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Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480W PSU

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Thermaltake
Jun. 11, 2003

Introduction

Thermaltake has released a new series of products following the launch of the Xaser III. Besides the case, there is also the Volcano 11 Xaser Edition heatsink (which you can check out here), a keyboard and mouse, and a series of power supplies. Today, we are checking out Thermaltake's Silent Purepower 480 watt PSU. As the name implies, this product promises to deliver silence and power, two of the most highly sought traits in computer products.

Package & Accessories

The power supply box was in a much larger box filled with peanuts for shipping. It was packed very well, and everything was in excellent condition.

The box that the PSU comes in is very stylish and informative. It shows many pictures of the power supply, and the style of the PSU is carried over into the box art.

Inside the box is the power supply in bubble wrap, and two boxes. One box contains the PCI mountable knob and the 5.25" bay mountable knob for controlling the fan speed. The second box contains a power cord and screws needed for mounting the components. There is also a small booklet with instructions and information about the PSU and related items.

Connectors

9 4-pin molex
2 4-pin floppy
1 ATX power
1 AUX power
1 12v power
1 3-pin fan connector
1 2-pin rheostat connector
1 SATA power

Style

Now, Thermaltake can't release a product under the Xaser III name without adding some of the Xaser III style to it. There are two versions of this power supply. One is black with a silver side panel, and the other is silver with a black side panel. The design is created to match that of the Xaser III cases. Our power supply is the 480 watt silver with black side panel PSU. There is also a 360 watt version. There are two fans, one on the bottom and one on the back. Both of these are of the trademark orange color of Thermaltake. Each fan has a gold colored fan grill on the inside of the housing to give it a sleek look.

Power

As with most other manufacturers out there, Thermaltake has opted for two fans. Unlike a lot of other power supplies, the controlling of the fans is very great. The rear exhaust fan is an adjustable fan. It is set to be controlled by the temperature, unless the user chooses otherwise. If you connect one of the mountable knobs to the PSU, then the knob will override the default controls and you will be able to adjust the fan speed manually.

To manually control the fan, you have two options. One, is to use the included PCI mountable knob. This allows you to control the fan speed via the back of your case. The second way is to use the included 5.25" bay mountable knob. This way you can change the fan speed without having to reach all the way to the back of your computer. These are great ideas, but there is one flaw. What if you don't want to waste a whole 5.25" bay for a single knob? Thankfully you can remove the knob and rheostat. You can then drill a hole in a more convenient location on your case and mount the knob there. But, it would be nice if they also included a 3.5" mount as well, no biggy though...

Silence

Now, I must say, that with the name "Silent Purepower," this PSU better be damn quiet. Well, when I first hooked it up and turned it on, it was absolutely silent from a few feet away. If you are right next to the PSU, you can hear a slight hum. This was when the fan was on its lowest speed setting using the mountable knobs. Of course, with absolute silence, I was wondering how much airflow was moving through the PSU. I placed my hand in front of the fan, and could hardly feel any air blowing out. I adjusted the speed to halfway, and the sound got louder, but was still bearable, and the airflow increased a bit. Any higher adjustment from halfway was quite noisy. On full blast, the fan was extremely loud, but pushed a lot of air.

Quality

As with most other Thermaltake products, I immediately knew the quality of this PSU would be outstanding. When I opened up the case, this was confirmed with high grade wires, organized components, and great airflow. The whole side of the PSU is vented as well, which allows for maximum airflow and heat dissipation.

Performance

I used Motherboard Monitor 5 to check the voltages under idle and load conditions.

Test System

DFI Lan Party KT400a
Athlon 1700+
Vantec Aeroflow
512 Megs PC3200 Corsair
Geforce 3 Ti200
Sound Blaster Live 5.1
Seagate 40 gig HD
Lite On 16X DVD ROM

As you can see from MBM5's results, everything was within reasonable values.

Conclusion

This sure is a great PSU, but it fell short in some areas. It packs quite a punch with 480 watts of power, and the style is very pleasing, but the "silence" is lacking. Sure you could keep the fan on low all the time, but I wouldn't want to risk a dead PSU. The sound itself didn't cause my overall system noise to get any higher than any of the previous PSUs I tested. Basically, if you are going for a completely quiet system, you may want to look elsewhere, but if you are looking for a good combination of silence and power, Thermaltake has got your number.

Pros

480 watts of power
Black or silver
Controllable exhaust fan
Two mountable Rheostats
Quiet at low speeds
Quality construction

Cons

Fans noisy at higher speeds

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