Thermaltake Toughpower 850W Power Supply Review

Today, we look at Thermaltake's Toughpower 850 Watt Power Supply.  This power supply offers Modular Cable Management, which can help reduce power cable clutter inside your system.  It comes in a fairly small box with a handle on the top.  The box features plenty of pictures and descriptions of what this power supply has to offer.  This power supply is also nVIDIA SLI Certified, meaning that it is great for Multi-GPU applications, and is offered for around ~$220 (January 2007) on internet shops.  A 5 Year Warranty is included.

Upon opening the box, there is a power cable, a silicone noise reduction pad, a Thermaltake sticker, Screws, and the Manual.

The Power Supply:

This power supply is rather compact for a 850 Watt PSU.  The matte gold metallic color that is used on this power supply is much better than the previous Toughpower's; it simply looks more professional than just a glossy black color.  In fact, I would suggest that other power supply manufacturer's also adapt this style.  The fan grill still looks plain though.  Thermaltake should use a traditional metal grill over the fan, instead of integrating it in the mold.

There are four +12v rails in this power supply; +12v1 and +12v2 supply up to 18 Amps each and the +12v3, +12v4 supply up to 30 Amps each.   It has a peak power load of 950 Watts.  There is Active PFC present in this power supply, meaning that this power supply will offer high efficiency and reliable power. 

The Toughpower Logo and Wattage is noted on the side, where it will be seen on cases with a side panel window.

The back features a grille for exhaust, power connector and a power switch.  This power supply offers a full range power circuit, so there is no need for a 110v / 220v switch.

Here is the features / specification sheet from Thermaltake's website:

	Stable 850W continuous output (at 50 Degrees Celsius operating environment)
	Four independent & dedicated +12V rails(12V1,12V2,12V3,12V4) provides superior
	performance for PC system (combined loading of 62A).
	Four 6pin PCI-E connector for Multi-GPU Graphic Cards.
	Supports Dual Core CPU / Quad Core CPU / Nvidia SLI & Quad SLI and all Multi-Core GPU technologies.
	Modularized Cable Management to eliminate clutter and improve airflow inside the case.
	Independent Voltage Circuit: offers unflappable current delivery under heavy load.
	Strict voltage regulation (±3%): provides steady voltage for system.
	Active Power Factor Correction (PF>0.99) and high efficiency (up to 87%).
	Industrial grade components (capacitor, transformer, etc)
	High reliability: MTBF>120,000 hours.
	Quiet and reliable 14cm ball-bearing fan.
	Protections: Over Current, Over Voltage, and Short-Circuit protection.
	Safety / EMI Approvals: CE, CB, TUV, FCC, UL, CUL, and BSMI certified.

This power supply features modularized cables, and the back of this power supply features the connections for these cables.  The diagram below it shows which cable corresponds with the connectors.  The blue colored connector in the diagram is for the 8pin +12v power connector, which is power for the CPU.  The two red connectors are for PCI-Express devices (there is an additional two PCI-E connectors already connected to the power supply for a total of 4 PCI-Express power connections.  This is great for SLI/Crossfire video cards.)  The second to last column of power connectors is for Molex/Floppy connectors.  The last one to the right is for S-ATA connections. 

Cabling:

The modular cabling that this power supply offers a black mesh sleeve to eliminate cable clutter; another helpful feature is that they connectors feature a grip to easily remove the connectors from devices, it is a great and useful feature to have; especially if the connection with the device is tight.

There are three permanently attached cables on this power supply.  They are the 20/24 Pin ATX Power Connector and two PCI-Express connectors.  Strangely, the 8 pin EPS / 4 pin  12v CPU connector is modularized. 

The 8 pin EPS / 4 pin  12v CPU connector is modularized and has both a 4 pin and 8 pin CPU power connector on it. This is different from other methods I have seen, where there would be just one 8 pin CPU power connector and it would be able to snap in half and offer a 4 pin power connector.  *It seems that some motherboards will sometimes incorporate both the 8 pin and 4 pin power connectors.   In this case, Thermaltake is prepared for future motherboards that will require both 4+8 pin power connectors.

