Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w PSU

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Technology
Supplied by: Thermaltake Technology
MSRP: $384

By Dean Barker (5/12/2007)

 

Introduction

If you ever wanted an example of how quickly technology is advancing, there are few better places to look than power supplies.  Yes, I said power supplies.  For instance, the last Thermaltake Toughpower PSU we reviewed here was back in January of 2006, not even a year and a half ago.  In that time, changes to multi-core CPU and VGA card requirements have advanced so that the latest Tt Toughpower unit starts its spec list with 1200 watts.  Over TWICE that of last January.  It's not just raw power either, the new Toughpower unit sports four independent 12 volt rails, three 6-pin PCI-E connectors AND three 8-pin PCI-E connectors for the next generations of VGA cards to get the ball rolling.  Thermaltake has a lot more on the table that we intend on looking at today with this beast of a power supply.  Thanks go out to Thermaltake and specifically, Aanikah in the Taiwan office for sponsoring this review.

Specifications

• Power Output: 1200 watts

• Observed dimensions: 200 x 150 x 85mm

• Internal 140mm "silent" cooling fan (16dBA @1300 RPM)

• Four independent dedicated 12v rails

• Three 8-pin and three 6-pin PCI-E connectors

• Quad core CPU support - provides 8-pin 12v dual CPU support

• 24 pin ATX power connector

• Two 8-pin ATX EPS 2.91 compliant 12v connectors

• Active PFC (PF > 0.99)

• Over voltage protection (4.5v, 7.0v, 15.6v trip points)

• Under voltage protection (2.0v, 3.3v, 8.5v trip points)

• Over current protection

• Over power protection

• Over temperature protection

• Short Circuit protection

• Modular cables

• All cables sleeved

What you get

The Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w PSU comes with a boat load of cables making for a large and packed box.  Modular sleeved lines are a welcome addition to any power supply.  Having expandability be what it is with the number and type of connectors included really rounds a package out.  We are going to look at the cable offering separately in a bit.  In addition to the cables and the Toughpower unit itself, you get a nice rubber vibration dampening mounting plate, three 6-pin to 8-pin PCI-E adapters as well as a Tt Key3 Spirit case badge.  Surprisingly, there was no manual included.  I don't see this as a bad thing as Thermaltake was quite efficient in putting all the technical and feature information on the box itself.

Go Large!

Some video cards eat up huge amounts of power.  Put two of these VGA power hungry monsters in a machine set up to run SLI or Crossfire in addition to a high end multi-core system and you truly need at least a kilowatt to keep everything happy.  With the added power comes the need for larger internal heatsinks and cooling fans within the power supply itself.  With this comes a larger unit.  The Tt Toughpower 1200w unit measures out at an observed 200 x 150 x 85mm.  That's a full 60mm longer that the OCZ's ProXStream 1000w unit we reviewed last month.  One of the things we were not happy with in the ProXStream was the amount of noise it made.  Hopefully with the added space and cooling Thermaltake has with its Toughpower 120w PSU, they will fill us with the sounds of silence many of us desperately crave in our machines.

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