REVIEW: ThermalTake TR2 Series PSU

Review: ThermalTake TR2 600w and TR2 500w Power Supply

By: Christopher “Synther” Wilson

From a consumer stand point, the modern world of power supplies can be fairly confusing.  On the one hand, you have a gazillion fanbois screaming that one PSU is fantastic and another sucks; on the other hand you have the certification process that is supposed to tell you what really is good and what is not.  In reality, there are only five or six different manufacturers of the internal parts of PSUs in the world and only three or four of those are making good ones.  Add to that the certification process that was originally meant to mean something with its procedures and guidelines that now means exactly jack because every PSU with a power cable is able to get certified and you start to see the confusion.  And finally, you have a lot of consumers that are woefully ignorant on what their actual power needs are to begin with.

I won’t begin to tell you which models are or are not good purchases for your needs.  There are much better reviews from people that have done a lot more research on the topic than I for that purpose.  What I can tell you is that ThermalTake has been in the business of power supplies for quite some time and they have always had a reputation of providing a good product.  The TR2 500W and TR2 600W are perfect examples of this lineage.

I received the TR2 600W to replace an aging RaidMax 630W in my current gaming system, “Vindicator.”  The TR2 500W was received to aid in building a new file and TeamSpeak 3 server.  I received both of these power supplies about two weeks before Christmas, but I wanted to hold off writing the review so that I could monitor their function and determine if there were any power ripples.  I know that some are laughing and calling me a n00b for having had a RaidMax PSU.  That’s fine.  But be aware that while there was always a small ripple in that power supply, it has been overall a rock solid performer for almost five years.  On the flip side, it was originally purchased to replace a dead ULTRA 800W with FSP guts that only last roughly 1.5 years.  The ULTRA should have been the better power supply but as you can see; your mileage may vary with just about any PSU that you purchase.

The TR2 500W and TR2 600W are virtually identical in all ways except for the wattage.  Neither power supply carries a certification rating, yet they both operate as a “work horse” in my experience.  Both of these PSUs have the standard 4+4 pin EPS power for the latest models of CPU as well as two PCI-E 6+2 pin connectors for the latest models of video cards.  From a cabling stand point, this means you could plug in two video cards in an SLI or Crossfire configuration.  The reality is that neither of these PSUs carry the wattage really required to do that.  Again, it really depends on what cards you’re running, but if you think you are going to plug in two GTX 670 cards and expect your power supply to live past a month, you’re likely terribly mistaken.  But for a single video card configuration with a Radeon HD 5770 clocked at 900MHz, I’ve found that the TR2 600W works perfectly.

The TR2 500W and TR2 600W are both standard ATX sized PSUs.  I’ve found that in a lot of cases (HAH!  Another pun…) the term “standard sized” can be a bit of a misnomer.  My ULTRA 800W was gargantuan in length, for instance.  This can cause a problem for longer video cards, smaller cases, or a mixture of the two.  The TR2 series is not overly long and should fit into just about any case with ample room left over.  The cables are longer to aid in cable management so you can hide them.  While this may sound good on paper, I’ve found that it can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the case you’re putting the PSU into. In my AeroCool AeroEngine II case, the longer cables worked great, however.

After installing, I jumped the CMOS and went back in to set my overclock.  I have my Core 2 Quad Q9550 running at 3.23GHz with 1.32v and cooled by a ThermalTake WATER 2.0 PRO closed loop liquid cooler.  A review of the WATER 2.0 PRO can be found here..  In use, I’ve not found there to be the power ripples that I noticed with my RaidMax 630W PSU and the overall power has been extremely steady and stable.  The TR2 series has the added benefit of providing over-voltage, over-power, and short circuit protection as well.  Something that the RaidMax either did not provide or did not advertise.

ThermalTake has added one more bonus for the TR2 series power supplies by sweetening the pot with a five year warranty.  Bang for buck, this is definitely something that can add to your peace of mind and is usually only something you find on the higher end models of PSU.  Once again, ThermalTake has gone the extra mile in taking care of their customers.

Ultimately, I’m going to give the TR2 500W and TR2 600W power supplies a solid 10/10.  They do exactly what they are meant to do with no muss and no fuss.  They do not have fancy LED lighting or plug into a USB header on your motherboard to give you updates on a software gadget that you’ll use only once or twice in your entire life.  What they do is give you good solid and stable power, which is what we want from a PSU to begin with.  If you’re running some heavy metal in a crossfire or SLI configuration, you should definitely look at getting a more powerful PSU with more wattage.  But if you just need a solid PSU for an average gaming system, the TR2 600W should fit most of your needs.