Installation and Use
We benchmarked the Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W in a newer system after another PSU fried the motherboard and processor in my standard testing rig. This newer system has a ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard with a Intel Core i7 965 @ 3.2 ghz, 12 GB DDR3 memory, ATI Radeon 4870 x2, two 256gb ssds, two 1TB SATA drives, and a Blu-ray drive in a case with a pair of fans.
At idle, the TR2 RX 750W pulled 3.23V, 4.99V, 12.1V on the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails, respectively, and pulled around 3.18V, 5.1V, 11.54V at load.
We used OCCT Perestroika to do load testing. Here are the output graphs comparing the voltages of the TR2 RX 750Wwith our recently-reviewed Thermaltake EVO_Blue 750W PSU. The TR2 RX 750W results are on the left and the EVO_Blue results are on the right.
This rig tends to pull a lot of power from the 3.3V rail, so it’s no surprise that that rail undervolted throughout the tests and while idle. The ripple was accept at 1.55%. It was fairly stable, too, rarely jumping. The EVO_Blue showed a similar drop, but also similar stability.
The 5V rail was stable, but had a high ripple at 3.31%. Interestingly, the voltage jumped during the test, possibly indicating a strange power flow under heavy load. The EVO_Blue didn’t experience this strangeness at all.
The quality of this power supply really comes out in the 12V rail test. A .61V drop in voltage during testing, a just greater than 5% ripple, is too unstable for my liking. I will acknowledge that a regular user with an ATI Radeon 4870 x2 would be unlikely to skimp on a power supply, so it and the other devices in the system are likely pushing the unit to the max. The EVO_Blue was similarly ripply, but by nowhere near the percentage.
The noise level was nothing admirable or remarkable. It’s not as quiet as other power supplies we’ve recently reviewed, but it’s acceptable.
