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Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W PSU Review Update

Thermaltake has revamped its Toughpower XT 850W computer power supply. They have taken a good unit and made it a lot better. But is "better" good enough for you to be spending your hard earned greenbacks on this PSU? We tell you that in a one page review follow-up.

Same Song, Second Verse

As we state in the conclusion page of every review we do here, just because a power supply fails our load testing that does not mean that the PSU in question is a "bad" unit:

HardOCP’s testing methodology is intended to very much push power supplies to their advertised wattage rating in temperatures that will represent some of the hottest computer enthusiast cases. So if a unit passes all our testing it is definitely not something to take lightly. In fact we expect more power supplies to fail our testing than make it through unscathed.

Now looking back at the Pass and Fails we have assigned to power supplies evaluated to date, we do in fact have more "failed" power supplies than "passed" PSUs. In the process we have undoubtedly "failed" a number of "good" units. Those good units that failed weren't bad they just were not up to HardOCP’s testing standards and as such we could not recommend them to you, our readers, in good conscience. To be specific, we have built our own set of testing standards that are primarily based on ATX specifications. These specifications are what we believe should be the base line for enthusiast-level power supplies. Certainly we have applied these rules to non-enthusiast power supplies as well, and certainly when we have done that we have found some gems in the rough, especially at the lower end of the PSU spectrum.

Today we are taking a look at a new revision of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W, which we first reviewed back in June. At that time we found that the Toughpower XT 850W performed like a typical 850W CWT PSH unit and as such was right at the ATX12v specification limit for ripple/noise on the 12v rail as it peaked at 120mV. This borderline performance is on the upper end of what we typically see from CWT PSH units when they are run inside of their designed power output level even for the 850W model (which appears to be about the edge of what this design is capable of). Since that review, Thermaltake and CWT have reworked the secondary of the XT 850W in a new revision so today we are briefly running one of these new units through a quick redo to see if this was enough to radically alter the CWT PSH performance in our testing.

120v

100v

Torture Test

DC Output Quality

Test #1 is equal to approximately 25% of the rated capacity of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W at 45c. This makes Test #1 equal to 224W by loading the 12v rail to 16a, the 5v rail to 2a, the 3.3v rail to 1a, the +5vsb to 2a, and the -12v to 0.5a.

Test #2 is equal to approximately 50% of the rated capacity of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W at 45c. This makes Test #2 equal to 419W by loading the 12v rail to 31a, the 5v rail to 4a, the 3.3v rail to 2a, the +5vsb to 2a, and the -12v to 0.5a.

Test #3 is equal to approximately 75% of the rated capacity of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W at 45c. This makes Test #3 equal to 616W by loading the 12v rail to 46a, the 5v rail to 6a, the 3.3v rail to 4a, the +5vsb to 2a, and the -12v to 0.5a.

Test #4 is equal to approximately 100% of the rated capacity of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W at 45c. This makes Test #4 equal to 847W by loading the 12v rail to 62a, the 5v rail to 11a, the 3.3v rail to 9a, the +5vsb to 2a, and the -12v to 0.5a.

Torture Test

The Torture Test is equal to approximately 80% of the rated capacity of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W at 45c. This makes the Torture Test equal to 664W by loading the 12v rail to 48a, the 5v rail to 9a, the 3.3v rail to 7a, the +5vsb to 2a, and the -12v to 0.5a.

Paul's Thoughts:

The Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W revision we see here today is certainly a better unit than the first revision we saw back in June as it posted peak 12v ripple/noise values of ~90mV versus ~120mV. While this significant reduction is excellent to see, this unit is still noisier than other high end 850W units on the market. When we compare it to other CWT PSH units though, this revision puts this unit on par with the Corsair TX850 (which to date has been the best 850W CWT PSH we have seen). That being said, we do need to keep in mind here that the TX850 hit shelves in December of last year and this unit is just now equal to that one. So, while this platform can be cleaned up some in the ripple/noise and efficiency sides of things (as both Corsair and now Thermaltake have shown) it really doesn't change the fact that the CWT PSH platform has passed its prime and today is solidly relegated to the value big power market. Hopefully, Thermaltake will be migrating away from this platform which was once excellent but today is just run of the mill soon. Lastly, we do have to tip our hat to Thermaltake a bit as they were the first major brand to start shipping PSH and PCU based units in NA when the power supply market lacked much real competition in the high end, and hopefully this product will re-inject that same vigor into the market with its next major product line.

The Bottom Line

The new revision of the Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W definitely represents a solid step forward with the PSH platform as it reduces the 12v ripple/noise values by ~30mV (from ~120mV to ~90mV), thus making it a tie for the best 850W PSH based unit we have seen. In addition to this, the XT 850W still maintains good efficiency values, good build quality, and low noise levels for such a large capacity unit which would generally make it a good choice if the price was right. That, however, is still going to be one of the hardest things for this unit to overcome. Today's pricing of $249 for what is essentially a very big value power unit is simply too high when the equally well performing Corsair TX850 is available for $139, and the much superior CWT DSG based Corsair HX850 is available for $189. The Thermaltake Toughpower XT 850W is a good product, but it is just unfortunately overpriced in today's market so it really only would represent a deal if users could find it for closer to $150 as this unit is modular where as the TX850w is not.

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