The more significant difference is that the Trio has non-detachable cables. It is equipped with the following cables and connectors:
- Mainboard cable with a 20+4-pin connector (53cm)
- CPU cable with a 4-pin connector (55cm)
- CPU cable with an 8-pin connector (49cm)
- Two graphics card cables with 6-pin connectors (50cm)
- One cable with three Molex connectors and one floppy-drive plug (48+15+15+15cm)
- One cable with three Molex connectors (50+15+15cm)
- Two cables with two SATA power connectors on each (48+15cm)
- Cable with the PSU fan’s tachometer output (62cm)
- One cable with two Molex connectors for fans (34+11cm)
There is everything necessary in this selection of cables.
Together with an APC SmartUPS SC 620 this power supply worked at loads up to 340W (from the mains) and 330W (from the battery).
The PSU passed the full-load test (at 550W) without problems.
The output voltage ripple is within the norm at full load.
The cross-load diagram is as good as with the NeoHE I’ve discussed above: the +12V voltage is ideal while the other two are stable enough. None of the three main voltages deflects more than 4% from the nominal value, the permissible deflection being 5%. With our reference configuration the voltages deflect no more than 2%.
I can note again that this PSU offers two times the amount of power an advanced gaming PC with one graphics card needs.
What about noise? Will the 120mm fan be better than 80mm fans?
The TruePower Trio is silent at loads below 200W as the fan speed is but slightly higher than 700rpm. Then the fan accelerates quickly as the load grows up, reaching 1200rpm at 350W which is quite a high speed for a 120mm fan. If the rest of the PC components are quiet, you’ll hear both the impeller and the hiss of the airflow that’s passing through the PSU. For comparison, the fan of the Seasonic S12 SS-500HT, which is considered an example of a quiet PSU, has a speed of less than 1000rpm at such a load.
Comparing the TruePower Trio with the NeoPower 550 again, they are similar in terms of noisiness notwithstanding their different fans. Both are silent at loads below 200W and quiet at higher loads. Both only become loud at very high loads.
The efficiency is about 85% in a wide range, lowering somewhat at near-maximum loads.
The TruePower Trio TP3-550 is overall very similar to the above-discussed NeoHE 550. Both models are based on the same platform, differ but slightly in their specified and real electrical characteristics, and produce about the same amount of noise. So, you should choose between them basing on the preferable cooling system (which suits your system case better) and whether you need detachable cables. Such cables are handy if you’ve got a small system case because they don’t clutter its interior.