2x of this PCI-Express connector, for a total of 4 PCI-Express power connectors.

2x of modular S-ATA connectors, each with 4 S-ATA power connectors for a total of 8 S-ATA power connectors.

2x of modular Molex / Floppy connectors, each with 4 Molex, 1 Floppy power connectors for a total of 8 Molex and 2 Floppy power connectors.

Cooling / Noise:

There is a 140 mm fan on this power supply, which is larger than most power supplies; it should theoretically produce less noise because it can spin slower and still create the same amount of cooling power that smaller fans create at high speeds.  During testing, this power supply fan was quiet and only increased to full speed several times during the tests.  At full speed, it is still not as loud as power supplies with smaller fans. Also, the fan returns to idle speeds quickly when the power load is reduced, this is greatly appreciated in systems that are built for quiet operation.

A silicone noise reduction pad is included with this power supply, and fits snugly against the back of the power supply.  Thermaltake claims it can reduce vibration caused by the power supply by 80%.  I tried it with and without it applied, and I could not hear any difference.  If your case is made out of a thinner metal or aluminum, this can be useful.

Overall, this power supply is very quiet during normal use.

Inside the Power Supply:

* Taking this power supply apart will void the warranty, as noted by a small sticker on top of a screw needed to fully open the power supply up.

The heatsinks inside this power supply feature many fins and will offer sufficient cooling of the components.  On the bottom left of the picture, you can see the Active PFC circuitry and the fan controller logic is near the bottom middle on the picture.    It is very tidy inside this power supply. 

On the back of the power supply, there is a small board that holds the modular connectors on it.  If you look closely, you can see the +5V, +3.3V, +12V 1 though 4 rails listed on the back.  It was hard to determine where they led to though. 

The fan is manufactured by Yate Loon, well known for making quiet fans.  This particular model is the: D14BH-12 (L-SSS).  There is a plastic sheet to direct airflow.

Testing:

The test system consists of the following:

-ThermalTake Aguila Case

-AMD Opteron 165 Dual Core Socket 939 CPU @ 2.8 GHz (1.52v)

-ThermalTake Blue Orb II Heat Sink

-DFI LANParty nF4 Ultra-D

-2GB of Corsair XMS Platinum PC3200 Memory

-320GB x 3 Western Digital 16MB Cache Hard Drives

-nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS Video Card @ 625MHz Core / 915MHz Memory

-Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card

-Sony 16x DVD-RAM / 18x Samsung DVD-RAM Drives

-2x 120MM fans

-2x CCFL Lights

Voltages are at Max Load, running 3DMark06 CPU Test 1 / Deep Freeze HDR test, and read with a Multi-Meter.

The results of this power supply is amazing, the voltages stayed within specification with the system at a full load.  The fan switched to high speed several times during the tests, most notably when the both the CPU and GPU were heavily taxed, but stayed quiet during regular use / gaming. 

Overall, this is an excellent power supply for computer enthusiasts and gamers.  It offers a ton of power (850 Watts!), high efficiency, and great stability.  There are next gen features on this power supply as well, such as the inclusion of four +12v rails, each tolerating high amperage.  The 140mm cooling fan does a great job at keeping this power supply cool and quiet.  With all these great features, it should be placed on the list when shopping for a high end system.

This is a highly recommended power supply.  

Pros +

-Excellent Power Delivery and Stability

-Quiet 140mm Fan / Silent Operation

-Matte Gold Color

-Modular Cables

-Four PCI-Express Connectors (Multi-GPU capability)

-Lots of connectors

Cons -

-Slightly expensive

Techaddicts.net would like to give this power supply a 9.5 out of 10 rating and the 'Recommended' Award for its excellent features. 

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