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- Date:
- Monday , March 16, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W
Is that a fully modular kilowatt in your chassis or are you just happy to see me? Thermaltake is back with a 1000 watt computer power supply that has some big shoes to fill after we have seen such great performance out of the previous 1200 watt PSUs from TT.
Build Quality
As we already know from Thermaltake’s packaging the Toughpower 1000W features a single 140mm fan that is in the same vein as the preferred standard of a single 120mm fan, only larger, for quiet cooling due to its ability to move a larger volume of air at lower RPM than a smaller diameter fan. This is the largest fan we have ever seen in a power supply and is used by only a few other brand/manufacturers such as SuperFlower, and now CWT. Additionally, given the size constraints of the ATX12v form factor a 140mm fan is most likely the largest size fan that can fit in a standard width ATX power supply. The 140mm fan should give excellent cooling and be very quiet so long as it is paired with a good fan controller. At the same time, the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, not necessary it’s sound level or form factor.
External Build Quality
The external build quality of the Toughpower 1000W falls in line with every other Toughpower unit we have seen to date. The finish is slightly textured in a drab color with the fan grill punched from the cover as opposed to being a screw on grill. It features a semi-modular design where the ATX, 8pin EPS, and 4pin AUX/P4 connectors are fixed to the unit and the modular interface has a label that indicates which modular connector is fed by which 12v rail (along with color coded sockets). This is very nicely constructed with the only thing breaking up the aesthetic being the large white metal piece emblazoned with the Toughpower name on the side of the unit.
The Toughpower 1000W comes in at a length of 7 3/4 inches while the cables provide a serviceable length of ~18 inches to the first (or only) connector and are sheathed in black mesh though not completely into the housing. Additionally, each modular cable is labeled with which connector goes to which 12v rail on the unit as well.
Internal Build Quality
Once we open the Toughpower 1000W we are left looking at the very familiar and very popular CWT PUC platform. Previously, we have seen this platform used by the Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W, Corsair HX1000W, Koolance PSU-1300ATX-12N, and the Xigmatek NRP-HC1001. Indeed, this unit is identical to the 1200W Toughpower unit we saw some time ago and it features three power supplies with the main PCB being dominated by the two 12v power supplies sitting side by side. The third power supply is situated at the back of the unit on the small PCB and is a dedicated +5vsb power supply. The fan charged with cooling all three power supplies is a Thermaltake branded 140mm Yate Loon fan rated at 0.70A at 12v.
The layout of the Toughpower 1000W is the exact same as we have seen from every other fan cooled CWT PUC based unit and indeed this unit even stocks the exact same components as we have seen previously. The only real departures from this typical arrangement in the PUC design have been the Corsair HX1000W and the Koolance PSU-1300ATX-12N. From the top of the unit we see the main input capacitors (one for each 12v power supply here) are located right next to the main transformers and are Nippon Chemi-con’s rated at 420v 300uF 105c (other PUC’s have sometimes carried Hitachi’s of the same rating). Additionally, we see that the +5vsb PCB carries the PUC series number on it. The primary capacitor on this power supply is a Nippon Chemi-con rated at 3300uF and 10v while the secondary capacitors are also all Nippon Chemi-con’s.
The majority of AC input transient filtering is housed behind the AC receptacle and behind the plastic sheet along with the back edge of the main PCB. On one side of the unit (which we are going to call the secondary for orientation purposes only as it is closest to the wiring) the first add-in PCB we see here is part of the APFC for the unit while the second actually houses the OCP/OVP/fan controller and is part of the secondary. The third PCB, that we can barely see behind that controller PCB, is one of the DC-DC VRM’s used for providing the minor rails output. The secondary of each 12v power supply is composed of standard electrolytics provided by Nippon Chemi-con. On the other side of the power supply (which we are going to call the primary for orientation purposes only as it is farthest from the wiring) we see that the rectifying bridge is situated below the +5vsb power supply on the main PCB with a heatsink attached.
Build Quality Summary
The overall build quality of the Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W is very good like all the previous CWT PUC power supplies before it. Cosmetically the Toughpower 1000W is identical to the higher powered Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W which is still an over-scheme that we like to see. The internal build quality of the smaller Toughpower is also identical to its bigger brother and a number of other CWT PUC based units from various other brands. This iteration of the CWT PUC utilizes all Nippon Chemi-con capacitors for its three power supplies (one +5vsb and two 12v power supplies) which are very good choices and typical of what we have seen previously. The remaining construction of this unit is typical CWT PUC neat and falls in line with other stock CWT PUC designs. Let’s move on now to the testing to see if the Toughpower 1000W actually runs like other CWT PUC's or not.