Info Thermaltake SMART 600w 80+ GOLD OEM PSU Teardown

[NightHawkRMX]

Background:

I saw this PSU on eBay in "seller refurbished" condition. Product was being sold in bulk with many units available, although they have since sold out. The price was $29.99 with free shipping.

I am unable to find this product on Thermaltake.com, however, It can be found on their Australian website: Smart 600W Gold OEM (thermaltake.com.au)
One difference is this website states PS-TTP-0600NNFAGA-1 as the model number, however my unit states TTP-0600NNFAGA. The website states 3 year warranty, mine says 5 on the label, granted this could just be due to region.

Although this PSU appears to be a commonly used unit in Ibuypower units, I have seen this unit available in retail on Amazon and Newegg in the past.

There is a fair bit of into on that website, but here is some info not stated.

The connectors are all sleeved but multi color. The connectors include:
1x ATX 24 pin
1x EPS 12v (CPU)
2x PCIe 6+2 pin
3x Sata power
3x sata power
3x molex + 1x floppy

Also, it was very annoying to open.

https://imgur.com/a/90gAuBu

View: https://imgur.com/a/90gAuBu



It looks like a toughpower GX1 600w, but worsened.

Overall worse caps and maybe a worse fan too.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I currently am pairing this PSU with an overclocked Ryzen 5 2600 and GTX1660.

This combo would probably run on an N1 400w, so I think this PSU will be fine.

Its a bit like the Segotep. Its decent platform, but cost reduced heavily. Basically the opposite of an M12ii/S12ii, which are just an ancient design but good quality caps/fets/fan.

 

[refillable]

I think TBH I prefer TT's (or Segotep's) approach on this one. Rather than selling group regulated garbage after garbage companies should start selling modern designs in the lower end, even if it means changing the caps and fans to low quality ones. Anyway, did you find anything about the protection features the PSU has? It might be missing OTP like the Chieftec we talked earlier as it probably shares the same platform.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Thermaltake's webpage doesn't say.

From the amazon listing:
Build-in Over Voltage, Over Power and Short-Circuit protections.
I would bet it has more than just that.

I do recall seeing this unit on Newegg awhile ago, and Newegg is typically good with providing that type of information. However, I cannot find the listing now.

The best photo I have of the protections IC is sadly this. Looks like sitronix?

https://imgur.com/3hYcR8H

View: https://imgur.com/3hYcR8H


I may not be able to open it up easily since It is installed in the PC as I said, however curiosity might just make me have to remove some zipties and find out.

 

[refillable]

Hmm... Yes that's where the Supervisor IC is commonly located at. You don't need to open it up again, don't worry I am not going to force you to or anything. 🤣So probably no OTP like I guessed earlier.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ugh. That just looks haphazard the way that filter is sitting on top like that. I'd imagine any decent bump in transit while that thing is upside down would shake that thing around. And all those mosfets tied to a single strip heatsink?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Hmm... Yes that's where the Supervisor IC is commonly located at. You don't need to open it up again, don't worry I am not going to force you to or anything. 🤣So probably no OTP like I guessed earlier.

I would doubt it has OTP, or at least that the supervisor IC supports it. I believe the Segotep lacks OTP too, but I am not 100% sure.

I keep drawing conclusions between these two units since the Thermaltake SMART GOLD, Segotep GP, and Apevia Prestige, are all very cheap 80+ gold units I see. I would avoid the Apevia completely.

The m12ii does have OTP iirc, so that's something.

From my experience, I have never had any problems with group regulated PSUs. I get you can have crossload and out of spec voltages, but every time I have used one, either the voltages did not go out of spec at all, or at the very least the voltages did not go out of spec enough to cause any noticeable problems.

While I have never had any issues with group regulated PSU causing crashes or HW damage, I have seen many cap failures, however none with M12ii units.

This makes me lean more towards wanting better quality components with an older platform, but honestly I think the "best" option is somewhere in between.

I really don't care much about sleeve bearing fans in PSUs. As long as they are not absolutely terrible and the PSU is properly oriented, it should last awhile. Even if it doesn't, I could just go grab a random case fan and a soldering iron and repair it in a few minutes.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I'm aware this isn't nessisarily a common opinion

 

[Karadjgne]

While quality plays a role, design is just as, if not more so, important.

Take your average sleeve bearing fan in a psu. It's upside down and the bearing is vertical. The entire premise of a sleeve bearing is a Bronze tube surrounding a pin. Horizontally that puts the entire length of the bearing being supported by that shaft, as it should be. Vertically, the shaft does absolutely nothing but prevent rotational movement, the entire fan is supported by the tip of the shaft. Concentrated friction vs area.

With the fan vertical, like a rear exhaust, sleeve bearing, rifle bearing, any of the variations will last a good long time. Horizontally, they wear out much faster, especially upside down. Double ball bearing fans are much better for a psu fan than rifle bearing or sleeve bearing.

 

[refillable]

The thing with group regulated PSUs is that it doesn't directly cause issues, I believe it takes away your hardware slowly the same way as bulging capacitor do. But group regulated PSUs are like that on the get go, while lower quality PSUs such as this one needs a bit of time to take away your hardware. That's why I prefer this approach to Seasonic's approach, so I kind of disagree with you here. But then again, my opinion could be the one that is unpopular.

I also believe M12IIs have no OTP on the lower wattages (520 and 620), while the higher one does (750 and 850).

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I also believe M12IIs have no OTP on the lower wattages (520 and 620), while the higher one does (750 and 850).

Correct.

 

[jonnyguru]

I would agree with this. For $30 I can overlook the cheap caps, given 95% of the units you would find for $30 or less would have similar or worse caps, and probably worse everything else.

For that sort of price here are your choices new, excluding mail in rebates:

https://imgur.com/Yr1k4nL

View: https://imgur.com/Yr1k4nL

For EVGA Bstock units your looking at a W1 or W3 series PSU, and these are even more expensive. The W3 series does have teapo caps all around, but 85c and its group regulated, not to mention less efficient and lower wattage.

https://imgur.com/ypPfBCY

View: https://imgur.com/ypPfBCY

I dunno.... Even Corsair VS Series uses 105°C caps throughout because of fall out during burn in and/or DMTBF. It's just not worth the risk to save $3 here.

EDIT: Talking about the EVGA. I'm happy to know the TT uses 105°C secondary. Even they're not that stupid.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I would put money on the 80+ White thermaltake smart using 85c caps tho.