Thermaltake Smart BM2 750w Power Supply Review

Thermaltake is undoubtedly one of the most respected brands when it comes to bringing a wide variety of products to the market that is suitable for practically all levels of PC ownership. From general to enthusiast-grade, we have never failed to be impressed with them as they continually look (as one of the few manufacturers) to expand and innovate their designs. With the Thermaltake Smart BM2 power supply, however, we get to see the company's professional side with a solid PSU packing plenty of excellent features. And perhaps above all, a very reasonable price tag! Thermaltake Smart BM2 750w The Thermaltake Smart BM2 range of power supplies are available in power outputs between 450w-750w. For this review, however, we will be taking a specifically closer look at the 'top-dog' 750-watt design. Coming with an 80-Plus Bronze efficiency rating, semi-modular cable design, and an impressive 5-year warranty, this PSU looks to be the perfect choice for your 'average' PC consumer who simply wants their power supply to do its job efficiently and effectively while still offering plenty of functionality for future potential component upgrades! Features 80-Plus Bronze Efficiency RatedRufle Bearing Fan Design750W Continuous Output at 40C/104F Operating EnvironmentModular Low-Profile Flat Black CablesHigh Quality Japanese Main CapacitorHigh Amperage Single +12V Rail DesignDC to DC Converter DesignIntel C6/C7 Sleep States and ErP Ready5-Year Warranty What Thermaltake Had to Say? "Built to deliver 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency with up to 85% of it, the Smart BM2 series is available in 450W/550W/650W/750W. Constructed with a 140mm rifle bearing fan, Japanese main capacitors and other premium components, the Smart BM2 750W delivers a continuous and stable power output at 40℃, allowing near silent operation and reliable performance. With an ample 5-year warranty, the Smart BM2 750W is able to satisfy the market, where value-oriented users are looking for a new power supply with all the latest features." Specifications For more detailed specifications, please visit the official product page via the link here! Connections Coming as a semi-modular design, the Thermaltake Smart BM2 already has the motherboard and CPU power connectors attached to the block. A handy and convenient feature as 99.9% of users will always require both of these to be connected on modern PC systems. In terms of the other modular cabling solutions, however, Thermaltake provides you with more than enough for your standard gaming PC. Albeit, enthusiast level users might want to take a closer look at what is provided to ensure that this will be 100% suitable. Packaging So, in something that should quickly become patently obvious to you, our Thermaltake Smart BM2 packaging didn't arrive in pristine condition. Fortunately though, nothing inside was damaged and it is at least still good enough to check out. The front of the packaging goes nice and bold with a clear image of the power supply along with all the key features listed. The rear provides you with all of the specifications and technical details which are exceptionally informative and also more than easy on the eye. Accessories In terms of accessories, you neither expect nor want that much when it comes to power supplies. Fortunately though, what Thermaltake provides is still very nice. You're given a product manual, a booklet detailing your 5-year warranty, and you've also given a nice bag which holds your cables. The bag itself feels nice and tough meaning that storage of the cables you don't need should be easy while also keeping them well protected for any potential future requirement. In addition, with a little branding visible, it's a nice aesthetic touch! A Closer Look Out of the box, the Thermaltake Smart BM2 has a nice weighty feel in the hand while offering sleek black aesthetics that should suit practically all tastes. This power supply's fan section has a nice large vented area with the fan sitting in a good central location. With the Thermaltake logo in the centre, this both looks and fits in well with the overall aesthetic of this design. The rear vented area is excellent with practically the entire area open. As you can see below, the space has been fantastically utilized with only minimal areas around the mains power switch and power input not open for airflow. As this is a semi-modular power supply, the cabling to power your motherboard and CPU come pre-attached. However, with several other ports available and well labelled, you shouldn't have any difficulty both inserting and removing (if necessary) the additional cables. The base of the power supply comes with a sticker listing all of this PSUs technical specifications. While this information will not be relevant to the mass majority of consumers, it's still handily visible for those who need to know it (like me!). Cabling Starting off with the pre-attached cables, coming in a black plastic wrap, they are flexible while feeling more than durable enough for general wear. In addition, and they are also surprisingly generous in length, meaning that cable management shouldn't represent any problem here. The modular cables come in a similar protective casing. In addition, they are also itemized to ensure you use the correct cable for the right component. If I did have a mild grumble, it is the fact that the cable inputs are quite close together and, as such, things will get a little cramped if you have to utilize all ports. Like the cables though, these are all labelled to denote their usage meaning, pretty much, as long as you're paying attention, you shouldn't make any mistake here! Internals - A Look Inside! Starting with the fan, we can confirm that the Smart BM2 utilizes a Thermaltake TT-1425 design; a fan we have seen utilized within various other TT power supplies, and we've never failed to be impressed with its performance. A look at the PCB reveals a very clean (and surprisingly compact) layout. All of the components are well spaced, however, and this should (all going well) lead to some nice cool airflow and, by proxy, low fan noise output. We should note