Thermaltake TR2 RX 750 W Power Supply Review

Load Tests

We conducted several tests with this power supply, as described in the article Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology.  

First we tested this power supply with five different load patterns, trying to pull around 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of its labeled maximum capacity (actual percentage used listed under “% Max Load”), watching how the reviewed unit behaved under each load. In the table below we list the load patterns we used and the results for each load.

If you add all the power listed for each test, you may find a different value than what is posted under “Total” below. Since each output can vary slightly (e.g., the +5 V output working at +5.10 V), the actual total amount of power being delivered is slightly different than the calculated value. On the “Total” row we are using the real amount of power being delivered, as measured by our load tester.

The +12VA and +12VB inputs listed below are the two +12 V independent inputs from our load tester. During this test both inputs were connected to the power supply single rail (+12VB input was connected to the power supply EPS12V connector and all other cables were connected to the load tester +12VA input).

Note: We are now using the names +12VA and +12VB for the two inputs from our load tester because some people were thinking that the “+12V1” and “+12V2” names present on our table referred to the power supply rails, which is not the case.

According to our methodology, Thermaltake TR2 RX 750 W cannot deliver its labeled wattage. It burned after one minute delivering 750 W at a room temperature a little bit above 45° C. Thinking that we may have got a defective unit, we asked Thermaltake another sample, which burned exactly the same way. In both units the component that burned was one of the +12 V rectifiers.

Efficiency was always high when we pulled up to 60% of the power supply maximum load (i.e., up to 450 W), between 84.5% and 86.4%. But at 80% load (600 W) efficiency dropped to 81.9%, still above the 80% mark. At full load we couldn’t measure efficiency, because the unit burned before we could read all numbers.

Not being able to deliver its labeled wattage is not the worst about this power supply. Noise and ripple levels were way above the maximum allowed during tests four and five. With the first sample, noise levels during test four was 130.2 mV at +12VA and 127.6 mV at +12VB, jumping to 183.8 mV and 166.8 mV during test five, respectively. We got even worse results with the second sample, as it also failed on +5 V and +3.3 V, as we summarize in the table below. The maximum allowed is 120 mV on +12 V and 50 mV on +5 V and +3.3 V. All these numbers are peak-to-peak figures. Below we show the scope waveforms for you to see the problem.

Figure 15: +12VA input from load tester during test five with the first sample (154.4 mV).

Figure 16: +12VB input from load tester during test five with the first sample (155.2 mV).

Figure 17: +5V rail during test five with the first sample (45.6 mV).