Verdict and Conclusion

Thermaltake is taking a crack at a tough market here with the Smart 430W power supply. Overall I would say that this is a good unit.

It can cough up more amps of 12 V than most ~400w units can by a fair margin.

The cables are on the unruly side, they could do with a few more cable ties to hold them together, but if you aren't mucking about with your computer constantly it's not a big deal.

The voltage regulation was decent, being a group regulated unit it doesn't deal with crossloads especially well, but it stayed within spec at all times.

Ripple control is excellent, all three major rails were well within spec and had very well controlled ripple.  The 5Vsb rail was close to spec, but stayed within it.  This is not an issue.

The fan is very quiet at low low levels, and not bad at all even at a sustained high load.

The first unit I received had some build quality issues, the second did not.  I expect the second unit to be far more common than the first.  Even the first unit performed very well though.

Price wise, the Smart 430w runs between $55 and $59, placing it at the higher price range for units of it's efficiency and total wattage output.  Those other units however don't put out nearly as much 12 V amperage.  I'll call it a decent price.

To summarize, there are pros:

• Great ripple control.
• Lots of 12 V amps for the rated size.
• Nice quiet thermally controlled fan.

The universe being what it is, there are cons too:

• Voltage regulation could be better.
• One unit had built quality issues.  Second unit is excellent, I suspect first was a fluke.
• Cables can be frustrating to work with.

All told, this is a pretty solid unit for the price.  I feel confident in it's being worthy of a rating of 8/10 and a recommended badge.

SCORE
8/10

Similar Product:

Newer

Older