Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W PSU review
Installation
I installed the ThermalTake Toughpower 1000W PSU in my Cooler Master Cosmos case. The installation went pretty smooth and only took about 10 minutes.
Testing
To test the performance of the Toughpower 1000W I installed the unit in one of my test systems and measured the +12V, +5V and +3.3 voltages under load and idle conditions to see if these are in line with the official ATX Voltage Specifications.
The +12V and +5V rails are measured with a digital multimeter and the +3.3V line is measured by Asus PC Probe. The idle measurements are taken with by booting the system into Windows XP and letting it rest for a couple of minutes. Load measurements were done by loading up different benchmarks and programs to stress the CPU, graphics card and memory.
Test system:
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 processor with Noctua NH-U12F HSF
- Asus Commando motherboard
- ASUS GeForce 8800 GTX
- 2GB Super Talent T1000UX2G5 memory
- Seagate 320GB HDD
- CoolerMaster Cosmos case
- Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W PSU
- Dell 2407WFP LCD display
- Operating system: Windows XP SP2
Here are the results of my test:
Voltages were well within regulations and I wasn't able to spot any voltage drops during idle or load conditions, meaning that the active power correction works well.
Unfortunately I don't own multi-thousand dollar equipment to fully test the PSU's max output levels, ripple, voltage output, efficiency and noise levels but Jon Gerow from jonnyGURU has this kind of equipment and tested the fixed wired version of this PSU a couple of weeks ago. He tested the PSU's voltage output and efficiency under nine different load conditions and checked out how the results vary with cold and hot case temperatures. The tests show the Toughpower 1000W performs extremely well, with typical efficiency of over 82% and excellent voltage regulation. The PSU also scores very good in the ripple test.
Conclusion
If you need a huge amount of power for your rig the Toughpower 1000W is highly recommended. This power supply has excellent voltage regulation, is very efficient, and relatively silent. The modular cable system will improve the airflow in your case and make it look a bit more appealing.
The package of the Toughpower 1000W is very complete, the unit ships with a large amount of nicely sleeved cables, including the right connectors for all the latest power-hungry processors and graphics cards.
Perhaps the only thing that may prevent you from buying this PSU is its pricetag. Just as any other high-end power supply the Toughpower 1000W CableManagement is very expensive. I checked some price comparison sites and in Europe it costs about 261-290EUR, in the U.S. about $300-$330.
The Good Stuff
- 1000W
- Good efficiency
- Good voltage regulation
- Semi-modular cable management with nicely sleeved cables to improve airflow and tidyness
- Ships with lots of cables
- Relatively silent
The Bad Stuff
- Like most high-end PSUs it's quite expensive.
- The PSU is longer than average PSUs, might cause some problems in tiny cases
I give the ThermalTake Toughpower 1000W PSU a 9.5/10 and our Seal of Approval award.
Previous Page (3/4)Added: August 15th 2007
Product reviewed: Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W PSU
Reviewer: Thomas De Maesschalck
Score: 9.5/10
Page: 4/4
