Thermaltake Smart RGB 500 W (230V) Review 13

Thermaltake Smart RGB 500 W (230V) Review

Transient Response & Inrush Current »

Hold Up Time

Hold up time represents the duration a PSU can maintain stable output as defined by the ATX specification without input power. This is very important when the quality of your electricity varies and there are short drops in the supply (dips or brownouts).

In the oscilloscope screenshots below, the blue line is the AC input mains signal, the green line the "Power Good" signal, and the yellow line the +12V rail. The measured timing variable is listed as ΔX.

Hold Up Time





AC Loss To PWR_OK Hold Up Time





PWR_OK Inactive to DC Loss Delay





Given the low capacity bulk cap, I was expecting results to be much worse here. Hold up time isn't far from the 17 ms target the ATX specification sets, and the power ok signal is accurate.

Timings for Alternative Sleep Mode (ASM)

Traditionally, sleep mode (S3) shuts the system off for minutes or hours to reduce power consumption. However, this approach adds a few seconds delay when resuming from standby. Microsoft recently introduced Modern Sleep, which brings the instant-on capability to PCs, just like your phone instantly turns on without any noticeable delay. Modern Sleep builds on the Alternative Sleep Mode capability Intel has defined. To support Alternative Sleep Mode and ensure system stability, a power supply must wake up from sleep quickly—think of it as the PSU's boot time.

Source: Intel
Timings for Alternative Sleep Mode
ParameterDescriptionRecommended Value
T0AC power on time< 2s
T1Power-on time< 150 ms
T2Rise time0.2–20 ms
T3PWR_OK delay100–150 ms
T4PWR_OK rise time< 10 ms
T5AC loss to PWR_OK hold-up time> 16 ms
T6PWR_OK inactive to DC loss delay> 1 ms

For the reviewed PSU, we measured T1 and T3 at 20% and 100% load.

T1 (Power-on time) & T3 (PWR_OK delay)
LoadT1T3
20%49 ms295 ms
100%47 ms295 ms

The PWR_OK sits outside of the 100–150 ms window, which means this PSU is not compatible with alternative sleep mode (ASM). There are no ASM compatible mainboards available yet, and this is a very affordable PSU to boot, so you shouldn't expect such extras.
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