that white anti-vibration paste is visible in some areas, and, for some consumers, that is a cause for concern. However, given the limited space available, we'd have frankly been surprised if it wasn't used within this PSU. In regards to the main capacitor, we can confirm, as per Thermaltake's claim, that this definitely is a Japanese design. Coming from 'Nichicon' and rated to 105C, this is exactly what you want to see in a quality power supply design! Overall Thoughts! Both inside and outside, the Thermaltake Smart BM2 appears to be an excellent power supply. Looks are, however, only aspect of this review. It's also important to learn just how potent this is. So, let's get this strapped onto our bench and run some tests! - But first, a little methodology! Methodology & Testing At eTeknix we take the power supply testing procedure very seriously and have invested a lot of resources into acquiring the appropriate testing equipment. For all power supply reviews, we test the power supplies with dedicated power supply testing equipment. This means we are able to get the most accurate results from our testing as opposed to using software benchmarks (such as OCCT) or multi-meter readouts which are broadly inaccurate. Testing Hardware Sunmoon SM-5500ATE Active Load Tester (1200W rated)Stingray DS1M12 USB OscilloscopeVoltcraft DT-10L laser tachometer What the eTeknix Test Procedure Involves Testing each power supply at 20/40/60/80/100% load (with load balanced across all rails) and measuring PFC (power factor correction), efficiency (actual power divided by power "pulled at the wall") and voltage regulation (deviance from expected voltages of 3.3/5/12 on the main rails).Measuring ripple with an oscilloscope at 20/40/60/80/100% load.Measuring fan speed after a stabilisation period of five minutes at each load scenario using the Voltcraft DT-10L laser tachometer and a reflective strip on the fan.Testing each power supply's OPP (Over Power Protection) mechanism and seeing how many watts each power supply can deliver before shutting down Other Things to Consider We recognise that a single 12-volt cable can provide only 6 Amps before overheating (which corrupts voltage regulation and efficiency) and so we used an adequate number of cables for each power supply to ensure there is not efficiency loss from poor cables selectionOur Sunmoon SM-5500ATE power supply tester is not capable of testing more than 300W on each of the 12-volt rails so where a power supply provides more than 300W on a 12-volt rail that power is distributed over multiple 12-volt rails on the load tester. For example a power supply with one 12 volt rail supplying 750 watts would be spread equally over three 12 volt rails on the load tester, a power supply with two 450W 12v rails would be spread over four 12v rails on the load tester, two 225W 12v rails for each of the 12v rails on the unit.We use the same time scale and horizontal millivolt scale on our oscilloscope for all ripple tests, that is a 20ms T/DIV (horizontal) and a 0.02 V/DIV (vertical) meaning the scale is from -80mV to +80mV, ATX spec dictates that the 12v rail must fall within 150mv of ripple and the 3.3/5 within 50mv so that scale allows us to include both 150 and 50mV peaks. (Some older PSU reviews use different scales which were later ditched as the visual representation they give is inadequate, in these reviews written measurements are provided only).Deviance is the terminology used to represent the way voltages diverge from the expected values Voltage Regulation To test voltage regulation we load the power supply to five different load scenarios that give an equal spread of load across every single rail. So that means 20% on all rails, 40% on all rails and so on. We then calculate the average deviance of each rail from its expected voltage. Ideally, anything of +/- 2% regulation is seen as a very good result. Power Efficiency Power efficiency is measured by calculating actual supplied wattage divided by the wattage drawn at the wall/plug, multiplied by 100 to give a percentage. We then compare that to the particular 80 Plus certification the company claims to see if it meets that. You can see the 80 Plus certifications below, we always test power supplies at 230v. Power Factor Correction Power Factor Correction is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. The aim of PFC is to make the load circuitry that is power factor corrected appear purely resistive (apparent power equal to real power). In this case, the voltage and current are in phase and the reactive power consumption is zero. The closer the number to one the better as this allows the most efficient delivery of electrical power (Source - Wikipedia). Ripple Noise and Ripple can easily be measured by an oscilloscope. These show how much voltage fluctuation there is on a particular rail. We tested the rail stability of the 3.3-volt, 5-volt and 12-volt rails using an identical time and millivolt scale for all graphs. millivolt ripple is measured by the peak to peak size of the voltage curve. The latest ATX 12 volt version 2.3 specifications state that ripple from peak to peak must be no higher than 50 millivolts for the 3.3-volt and 5-volt rails, while the 12-volt rail is allowed up to 120 millivolts peak to peak to stay within specifications. Millivolt figures are stated to the closest increment of 5 given their variability. OPP Power supplies often quote as having various protection mechanisms such and the most important of these is Over Power Protection. In our testing we crank up the power draw until the power supply either shuts down (meaning the OPP mechanism is present and working) or blows up (meaning it is either not present or not working). We then note the maximum power consumption before the power supply shut down, or before it blew up. Fan Speed When testing in a power supply laboratory it is difficult to take fan noise readings as the noise from the Sunmoon test equipment and air conditioning corrupts everything. The next best thing in our circumstances was reading off the fan speed with a tachometer to get an idea for the noise. The ambient temperature during testing held constant at 22 degrees, with 1 