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"Super Flower/TTGI TT-550SS Power Supply"
SUMMARY: High output, low noise
The good folks at Directron
have sent us another product to take a look at, this time a Power Supply Unit (PSU). Super Flower/TTGI's
TT-550SS 550 Watt Switching PSU. Note: While this link above takes you to a similar 500W unit, I actually received a 550W specimen when ordering this item using this link. "Switching" refers to facility to run the fan in this at three different capacities, which I'll cover in detail later. This particular PSU comes from Directron's stock of "Quiet Computing"
components. There's extremes in computing in regards to noise. One end of the spectrum takes a
"Damn the torpedoes" approach, and any noise required to achieve that highest overclock possible is acceptable. The other extreme is to make the PC as quiet as possible, while still trying to achieve a high overclock, or just run as silent as possible at default settings. Most of us "live" somewhere in between. Generally, some noise is tolerable, provided the end result meets our needs. This PSU attempts to satisfy all the "extremes". High output, low noise, appearance, and versatility. We'll cover all of those bases here. Let's start off by a close look at the PSU, and the wire harnesses.
An "Owner's Manual"?? For a PSU? Yup. This isn't your usual PSU. The manual is bi-lingual, printed in English and Chinese only. The bulk of the information contained within it is PSU specifications for the entire TTGI/SF product line of PSUs,
and pinouts for all the connectors. There's the standard (more or less required) paragraph on "Do NOT open the PSU!", and little else. Hidden in the text is a very brief description
of what the three switching "settings" are. Again, I'll cover that later.
The PSU itself is a very attractive unit, featuring a single 120mm fan that has four blue LEDs built into it. They cast a nice glow when powered up, illuminating a good portion of your case.
Fit and finish is good, with no sharp edges that I could find.
Wow. =O The harnesses feature a great selection of connectors, and are almost long enough to reach your next door neighbor's PC, if needed. The main ATX power lead is sleeved in black plastic "flex"
material, a nice touch.
It's good to see manufacturers incorporating SATA into the harnesses now, eliminating the need for power adapters. As more SATA drives are released, and
they become a "mainstream item", these will be very useful indeed. The nine 4 pin Molex plugs is amazing. But it also raises the question of; If you need that many power connectors, how quiet can the rest
of the computer be?
(From left to right as pictured above) Here's a good visual reference of just how long those leads really are;
The PSU is sitting on top of a mid-tower case (Raidmax Scorpio 868W), and in front of a Chieftec full-tower case (the one with SIX cd-rom bays). The "height"
it's sitting at is about 1/4" lower than the PSU would actually mount in the big Chieftec. Suffice to say, you should have no problems reaching anything inside any case that needs power. The Chieftec is one of the biggest towers
commercially available. When I set this PSU on the file cabinet (two drawer, 29" tall) below the two PC's pictured, the accessory leads reached the floor. Easily. If you plan on installing this PSU in a mid tower case, your problem is likely going to be how to hide all of that harness, rather than not having enough connectors,
or the leads being long enough. The two systems pictured above are also the two systems I tested this PSU in. When we come to the testing part of this review, I'll further detail the systems themselves.
Pictured is the sticker from the side of the PSU, showing the minimum and maximum output levels for the PSU. Some quite impressive numbers, for a PSU that caters to the "quiet
crowd". Note the upper right corner...AMD K8 support. It's good to go for AMD 64's, and Opterons.
* Italian to English translation: "Would you like anything else with your huge plate of spaghetti, Sir?"
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