Tagan TG480-U01
The title of the review will give most of the game away when evaluating the specifications of the PSU itself. 480 means 480W maximum sustained load, not a peak load figure (peak load sits at 500W for a sustained 60 second time period).
As you can see, it accepts a universal input voltage source, automatically switching between the ~110V input voltage used in countries like the United States, and the ~230V system used in countries like the UK. The main on/off switch is hidden behind a transparent rubber cover, stopping you from accidentally switching it in either direction, a problem I've come across in the past on certain ATX chassis designs.
The fan you can see has an equal on the other side, near to where the cabling exits the PSU chassis. Both fans spin at the same speed, itself a frequency of the load on the PSU. Under 60% load, the PSU spins both fans at a leisurely 750rpm, making a maximum of only 28dBA, depending on your listening distance from the unit. Up to 100% load, from 60%, the fan speeds increase linearly, up to 2500rpm maximum and 36dBA of noise. Tagan make a big deal of the noiseless nature of the TG480-U01, more on that later.
Their other big selling point for the TG480-U01 is its support for future ATX and BTX specifications that have yet to be ratified, future proofing your PSU choice to some extent. ATX12 ver 1.3 gets a big nod with the inclusion of SATA power connectors as standard and easy support for 22A of current draw on the +12V rail. +5VSB, the standby voltage rail, supports up to 2.5A of current draw and the unit consumes less than 5W of power in that mode.
BTX 1.0 gets a nod too, although it's not clear from the product literature what the PSU does to conform. It seems most decent ATX 2.03 and ATX12V 1.3 compliant supplies should make the transition to BTX 1.0 without a fuss, provided they don't implement a 'top' mounted fan.
Last on the list of notable specs is a a ground/return loop, a separate DC output bypass loop, designed to reduce ripple and line noise. While it's impossible for me to test the effects of the bypass loop without a 'scope or other PSU testing equipment, The Tech Report's testing of the AC-to-DC voltage process on a range of recent supplies, directly testing ripple voltage from the conversion process, shows that the less ripple voltage the better, as expected. I'll refer back to that article later, so take a good look at Geoff's excellent analysis if you want to follow ripple voltage talk later.
A quick page on the physical spec before a little testing.