degree of variation. Each power supply had a consistent time period of 5 minutes to stabilise between each load scenario. In my experience, the following general relationships apply between noise levels and fan speeds, though it can vary greatly between the type of fan used. Below 800 RPM - Inaudible/Silent800 to 1000 RPM - Barely audible1000 - 1200 RPM - Audible but still quiet1200 - 1400 RPM - Moderately noisy1400 - 1800 RPM - Noisy1800 RPM or above - Intolerable Efficiency Despite officially being 80-Plus Bronze efficiency rated, the truth is that the Thermaltake Smart BM2 actually performs well beyond that remit. In our testing, we saw results that were actually more in line with 'Silver' and even occasionally tiptoeing into 'Gold' territory. For a consumer, however, this is all fantastic news as despite nearly being more in line with 'Gold' in our testing, this is still officially 'Bronze'. As such, will carry a price tag more in line with that grade rather than the higher tier. So, in other words, this is already looking to provide consumers with some excellent performance to pound (or Dollar/Euro) value. PFC (Power Factor Correction) Our experience of Thermaltake power supplies has always presented excellent results in our PFC testing and this is certainly no exception here with the Smart BM2. While starting off a little on the low side at 20% load (which is perfectly normal by the way), the results quickly ramp up the harder you ask this PSU to work. And with it achieving a score of 0.97 at 100%, this is definitely very good indeed! Voltage Regulation Consistency is the key work with voltage regulation and the Smart BM2 hits this nail right on the head. As can be seen in the results below, the average deviancy seen across the various load outputs was exceptionally low. The only major of mild interest was the -12V rail which did seem to undervolt by a fair margin. Given that this is rarely utilized in modern PC designs, however, we do not see this any cause for concern. Ripple Unlike many other Thermaltake power supplies, for this particular model they have decided to not particularly tout its ripple noise levels. Quite frankly though, we're not sure why. Across all of our tests, the results were remarkably low with the highest result only seen in the 12V channel at 100% load (a result which is always typically the highest). Given that this is still less than half of the required EU maximum, however, while it might not say it on the box, we're happy enough to say that the Thermaltake Smart BM2 provides the power in an exceptionally clean manner. Load (%) 3.3V Ripple 5V Ripple 12V Ripple 204.64.29 405.65.811.6 607.27.412.8 8089.416.2 10011.414.624.4 Over Power Protection and Max Wattage While this particular Thermaltake Smart BM2 power supply has a rated wattage output of 750, it's never unusual to find that, in pretty much all cases, it is possible to push things well beyond that point. When you do so, however, it's always important to know that protections are in place to shut the system/PSU down before any risk of damage is encountered. With the Smart BM2 750W able to achieve 234.1 watts above the rated amount, this is a very decent margin of error with it being nearly 25% above the rated value. We should, of course, note though that going over the manufacturer's stated value is never advisable, but if you do, the good news is that the protections are definitely present here to prevent you from causing any inadvertent harm to your system or components. Fan Speed Pretty much regardless of what power output we tested the Thermaltake Smart BM2 at, it appeared that the fan speed maintained an average of around 600RPM with it only increasing slightly at 100% load. With this in mind, it would not appear that Thermaltake has attempted to do anything particularly clever with how the fan runs on this model. That can though, be viewed as something of a positive as by maintaining a reasonably low fan speed, while the components are consistently well cooled, you will also not find any notable peaks in noise output. Set within a full-blown system, however, we quite frankly doubt you'd notice this running. So if you value low noise levels, this definitely ticks that box! How Much Does it Cost? The Thermaltake Smart BM2 750W power supply is currently available to purchase for a price in the region of £74.99. A price that is notably lower than when compared to other recognizable brands with similar features, and, as such, we can't help but view this as excellent value for money based on the features you're getting. Not to mention that 5-year warranty! Performance As entirely expected, the Thermaltake Smart BM2 ate up all of our tests with ease with no results provided to point any concern towards. If anything, and particularly so in the efficiency testing, this power supply managed to exceed our expectations for what is essentially just one small step up from what many would consider todays entry-point PSU area to be. Practicality & Functionality This power supply would be entirely suitable for the vast majority of PC systems, including even higher-specification gaming models. Its semi-modular design is, in our view, an entirely logical choice given that the cables provided will almost certainly be necessary for practically every consumer and with a decent selection of PCI-E/SATA/Molex adaptors on offer, the only people this possibly couldn't work for are those who own monster-level PC designs. Should I Buy One? In our view, the Thermaltake Smart BM2 represents the perfect point at which consumers should be entering the PSU market. It packs all of the features you (should) want and massively exceeds the stated remit on the box in terms of efficiency. Trust us, if this were official 'Gold' efficiency rated (which was so very nearly proven in our testing), that price tag would increase by at least £20. So with that in mind, the Smart BM2 750W PSU is one of the best value-for-money models around at the moment while providing all the features the savvy power supply consumer should be looking for! It calls itself 'Smart', and in our view, that sums this PSU up very well! Thermaltake Smart BM2 750w Power Supply Review

