SmartUPS which supplies clean 220V input.
AC current is measured using a Peaktech 4010 desktop RS232 multimeter with 0.02A accuracy.
To measure DC output voltages of the PSU we use a 20-bit data acquisition system calibrated to 10uV accuracy.
Power Factor is measured using a generic Power Efficiency Meter.
Measurements for Ripple Voltage were obtained using a 30 MHz HAMEG Analog/Digital Oscilloscope.
[PAGE=Performance, Value & Conclusion]
Performance
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/label_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/label.jpg)
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th colspan="8">Thermaltake TWV500</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>AC Input</th>
<td colspan="7">115V / 230V 10A, 50-60 Hz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>DC Voltage</th>
<td align="center">+3.3V</td>
<td align="center">+5V</td>
<td align="center">+12V1</td>
<td align="center">+12V2</td>
<td align="center">-12V</td>
<td align="center">+5VSB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Max. Output</th>
<td align="center">30A</td>
<td align="center">30A</td>
<td align="center">18A</td>
<td align="center">18A</td>
<td align="center">0.5A</td>
<td align="center">2A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center">350 W</td>
<td align="center">216 W</td>
<td align="center">6 W</td>
<td align="center">10 W</td>
</tr>
</table>
The manual lists different limits than the sticker on the PSU (correct values listed here). Thermaltake told us, that the sticker is right and that they will fix the manual.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/psugraph.gif
Tested on: P4 3.0F @ 4.0 Ghz, 1.55V. ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, 1GB OCZ PC2-5400 EB, Radeon X850 XT, Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA.
All lines are fluctuating, too much if you ask me, especially if you consider that our load was not bigger than 330W. However, all lines stayed within the limits set by the ATX Specification.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/TWV500/images/ripple.jpg
Above image shows the Ripple Voltage measurement (10 mV per vertical division, 0.1uS per horizontal division). 12mV from peak to bottom is a good result. Ripple Voltage was measured at idle.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 12V</th>
<td align="right">73.024 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 5V</th>
<td align="right">71.634 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 3.3V</th>
<td align="right">68.256 mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Power Factor</th>
<td align="right">0.94</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ripple Voltage 12V</th>
<td align="right">12 mV</td>
</tr>
</table>
Standard deviation is a statistical term, which tells how far away from the average the measurements are. In other words it's the average of the average.
A large standard deviation indicates that the data points are far from the average and a small standard deviation indicates that they are close within the average.
Power Factor
Power Factor is one of the most misunderstood concepts in PSUs. For a more in-depth, technical article read here (http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/AC/AC_11.html).
To understand Power Factor, some basic terms have to be defined.
Working Power: This is the power that does some real work, ie. work of heating, lighting and motion.
Reactive Power: In order to get a motor moving, the motor must build (and sustain) a magnetic field in the motor coils, which requires power. This power does not "do" anything, but it is required for operation.
Apparent Power is the sum of Working Power and Reactive Power.
The formula for Power Factor is Power Factor = Working Power [W] / Apparent Power [VA]. For example if a circuit has a Working Power of 275W and an Apparent Power of 300VA, its Power Factor is 275W / 300VA = 0.92
The problem with Reactive Power is, that it does not do anything, and is thus not billed by your power company (unless you are an industrial customer, who has to pay additional charges if his power factor is low). The power company DOES have to provide your household with the Reactive Power, so their generator output must be higher and the grid must be able to take the increased load, overall this costs the power company money. It is also possible that low Power Factor, high-load devices have an effect on the power quality in your house.
In order to increase Power Factor, passive PFC uses a capacitor in parallel with the AC mains, because the effects of capacitance are exactly opposite those of inductance.
Active PFC uses a special circuit which acts like a resistive load (which has no Reactive Power) and feeds this power to the PSU circuit, isolating it from the mains. One effect this has, is that the overall conversion efficiency is a bit lower, since this circuit inside the PSU consumes power, which is not converted into DC voltage (this is in the range of 3%-8%).
Overall, you, as end-customer will not directly benefit from PFC. In the long-term it will save you money and problems. Less load on the grid means less likeliness of black-outs. Less load on the power company's generators means that their prices will not go up as fast as they would when they needed to buy bigger generators.
In the European Union all power supplies >70W must have either Passive or Active PFC.
Value and Conclusion
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The Thermaltake TWV500 is selling for about $140 which I find ok, if you consider the included gizmos.
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Modular
Two PCI-E connectors
Watts Viewer
Low ripple noise
Four SATA connectors
Sleeved cabling
24-Pin ATX Connector
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Unstable Voltages
Add-on fan too noisy
Low efficiency
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<td>Thermaltake's implementation of PSU modularity is nice and clean. The watts viewer is a feature you may not actually need, but it is definitely cool to see the numbers moving.<br />
Unfortunately, voltage stability was not that great. If you are not overclocking at all or just a bit, then this will have absolutely no effect on you. Hardcore overclockers should check out other PSUs.</td></tr>
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