Thermaltake Smart M Series 750 W Review 3

Thermaltake Smart M Series 750 W Review

Voltage Regulation & Efficiency »

A Look Inside

Before reading this page we strongly suggest to take a look at this article, which will help you understand the internal components of a PSU much better.


The OEM of this platform is Channel Well Technology or CWT (easily seen by the green colored transformers) and the platform is new and named PUQ since CWT loves to give model numbers to their designs. Actually the platform is a modified version of the one used in the Corsair TX750M. The main difference with the latter is that in the secondary side instead of SBRs (passive rectification) more efficient mosfets are used (synchronous rectification). Normally such platforms are used in higher efficiency units since all modern tricks that boost efficiency are employed.


The transient filter starts right at the AC receptacle with a pair of Y caps. On the main PCB we find the rest of its components, namely two X caps along with two Y ones, two CM chokes and an MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor).


The two parallel bridge rectifiers are bolted on a dedicated heatsink and their model number is GBU606.


In the APFC two IPW60R190C6 fets are used. The single hold up cap (390μF, 400V, 105°C) is provided by Matsushita/Panasonic and its capacity is kind of small for a 750W PSU.
The combo PFC/PWM controller is the famous CM6800 and the latter is installed on a small vertical daughter-board.


As main choppers two Toshiba TK18A50D fets are used in double forward topology. To the same heatsink a HFS3N80 fet is also bolted and most likely it takes part in the 5VSB rectification along with an SBL1040CTP SBR.


In the secondary side as you can see there is no heatsink and all fets, responsible for the +12V rail rectification, are installed on a vertical PCB. In total six fets are used and three bus bars located on the solder side of this PCB help in heat dissipation. Since there is no other passive cooling for these fets, the unit's fan has to be pretty strong to keep them cool.


All caps in the secondary are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con and besides electrolytic ones we spotted a single polymer. Also the supervisor IC is soldered directly to the main PCB in the secondary side area and its model number is WT7502. The latter doesn't support OCP for +12V but has all other basic protections.


Three thick yellow wires transfer +12V to the modular PCB along with several thinner ones. The VRMs responsible for the minor rails generation are powered by one of these wires along with another one that provides earth. The main PWM controller for the VRMs is an APW7159 IC and in each VRM three fets are used. Soldering quality on the modular PCB is decent and on its front side we meet two coils and several filtering polymer caps provided by Enesol (the normal sized ones with pink logo) and another unknown brand (the smaller ones).


The single-sided main PCB features decent soldering quality and thankfully all component leads are carefully trimmed or bent so none of them can cause any trouble. Of course we have seen much higher quality PCBs from CWT but apparently this time the reduction of production cost had a noticeable impact on quality. On the second of the above photos we can clearly see the name that CWT gave to this platform: PUQ.


The cooling fan exhibits Thermaltake's logo and its model number is TT-1425B. However with a better look you can spot Yate Loon Electronics name on it and the real model number (D14BH-12). The fan is equipped with ball bearings and is powerful since it can reach 2800 RPMs and deliver 140CFM. Unfortunately this means excess noise and indeed its technical specs speak of 48.5 dBA max.
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Apr 23rd, 2024 08:02 EDT change timezone

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