Thermaltake TR2 1000 Watt Power Supply

Peter Kapas October 7, 2009 Hardware, Power Supplies, Reviews & Articles Leave a comment

The new Thermaltake TR2 Standard Series 1000 Watt power supply is here for some of the most power hungry mainstream pc’s on the market. While it’s a non-modular design, it doesn’t mean that this power supply won’t be an exceptional one compared to its competition.

Introduction

Thermaltake has been the leader in a number of the top of the line power supplies on the market, including the Thermaltake Toughpower Series power supplies. Many PC enthusiasts use mid or high end computer components from Quad-Core processors to dual or even triple video card setups. Not to mention, as computers get faster, most of the time they also require more power.

Thermaltake’s new TR2 Series power supplies are designed for some of the most power-hungry mainstream PCs on the market. Today, we will be conducting a series of tests in our lab on the Thermaltake TR2 Standard Series 1000 Watt power supply.

After much experience in the overclocking field, I came to realize that poor quality power supplies tend to often cause system stability problems. This can not only cause unexpected crashes, but it can also keep extreme overclockers from reaching their maximum hardware capabilities. Clean and quality power cannot always be overlooked by the overall wattage of the power supply; as a matter a fact this is just a common misconception. When picking a quality power supply, the power supply must meet certain requirements in order for it to be qualified. The overall efficiency of the PSU is very important to make sure less power is wasted and turned into useless heat. Power Factor Correction is also another very important feature on new power supplies. This power supply comes with Active PFC, which helps reduce overall harmonics and will lead to higher overall efficiency. The Thermaltake TR2 1000 Watt power supply is also rated at an acceptable efficiently for high-end systems at 80%+ under typical load.

Since the TR2 power supply is rated at 86.16% by 80 PLUS Program under typical load, it will be a great comparison to the Ultra X3 1000 Watt Power Supply which is stated to run at 85% efficient at typical load. Before we continue on to how well the TR2 performs compare to the X3 let’s take a look at some of the features and specifications of this power supply.

Features

Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version
SLI and Dual Core CPU ready
Next generation four +12V rails(12V1, 12V2, 12V3, 12V4) supports high-end graphic card and PC system (combined loading of 75A)
Independent Voltage Circuit: offers unflappable current delivery under heavy load and makes voltage output more stable
Active Power Factor Correction (PF>0.99) and high efficiency
Extremely good voltage regulation (±3%): provides steady voltage for system
Industrial grade components (capacitor, transformer, etc)
Intelligent temperature control 12cm fan
Protections: Over Current, Over Voltage, and Short-Circuit protection
Safety / EMI Approvals: CE, CB, TUV, FCC, UL, CUL, and BSMI certified
8 pins PCI-E connector for next generation graphic card

Specifications

Specification	TR2 1000 Watt
Wattage	1000 Watts
Fan	120mm Fan 3100RPM ± 10%
Efficiency	80% +
PFC	Active PFC (PF >0.9)
Hold-Up Time	20ms
Switches	ATX Logic on-off additional power rocker switch
Motherboard Connectors	24-pin Main Connector 8-pin Power Connector 4-pin Power Connector
Power Good Signal	100-500 ms
Form Factor	ATX 12v 2.2
Dimension	5.5 x 5.9 x 3.4 inch (L)x(W)x(H) 140 x 150 x 86 mm (L)x(W)x(H)
Warranty	5 Years
Certification	80 Plus Certification
Input Voltage	115 VAC ~ 230 VAC
Input Current	13A
Input Frequency Range	47~63Hz
Inrush Current	Maximum inrush current from power-on (with power on at any point on the AC sine) and including, but not limited to, three line cycles, shall be limited to a level below the surge rating of the input line cord, AC switch if present, bridge rectifier, fuse, and EMI filter components. Repetitive ON/OFF cycling of the AC input voltage should not damage the power supply or Cause the input fuse to blow.
Operating Range	N/A
MTBF	100,000 hours minimum (at 25 ℃)
RFI/EMI	EMI Regulatory FCC Part 15 Subpart J, class ‘B’ CISPR 22 Class ‘B’
Operating Temperature	+10 ℃ to +50 ℃
Storage Temperature	-20 ℃ to +80℃
Operating Humidity	5% to 95%, non-condensing
Storage Humidity	5% to 95%, non-condensing
Over Voltage Protection	+3.3V output 3.76V ~ 4.8V +5.0V output 5.6V ~ 7.0V +12.0V output 13.5V ~ 16.5V
Over Current Protection	+3.3V range @ 60AMax +5.0V range @ 48A Max +12V range @ 30A Max
Over Load Protection	N/A
Over Temperature Protection	N/A
Under Voltage Protection	N/A
Short Circuit Protection	All Output to GND

This PSU has an operating temperature range from 10C to 50C. This is very impressive, due to the fact that many people still live in a hot environment, or non air conditioned spaces. This will make sure that your power supply will perform exceptionally even in the hottest environments. Let’s take a look at what connectors does the TR2 come with.

