Introduction

We would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying the review sample.

Thermaltake is one of the few companies that have a portfolio spanning many different products, including power supplies. As it seems they highly desire a very strong presence in the PSU market and lately they decided to go with the tough economic times, releasing a budget series which promises good performance without any useless bells and whistles. This series is called SMART and consists of modular and non-modular units with capacities ranging from 430W to 730W. All SMART units, except the modular ones which are Bronze certified, have a basic 80 Plus certification and are guaranteed to deliver their full power continuously at up to 40°C operating temperature. Here we should also note that the modular SMART units are made by Channel Well Technology while the non-modular ones are made by HEC/Compucase, so we are talking about two completely different platforms here.

Today we will review the strongest of the SMART units, the non-modular SMART 730W or SP-730P. Briefly this unit, according to Thermaltake, offers up to 86% efficiency, it is equipped with a 120mm fan, has a single +12V rail and finally it is equipped with a sufficient number of connectors including four PCIe ones. Unfortunately, in order to keep its price as low as possible, not all cables are sleeved; something that may look weird to many users. In our opinion even for a small price increase we think that Thermaltake should provide sleeving on all wires since it really helps not only in appearance but practically too, in cable management tasks.

Specifications

Efficiency meets only the basic 80 Plus certification. according to Thermaltake at least since at the time of review this unit still wasn't officially certified by 80 Plus organization. Regarding its protections: only UVP (Under Voltage Protection) and OTP (Over Temperature Protection) are missing. Since the max operating temperature of this PSU is restricted to 40°C (while ATX spec recommends 50°C) we would like very much to see OTP present, to protect the unit from burning up in case the internal temperature goes too high. The small cooling fan is equipped with sleeved bearings and its maximum speed reaches 1700RPM, to cope with the unit's thermal dissipation. The dimensions are pretty compact with only 140mm depth and the weight is low too. Finally the warranty is at three years, a satisfactory period for the category that this PSU belongs too and the price is a bit higher than what we expected. Let's see if the performance of the SP-730P will justify this price.


The SP-730P has a single +12V rail which can deliver up to 56A, so it's strong enough to feed two mid-level VGAs along with a strong CPU. The minor rails are quite powerful at 150W combined while the 5VSB rail is sufficiently strong with 3A max.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

Unfortunately only the 24 pin ATX cable is sleeved so most users will be highly disappointed by the view of the naked wires and on top of that cable management will be much harder. To speak frankly from a PSU that costs 100 bucks we expected all its cables sleeved and not only one of them. The number of available connectors is sufficient for the category of the PSU, however a second EPS connector along with two two additional 4 pin Molex connectors would highly increase its usability. The length of the 24 pin ATX and the EPS cables is adequate for this PSU, which most likely will be installed in mid-tower cases and not in full towers. As for the PCIe cables these are short and 100mm additional length up to the first connector would be a better option. Thankfully the distance among all connectors is the right one, at 150mm. Finally all connectors use 18AWG wires, which is the recommended by ATX spec gauge size.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.

Packaging

The packaging that houses the PSU is quite small since the unit's dimensions are compact. On the front we find the series description along with a number indicating the capacity of the PSU. There is also the phrase "Built to work" which shows Thermaltake's intentions for the members of this series: they simply made them to get the job done without any unnecessary bells and whistles. Next to the aforementioned phrase there are three badges for efficiency certification, three year warranty and ErP Lot 6 2010 compliance. Surely the most interesting information on the packaging is located on its rear side. There we meet some photos of the internals with a brief description for each one, the power specifications table, a description of the available cables/connectors and two graphs illustrating the efficiency of the unit and the fan speed/noise level curve.