Internals


Opening the housing reveals a standard Channel Well topology, one that has proved quite successful. This topology is starting to get a little older, but it continues to provide good and stable power with decent efficiency. There are three heatsinks instead of the usual two, with the two on the right replacing what is traditionally a single heatsink. The topology makes it very difficult to see the components, since there's always a large heatsink obscuring the view. We would need to remove the heatsinks from the power supply to provide better pictures of the various components, but we were able to make out the labels with a bit of work. The input filtering stage is well built and CWT doesn't change much with the topology since it works just fine. There is a single Matsushita capacitor in the primary, but that is about it from what we can see. Nippon Chemi-Con, a Japanese high-end capacitor manufacturer, makes the secondary caps.

We have seen many of these designs in our test lab to date, and they always performed well. Even though the arrangement of components may be somewhat busy, the outcome with CWT products has always been good. Perhaps that is why CWT has been so successful with this topology. Another one of her complaints has been the heatsink design, since the fins obscure the component and block airflow. In fact, the temperature readings later in this review will support this complaint, since the left heatsink in the secondary stage reaches up to 75°C (and that's in a room temperature environment).

Cables and Connectors Testing with the Chroma ATE Programmable Load
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  • Beenthere - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    A mfg. can use different designs or components to produce a top-of-the-line PSU or lower quality components or simpler designs to make a run-of-the-mill PSU. Personally I have used the PCPC brand of PSUs for many years and I have found them to be reliable, stable, high-quality PSUs that have always delivered top performance.

    I personally would not buy another brand to save a few dollars when the PSU is the very heart of any PC and as such essentially determines the performance and stability of the entire PC. I realize many people will spends hundred on the latest, greatest, trick-of-the-week Video card or memory and then buy an inferior PSU to save $20.

    It's foolish economics in my experience. My overclocks always seem to be equal to or better than most folks and I never experience the mysterious crashes that I read about from people using the same hardware other than a quality PSU like the PCPC units.
  • 3DoubleD - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    Starting reading this hoping to find out I picked the right PSU last Christmas... but it seems I missed. Overall I've been happy with it, but perhaps I would have been even more happy with another. Do you think the ripples and noise in this PSU would greatly effect overclocking results?

    My only big complaint about this PSU is that I'm not very sure of whether or not I could get a case with the PSU mount on the bottom. The motherboard and CPU power cables seem to be on the short side. Christoph, have you had any experience with this?

    Good article, thanks!
  • Denithor - Friday, October 31, 2008 - link

    I have a TX750W installed in my Antec 300 (bottom mount). It's powering an Asus X38 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and three video cards (so far): 2x8800GS and a G92 8800GTS. Runs F@H nicely. Very low noise, I cannot hear it over the two stock 300 fans, AF7P and three GPU fans (AF7P is probably the loudest thing in there). The bottom mount setup is quite nice for this rig as it pulls hot air from that "dead spot" under the lowest video card and keeps that one running fairly cool.
  • Christoph Katzer - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    Hi, I think it would do fine with this PSU as it has longer cables as usual. With the 60cm/24" you will not have too many probs with bottom mounted cases. As for the ripple I think the results is rather normal. The limits are much higher.
  • 3DoubleD - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    Thanks for the reply, that helps a lot!

    ... now to find the money for that case
  • Pyrokinetic - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    Interesting article that came a bit late for me. I debated whether or not to get the Corsair TX650 or the TX750, but went with the TX750 because with a rebate it was cheaper than the TX650. Should have got the TX650. Oh well, my system will in no way tax the PSU as my system will not even pull 300W at full tilt. So the TX750 should last me a long while.

    As for it being loud, I have four Yate Loon 120 case fans (running about 1300rpm) and a case with a mesh front (that sits on the floor), so all I can say is that it is not noticeable with my setup.

  • TantrumusMaximus - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    I would like to also thank you for such an in depth PS article. I really hope with this new test setup that you'll take a step back and build a matrix of PS statistics. I think you wouldn't even need to give a big writeup on each one just post one article that is your test setup and then start posting numbers for different existing PSUs.

    Very Nice.
  • spidey81 - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    I've ready several articles about the TX750W's little siblings performing extremely well. Are there any plans on testing either of these two PSU's?

    Here's a link to a review of the VX450W at hardwaresecrets.com. They claimed it to be one of the best if not the best 500W range PSU available, which is about optimal for most gaming pc's out there.
  • spidey81 - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    VX450W review
  • spidey81 - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link

    sorry...can't get the hyperlink to work for some reason

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