Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W PSU Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W PSU Review - Thermaltake has been known for solid desktop computer power supplies when it comes to big power. We have been using Toughpower 1200W PSUs on our testing benches for literally years. Today we see a new Toughpower 1200 watt PSU, but does it keep up with the times and deliver what is expected?
 
Saw this one coming. Was never a fan of thermaltake PSU's. They have actually been less reliable than Ultra for me.
 
Why would a company like Thermaltake change from something that works well to something that barely works??
 
Hope I have better luck with my Thermaltake Toughpower 1350 watt supply I just installed in my new Thermaltake Level 10 Snow Edition case! I don't understand why companies want to risk their reputation by building sub-par merchandise. Dumb!!
 
Soon as I read "Sirfa" I knew there'd be problems. Dumb move, Thermaltake.
 
Most of Thermaltake's power supplies are OK at best from reviews I've read over the years with the exception of the ToughPower line so I'm surprised to see this one do so poorly. Wonder if they'll trash up the entire line.
 
thermaltake is one of those companies I never believed in, I always think of them and Ultra in the same category. OCZ is another company I don't trust. At least OCZ burned me, I don't really have any reason not to like the other two.
 
Gulp!:eek: I just bought a used one of these several months ago. No way am I leaving it in my gaming rig after reading this review!!!:(
 
savagepagan said:
Gulp!:eek: I just bought a used one of these several months ago. No way am I leaving it in my gaming rig after reading this review!!!:(
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There's no reason not to. It's still a good PSU, albeit not a great one. Unless you'll be loading it up to 1200W (hint: you won't), you won't run into any issues. Paul's second sample didn't even fail testing.
 
Thanks Paul_Johnson. I did read your review before buying this power supply and it is one of the reasons I bought this. I appreciate all the hard work you put into your power supply reviews. I trust your final results and thus have bought many supplies on your recommendations. I just don't know why Thermaltake took the chance on this model!
 
Paul, just a question on testing related to intended use. Do you test to determine if the cable(s) are long enough to reach their intended location(s) with regards to tall cases with the power supply placed at the bottom of the case?
 
what would cause a unit to perform so well in overall efficiency but take a hit on transient load testing on the 12v/5v when only loaded at half of it's power rating? I can't recall ever seeing that before on any other PSU.
 
TT's stuff was abysmally bad back before they introduced the CWT Toughpowers. Before informing myself on the topic of good and bad PSUs, I burned myself (and a few hard drives and a motherboard) on their HEC based Purepowers back in 2005/06. After that they've never gotten any of my business. I don't really care what they put out on the market.
 
TravisCHEN said:
Is this the first unit that failed in [H] testing for its dynamic loading performance?
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Well that is not exactly why it failed. As Kyle said it is kind of multifaceted:

Editor's Note: We had two samples of this PSU to test. The second, which this review is based on barely squeaked by in terms of passing or failing our tests in relation to ATX12V specifications. The first sample we tested did NOT pass ATX12V specifications. Given that this second unit bumped up against specification limits more than once, I am very hesitant to award it a "Passing" seal of approval. So yes, technically it passed, but I just do not see putting our [H] seal of approval on this unit. It simply fails in our eyes.
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So how did the first sample failed against ATX specs? On the same load transient tests?
 
TravisCHEN said:
So how did the first sample failed against ATX specs? On the same load transient tests?
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No, it had a higher set points but the magnitude of the change was the same. The 3.3v was not regulating properly on the first one.
 
Sorry for a rather dated bump. I currently have a 1200w W0133RU Thermaltake PSU which you guys originally gave a gold award to. After 3 years and about 5 months of use it is having some issues. It is still running fine for the most part I can play most days for 8+ hours with no issues, but has a rather annoying ticking fan noise that is getting louder with time and does have random rare shutdowns (not sure if it is heat related or internal hardware issues in the PSU).

The warranty on the unit is 5 years, and after contacting Thermaltake they say that they won't/can't replace the exact unit because the W0133RU was discontinued, but offered this TPG-1200M in it's place. After reading this review, I'm a little skeptical of "downgrading."

Granted it is technically a "free" replacement, I feel like I'm in a position that I have to accept it if I want it fixed, but it irks me at the same time because the warranty was 5 years on the unit I bought, or so I thought. I'd rather downgrade the wattage than downgrade the quality, though I'm not sure if Thermaltake will allow this as an RMA option. Do you know if the 1050 model is a Sirfa unit?

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on my dilemma? Would I be screwing myself by accepting this change for an RMA unit?
 
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