The TR2 1000 Watt power supply comes with two 8-pin to 6-pin PCI-Express connectors, therefore even GPUs using the older 6-pin design can also be used with this power supply, however without these adapters, there are a total of 4 8-pin PCI-Express connectors for multi-GPU configurations.

Here is the Output Table for the TR2 1000 Watt PSU:

Output Voltage	+12V1	+12V4	+3.3V	+12V2	+12V3	+5V	-12V	+5VSB
Output Current Max.	20A	20A	30A	20A	20A	30A	0.3A	2A
Output Current Min.	0.5A	0.5A	0.8A	0.5A	0.5A	0.5A	0A	0A
Output Current Peak	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Regulation	+5,-5%	+5,-5%	+5,-5%	+5,-5%	+5,-5%	+5,-5%	+10,-10%	+5,-5%
Noise & Ripple	140 mV	140 mV	75 mV	140 mV	140 mV	70 mV	200 mV	75 mV

Total Watts	1000W
Peak Wattage and Load	1100W (3 sec.). Total combined +12V output shall be 75A

And finally, here are some specifications of the fan:

WHAT ABOUT THEM RAILS?

We have all, no doubt, been told that when purchasing a power supply that the number to look for is the amps on the 12V rail. What are each of the different rails for though, and why is the 12V rail typically the most important? Why the heck are they called rails? Let’s take at look at each and see.

-12V – This rail is pretty much obsolete now and is only kept on to provide backward compatibility with older hardware. Some older types of serial port circuits required both -12V and +12V voltages, but since almost no one except industrial users use serial ports anymore you as a typical home user can pretty much disregard this rail.

-5V – Again this is another obsolete rail, the -5V was used for old school floppy controllers and some ISA bus cards. Again, no need for the typical home user to worry about this rail.

0V – Though not listed on any manufacturer spec sheet, every power supply has a 0V ground line. The ground signal is used to complete circuits with other voltages and provide a plane of reference against which other voltages are measured.

+3.3V – Finally we are starting to get into something useful! The +3.3V rail was introduced with the ATX form factor in order to power second generation Pentium chips. Previously the CPU was powered by the +5V rail (along with the system memory and everything else on the motherboard), but a reduced voltage was needed in order to reduce power consumption as the chips got faster. Until just recently, the +3.3V was used to exclusively power the CPU as well as some types of system memory, AGP video cards and other circuits.

+ 5V – As mentioned above, the +5V used to run the motherboard, CPU and the majority of other system components on older pre ATX based systems. On newer systems, many of the components have migrated to either the +3.3V or +12V rails, but the motherboard and many of its onboard components still use the +5V rail so it is of importance to the typical home user.

+5V SB – The +5V Standby or “Soft Power” signal carries the same output level as the +5V rail but is independent and is always on, even when the computer is turned off. This rail allows for two things. First, it allows the motherboard to control the power supply when it is off by enabling features such as wakeup from sleep mode, or wake on LAN technology to function. It also is what allows Windows to turn your computer off automatically on shutdown as opposed to previous AT supplies where you had to bend over and push the button. Every standard ATX power supply on the market will include this rail.

+ 12V – The +12V, also known as the mother of all rails, is now used to power the most demanding components in your system including the CPU, hard drives, cooling fans, and graphics cards. Historically the +12V rail was used only to power drives and cooling fans. With the introduction of the 4-pin CPU plug on P4 motherboards and then eventually AMD based motherboards, in order to supply newer power hungry CPUs, the +12V rail suddenly started to grow in importance. Today, dual core based motherboard require an 8-pin +12V connector to supply their power needs. High end GPU cards have also jumped on the +12V rail, which has required PSU makers to adapt. Where previously there was only a single +12V rail, there are now two or more, each designated to power specific devices in order to ensure that nothing is underpowered.

Now as to why they are called rails, the best explanation that I can find is that the term comes from the wacky world of electronics and it refers to a long metal bar or strip that is used to provide a particular voltage level. Perhaps someone with a deeper understanding of all things electrical could let me know whether or not that is true.

ATX 12V V2.2 Standard

ATX 2.20

2.20 is where we currently stand as of March 2005. It was released the same month as the short lived 2.1 revision which is why you won’t see any units bearing that standard. The 2.20 again increased the efficiency requirements which now stand at a minimum of 65% or greater and a recommended level of 75% or greater. The +5VSB rail has also been increased to 2.5A

In short any power supply post 2.0 will do the job for you. The biggest advantage of purchasing a latter standard model would seem to be the increase in efficiency rating.

EPS12v Standard

The EPS12V specification is one of those standards that most people have heard about, but very few know what it actually does. The EPS spec itself is defined in the Intel Server System Infrastructure (SSI) spec and is currently at v2.1.

The EPS12V spec dictates that Power Supply units must have a 24pin 12V connector as well as one additional 8-pin 12V connector. If a PSU is noted as EPS12V compliant you can be assured that it will have all the connections you need to power your new dual core based system, however it should also be noted that units do not necessarily have to meet EPS12V spec to include an 8-pin 12V connector.

Enough of the boring stuff lets get on to some Packaging and Bundled Accessories!