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For this review I used CPUCool and AsusProbe to monitor voltages and temps, and concurrently ran Pifast to produce load/stress conditions. The OS used was WindowsXP Home Edition. Below is the list of system components;

• CPU: P4 3.0C
• Cooling: Danger Den Maze-4 Powerkit
• Motherboard: Asus P4C800E-Deluxe (BIOS ver. 1013)
• HDD: Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 (SATA150, 7200RPM, 120GB)
• Memory: OCZ PC4200 Premier Edition 1GB-kit (DIMM's 1,3)
• VGA: Asus 9950 (FX 5900, Det. 52.16)
• PSU: TTGI TT-550TS Quadruple Fan

Overall Configuration

In general there appears to be enough power, the only rail that is a bit on the low side is the 3.3V rail with 28A, the Antec TruePower 430 and the Zalman ZM400A-APF have the same amount of power available at 3.3V. This is still plenty but depending on the VRM configuration, that is, whether the main CPU supply voltage is going to be 3.3V or 12V this could be an issue in some systems, especially with Dual CPUs.

Quad Fan

The probably most distinguishing feature of the TTGI TT series is the quadruple fan configuration as shown on the last page.

Performance

The first screen shot below was run with the 3.0C overclocked at 245FSB, 1:1 for a frequency of 3672MHz @ 1.575Vcore. Keep in mind that the voltage shown in the hardware monitor and which is also read by the different monitoring utilities such as MBM5 is not necessarily the true output voltage, often enough the calibration is off by a bit. In addition, there is the issue of the sampling rate, that is a low sampling rate will use isolated spot probing of the voltage signal and bounce around a bit more than a measurement technique that averages over several data points. This was the lowest I've seen for Vcore on this board as CPUCool seems to indicate 1.570V. While the 3.0C was overclocked I concurrently ran Pifast, and the TTGI 550W PSU remained rock solid.

       

Temperature and voltage traces as monitored through CPUCool and ASUS-Probe at 3672, 3748 and 3809 MHz core speed runing Pifast. Aside from a few small ripples, there was no depreciation of any voltage rail during any of the stress tests.

Next I increased the frequency to 250FSB (1:1), the Vre appeared to increase to 1.65V. The resulting clock frequency was 3748MHz, and I recorded voltages while concurrently running Pifast. The TTGI ran completely stable, with hardly a spike or dip on the 5V or 3.3V rails. There were some fluctuations on the 12V rail that are somewhat interesting in that the 12V output voltage appears to be slightly raised whenever the CPU load is increased, however, keep in mind the systematic error possibilities of the measuring technique.

As I implied in the beginning, the PSU being one of the most widely neglected components in the PC still directly affects the performance of every device. Unstable, noisy power is the source of many headaches. Those most susceptible are Overclocker's, who need clean current. The requirements for normal operation and more so for overclocking a CPU are that the power must be completely devoid of spikes, and dips, as those will cause system failure.

In conclusion, the TT-550TS is an excellent value with a ton of features an positioned at a very competitive price point. For an Aluminum boxed, quadruple fan, 550W PSU, including a rear LED fan, and pushing 55A on the 12V rail, the price of $79 at Kasecom appears very justifiable.

Ed. Comment: Keith has a very good point, the PSU is, along with the memory the component that makes a system run or fail, even under standard conditions. For any overclocker, a good PSU should be the very first thing to look into, already in the planning phase.

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