X-bit labs

Roundup: 14 Power Supply Units from Thermaltake (page 8)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 07/28/2006 | 08:34 AM ]

PurePower 680APD (W0049 rev. 1, 680W)

Running a little ahead, I want to inform you that I tested two W0049 units that differed greatly in their design as well as quality. For some unclear reason the manufacturer didn’t change the number of the newer model (the marks “revision 1” and “revision 2” are put by myself – the units are both marked as just “W0049”), so you have to distinguish between them by their declared characteristics (which somewhat differ). And I say it will pay to differentiate between the two versions of this PSU model!

The PSU has a dark glossy case and is cooled by two 80mm fans. One fan is in the front panel, the other is at the back. This placement of fans is rare and is most often seen in low-end PSUs. The actual manufacturer of this model is Sirtec.

The internal design of this PSU proved to be very unusual. This is so far the only model I know of that has two independent +12V regulators. In other PSUs there is only one regulator and the splitting into the two outputs is made by limiting the maximum allowable current on each of the lines. The regulator is placed on a separate large PCB (it’s on the right in the snapshot; you can see two parallel-connected diode packs of the rectifier).

But to all appearances this design was employed out of necessity rather than to ensure higher stability of the output voltages (it’s this stability that the manufacturers of PSUs with “virtually divided” +12V lines promise you, although the division of a single internal power rail into several physical outputs doesn’t make anything more stable). They just had to adapt an old high-power server-oriented PSU to today’s realities, i.e. to the ATX12V and EPS version 2.0 standards. This is obvious even from the specification: the power supply can yield a huge current on the +5V rail, up to 50A, but the +12V rail of the main regulator is only rated for 15A. The additional regulator adds two more +12V lines (these are separated “virtually”) with a combined current of up to 23A.

Since the PSU has two independent +12V regulator, it’s interesting to know what connectors each is responsible for. Alas, the enclosed manual makes things only more confusing. It seems that its authors had a very vague notion of the PSU they were writing about, and the designations “+12V1”, “+12V2” and “+12V3” are used in the manual at random or are sometimes replaced with a general designation “+12V” without any number.

So, I opened the PSU and found the following:

• The mainboard, graphics card, SATA and some PATA power connectors are connected to the +12V1 line (the main regulator)
• The CPU power connector is connected to the +12V2 line (the additional regulator)
• Two cables with Molex connectors for PATA drives are connected to the +12V3 line (the additional regulator, again). There are four such cables in the PSU, and those of them that also have a mini-plug for the floppy drive are connected to the +12V3.

The PSU offers the following cables and connectors:

• A cable with a 24-pin (non-separable) ATX connector; 48cm long
• A cable with two 6-pin power connectors for graphics cards; 48cm+15cm
• A cable with a 4-pin ATX12V connector; 47cm
• Two cables with two Molex connectors and one floppy mini-plug on each; 50cm from the PSU case to the first plug and then 20cm more to each next plug
• Two cables with three Molex connectors on each; 50cm+20cm+20cm
• Two cables with two SATA power connectors on each; 65cm+20cm

The cables are all sleeved in multicolored braided tubes.