Load (%)	3.3V Ripple	5V Ripple	12V Ripple
20	4.6	4.2	9
40	5.6	5.8	11.6
60	7.2	7.4	12.8
80	8	9.4	16.2
100	11.4	14.6	24.4

✨ We've just launched our NEW website design!

Ripple

Read Next

Raijintek Ampere 1200W Platinum Switching Power Supply Review

NZXT C1200 Gold ATX 3.1 1200w Fully Modular Power Supply Review

Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1200W PSU Review

NZXT C750 Bronze Non-Modular ATX PSU Review

Corsair SF1000 ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.0 Platinum Power Supply Review

Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 1000 Watt Fully Modular 80+ Platinum Power Supply Review

Antec HCG850 Pro Platinum ATX 3.1 Power Supply Review

NZXT C1500 Platinum ATX 3.1 Power Supply Review

Thermaltake Dr Power III AXT Power Supply Tester Review

MSI MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 1300W 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply Review

XPG Core Reactor II VE 850W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply Review

Thermaltake Smart BM3 850W Semi-Modular Power Supply Review

MSI MAG A850GL 80 Plus Gold Power Supply Review

2024 Power Supply Buying Guide

Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050W Power Supply Review

XPG Fusion 1600W Titanium Power Supply Review

MSI MPG A1000G PCIe5 Power Supply Review

ASUS ROG LOKI 850W Platinum SFX PSU Review

DeepCool PX1200G ATX 3.0 Gold Power Supply Review

Silverstone DA1000R 1000W Cybernetics Gold ATX 3.0 PCIe 5.0 PSU Review

Related Articles

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Graphics Card MSRP Pricing is Fake

Nvidia RTX 5050, 5060 and 5060 Ti Specs Leaked – Can They Compete With Intel & AMD?

AMD Radeon RX 9070 & 9070 XT Graphics Card Review

Adblock Detected