Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Transient Response Tests
Advanced Transient Response Tests
For details on our transient response testing, please click here.
Ιn these tests, we monitor the Twins 500W's response in several scenarios. First, a transient load (10A at +12V, 5A at 5V, 5A at 3.3V, and 0.5A at 5VSB) is applied for 200ms as the PSU works at 20 percent load. In the second scenario, it's hit by the same transient load while operating at 50 percent load.
In the next sets of tests, we increase the transient load on the major rails with a new configuration: 15A at +12V, 6A at 5V, 6A at 3.3V, and 0.5A at 5VSB. We also increase the load-changing repetition rate from 5 Hz (200ms) to 50 Hz (20ms). Again, this runs with the PSU operating at 20 and 50 percent load.
The last tests are even tougher. Although we keep the same loads, the load-changing repetition rate rises to 1 KHz (1ms).
In all of the tests, we use an oscilloscope to measure the voltage drops caused by the transient load. The voltages should remain within the ATX specification's regulation limits.
These tests are crucial because they simulate the transient loads a PSU is likely to handle (such as booting a RAID array or an instant 100 percent load of CPU/GPUs). We call these "Advanced Transient Response Tests," and they are designed to be very tough to master, especially for a PSU with a capacity of less than 500W.
Advanced Transient Response at 20 Percent – 200ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 12.032V | 11.847V | 1.54% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.985V | 4.842V | 2.87% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.306V | 3.149V | 4.75% | Pass |
| 5VSB | 5.032V | 4.977V | 1.09% | Pass |
Advanced Transient Response at 20 Percent – 20ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 12.032V | 11.767V | 2.20% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.984V | 4.862V | 2.45% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.305V | 3.109V | 5.93% | Fail |
| 5VSB | 5.031V | 4.959V | 1.43% | Pass |
Advanced Transient Response at 20 Percent – 1ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 12.032V | 11.861V | 1.42% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.984V | 4.838V | 2.93% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.305V | 3.107V | 5.99% | Fail |
| 5VSB | 5.031V | 4.956V | 1.49% | Pass |
Advanced Transient Response at 50 Percent – 200ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 11.973V | 11.775V | 1.65% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.946V | 4.802V | 2.91% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.279V | 3.155V | 3.78% | Pass |
| 5VSB | 4.978V | 4.914V | 1.29% | Pass |
Advanced Transient Response at 50 Percent – 20ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 11.973V | 11.704V | 2.25% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.946V | 4.815V | 2.65% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.280V | 3.117V | 4.97% | Fail |
| 5VSB | 4.977V | 4.923V | 1.08% | Pass |
Advanced Transient Response at 50 Percent – 1ms
| Voltage | Before | After | Change | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12V | 11.973V | 11.807V | 1.39% | Pass |
| 5V | 4.945V | 4.808V | 2.77% | Pass |
| 3.3V | 3.279V | 3.072V | 6.31% | Fail |
| 5VSB | 4.977V | 4.912V | 1.31% | Pass |
The transient response of the +12V, 5V, and 5VSB rails is satisfactory. However, the 3.3V rail doesn't perform well. Because of its lower nominal voltage, this rail usually registers the worst performance in these tests.
Here are the oscilloscope screenshots we took during Advanced Transient Response Testing:
Transient Response At 20 Percent Load – 200ms
Transient Response At 20 Percent Load – 20ms
Transient Response At 20 Percent Load – 1ms
Transient Response At 50 Percent Load – 200ms
Transient Response At 50 Percent Load – 20ms
Transient Response At 50 Percent Load – 1ms
Turn-On Transient Tests
In the next set of tests, we measured the PSU's response in simpler transient load scenarios—during its power-on phase.
For the first measurement, we turned off the Twins 500W, dialed in the maximum current its 5VSB rail could output, and switched the PSU back on. In the second test, we dialed the maximum load the +12V could handle and started the 500W supply while it was in standby mode. In the last test, while the PSU was completely switched off, we dialed the maximum load the +12V rail could handle before switching it back on from the loader and restoring power. The ATX specification states that recorded spikes on all rails should not exceed 10 percent of their nominal values (+10 percent for 12V is 13.2V, and 5.5 V for 5V).
The 5VSB rail registers a small voltage overshoot. In the second test, the slope could be straighter, while the last test is much worse. We expected to see higher performance on the +12V rail during these metrics.
Microsoft preparing Lunar Lake Surface and Surface Pro laptops for 1Q25, says report – new Surface Laptop Studio and an 11-inch Surface also on the horizon
Camouflage eSports monitors launched by JAPANNEXT – but you probably won't see them in stores
Zero-day Windows NTLM hash vulnerability gets patched by third-party — credentials can be hijacked by merely viewing a malicious file in File Explorer
