CWT is the manufacturer behind several well known power supply brands, in particular Corsair and Thermaltake. Today we are going to do an in-depth test with their CWT-750VH model, which is a 750 W unit with modular cabling system and a 140-mm fan, to see if it can really deliver its labeled power and if it is identical to any power supply from Corsair or Thermaltake. Check it out.
We have already reviewed Corsair TX750W and disassembled Thermaltake Toughpower 750 W, which are also manufactured by CWT and also labeled at 750 W. So we will be able to see if the reviewed model from CWT is internally identical to Corsair TX750W or to Thermaltake Toughpower 750 W. Externally there are some differences. This model from Corsair does not feature a modular cabling system, feature present on the reviewed model from CWT and on Thermaltake Toughpower 750 W.
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Figure 1: CWT 750VH power supply.
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Figure 2: CWT 750VH power supply.
As you can see on Figure 1, this power supply uses a big 140-mm ball bearing fan on its bottom and a big mesh on the rear side where traditionally we have an 80-mm fan. We like this design as it provides not only a better airflow but the power supply produces less noise, as the fan can rotate at a lower speed in order to produce the same airflow as an 80-mm fan.
This power supply has active PFC, so it can be sold in Europe, and because of that it also features auto voltage selection. CWT says this unit has 80% minimum efficiency. Of course we will measure efficiency during our tests.
The main motherboard cable uses a 20/24-pin connector and comes inside the power supply housing, while all other cables use the available modular cabling system. On some power supplies with modular cabling systems the EPS12V, ATX12V and video card auxiliary power cables come from inside the power supply housing, not using the modular cabling system, which is not the case with the reviewed unit.
This power supply comes with eight peripheral power cables: one EPS12V/ATX12V cable, two 6-pin auxiliary power cables for video cards, one 6/8-pin auxiliary power cable for video cards, three cables with two SATA power connectors each, one cable with four peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector and one cable with three peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector.
It is important to notice that while this power supply comes with three auxiliary cables for video cards it has only two connectors for this kind of cable on its modular cabling system, so you can only install one or two video cards directly to this power supply, not three as you could assume (of course you can add more using adaptors on the standard peripheral power plugs).
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Figure 3: Cables from the modular cabling system.
While the number of connectors provided by this power supply is enough for the average user, we think that users looking for a power supply on the 750 W range certainly have at least two video cards and since high-end video cards require two auxiliary power cables each it would be better if the manufacturer added support for four power cables for video cards instead of only two.
On this power supply all wires are 18 AWG. It would be nice to see thicker 16 AWG wires on a 750 W product.
On the aesthetic side the manufacturer used nylon sleevings on all cables, but the sleeving used on the main motherboard cable does not come from inside the power supply housing.
Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.
