Contents
- 1First Look
- 1.1The Box
- 1.2The Power Supply
- 2Load Testing
- 2.1Test 1 (74.45W Load)
- 2.2Test 2 (160.84W Load)
- 2.3Test 3 (202.91W Load)
- 2.4Test 4 (257.17W Load)
- 2.5Test 5 (309.29W Load)
- 2.6Test 6 (364.36W Load)
- 2.7Test 7 (393.48W Load)
- 2.8Test 8 (449.22W Load)
- 2.9Test 9 (503.94W Load)
- 2.10Test 10 (562.58W Load)
- 2.11. Test 11 (613.25W Load)
- 2.12Test 12 (666.16W Load)
- 2.13Overload (806.64W Load)
- 3Disassembly
- 3.1
- 4Actual Specifications and Conclusions
First Look
The Toughpower Grand is a high end series of power supplies from Thermaltake, aimed mainly at the gaming and enthusiast market, with models available from 650W up to 1200W. Now that some lengthy renovations to my workshop are now complete, and my load tester is now usable once again, let’s see how the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 650W model fares.
The Box
The front of the box actually has a flap. On the front is a picture of the power supply on a black background. The red stripe at the bottom is actually another piece of cardboard that can easily be removed from the flap. Once we lift up the flap, we have a heap of marketing. I won’t re-type it all this time around. Basically, it tells us the following about the power supply
- Single 12V rail
- Fan delay-off (meaning that the fan runs for a time after shutdown)
- Japanese Capacitors (and polymer caps on the 5v and 3.3v rails)
- Two transistor forward topology
- 80 PLUS Gold certified
- SLI and Crossfire certified
- 140mm ball-bearing fan
- Honeycomb vent structure
- Vibration absorbing gaskets are supplied (about the only really unique feature)
There are also paragraphs which tell us that the unit is high quality, efficient and performs well. We’ll find out for sure in the load testing.
On the back of the box, we have the number of connectors, a load table, as well as some more marketing (most of which has already been covered under the flap on the front). The side has a more brief list of marketing bullet points in English, as well as a number of other languages.
Once we open up the box, we have another box, which is much plainer looking than the outer box. Once we get it unpacked, we have ourselves a power supply, a power cable, a manual, four screws (which are longer than usual, as the screw holes are recessed into the back of the power supply), some Velcro ties, a bag of modular cables. Although not supplied with my unit, the vibration absorbing gaskets are included on all retail units.
The Power Supply
Like the box said, this is a single 12V rail unit. On 600W and higher units, I prefer to see two or more 12V rails used, as opposed to a single rail. The unit is matte black, save for a red stripe that goes around it. The fact that the unit is capable of almost the entire 650W on the 12V rail alone is typical of products which use DC-DC conversion for the 5V and 3.3V rails.
In the way of connectors, we have a 24-pin-only ATX connector, a 4+4-pin ATX/EPS12V connector, an 8-pin only EPS12V connector (hardwired), as well as four PCI-E connectors (two 6-pin and two 8-pin connectors), eight SATA power connectors, eight molex/peripheral connectors and one FDD connector (modular). Also supplied are two 8-pin to 6-pin PCI-E adapter cables, as well as an ATX12V extension cable. This is plenty of connectors, but I would prefer that 8-pin EPS12V connector to be modular, since it is not often used.
Both of the grilles use a honeycomb structure, as mentioned in the marketing on the box. The rear grille also contains an area in the middle which lights up with the Thermaltake logo when the unit is running. While this looks nice, it would probably be better not to include it, as it takes up grille space, and won’t be noticed at the back of the PC.
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