INTRODUCTION

   I recently had to visit a good friend of mine who wanted to build a brand new computer system and although his budget was somewhat limited i was surprised to see that he wanted to invest a good amount of that for a good CPU cooler an almost equally good power supply unit. Of course there's not much to do when you're on a tight budget (limited options really) but the bottom line is that i was very glad to see that someone who knows virtually nothing about computers is aware that these two parts/components are very crucial for any system. Quality and performance are certainly the two most important things/factors people look for when purchasing a power supply unit but looks also matter to some (primarily gamers) and the latest Smart Pro RGB 850W Bronze model by Thermaltake may actually deliver on all three.

   The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

   The Thermaltake Smart Pro RGB 850W power supply unit (also available with 650W and 750W outputs) has a fully modular design (future proof), comes with an 80 Plus Bronze efficiency certification and has a peak output of 1007W (850W continuous). As expected by a high-end power supply unit (and one aimed at gamers) the Smart Pro RGB 850W features a single high-current +12V rail rated at 70.5A (can deliver up to 846W), silent Riing 14 RGB 140mm fan (256 colors with 5 modes), Japanese manufactured primary capacitor, flat modular cables and a good number of electrical protections including OVP (over-voltage protection), OVC (over-current protection), SCP (short-circuit protection), and OPP (over-power protection). So is this the power supply unit to get if you're a gamer looking for a model that can also add to the looks of your system?

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A large product picture along with the main product features and the 7 year warranty is the things you'll see at the front of the box.

The patented Riing 14 RGB fan is showcased on the left side.

Taking a look at the rear of the box reveals the electrical specifications table along with the available power connectors, efficiency graph and the model power cord version (EU/US).

The PSU is wrapped inside a bubble bag and the modular cables are placed inside a carrying/storage pouch.

Contained inside the box is the Smart Pro RGB 850W PSU with its power cord, flat modular cables, carrying/storage pouch, 4 cable ties, 4 mounting screws, warranty information paper and the quick start guide.

THE SMART PRO RGB 850W BRONZE EXTERIOR

Once again Thermaltake has used flat modular cables which are easier to route behind the mainboard tray.

As with any fully modular PSU the Smart Pro RGB looks great.

Most of the top is perforated for the Riing 14 RGB 140mm intake fan.

You can see the model name, power output and the 80 Plus Bronze certification logo on two stickers placed on the sides of the chassis.

The unit’s electrical table is printed on a large sticker placed at the base of the enclosure.

As usual all modular connectors are both color coded and tagged.

Most of the rear is typically perforated and aside the usual on/off power switch and the power port (a sticker informs you about the zero fan feature) there's also the Riing 14 RGB fan LED button and the zero fan switch.

THE SMART PRO RGB 850W BRONZE INTERIOR

The Riing 14 RGB 140mm fan can spin up to 1400RPM to produce up to 51.15CFM of airflow with 28.1dBA of noise.

Taking a look inside we see a clean layout and three large heatsinks separating the unit in 3 sections.

For the primary capacitor Thermaltake has used a 400v/680µf model by Rubycon rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are manufactured by the Taiwanese Teapo and are also certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a computer. Certainly limitations do apply and so you can't really test a 1000W power supply if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why during the past 5 years i have saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact closer to real world usage. So as always we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside a few minutes.

       Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say in order to get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be considerably less.

TEST RESULTS

RAILS

Rail stability is very good, perhaps not as good as the one we’ve seen by some Titanium and Platinum models but still very good.

CONSUMPTION

Our system configuration ended up only using 782W at load instantly.

NOISE LEVELS

The Riing 14 RGB 140mm fan obviously hit his maximum RPM during our tests and although not exactly “silent” it was inaudible during most of our tests.

CONCLUSION

   Just like the recently released Toughpower DPS G RGB line the Smart Pro RGB Bronze line of power supply units by Thermaltake was obviously designed to “accompany” their other RGB components (for example the Water RGB line) and to cover the needs of gamers and more specifically those who are into RGB peripherals and hardware. Unfortunately since the Smart Pro RGB Bronze line can’t be controlled via software the button at the rear is your only choice and reaching that if you place your tower on the ground may not be the easiest thing (of course you can choose one of the 5 modes and be done with it). Moving to performance well numbers speak for themselves so the Smart Pro RGB 850W Bronze PSU does extremely well in rail stability and although noise levels are not the lowest we’ve ever recorded until 50% load the unit is almost inaudible. Finally the fully modular design of the unit makes it virtually future proof but even more important is that you can end up using as many cables as you need thus saving space and that’s never a bad thing.

   Right now the Smart Pro RGB 850W Bronze power supply unit by our good friends over at Thermaltake retails for USD99.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 124.90Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so it lands in the middle of several similar models. However the Smart Pro RGB 850W Bronze is quite unique since it combines a fully modular design with very good rail performance, Riing 14 RGB fan (256 colors / 5 modes) and a zero fan feature which can be turned on/off via a switch so it’s a power supply unit certainly worth of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Rail Stability
- Riing 14 RGB 140mm Fan (256 Colors / 5 Modes)
- Zero Fan Feature With On / Off Switch
- Flat Modular Cables
- Peak Output (1007W)
- 7 Year Warranty

CONS

- Fan Noise (Full Load)