Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W Power Supply Review

Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.

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Protection Features

Header Cell - Column 1

OCP

12V: 73.4A (135.93%), 12.055V 5V: 24.8A (124%), 5.080V 3.3V: 32A (160%), 3.278V 5VSB: 5.2A (208%), 4.945V

OPP

873.65W (134.41%)

OTP

✓ (94°C @ secondary side)

SCP

12V: ✓ 5V: ✓ 3.3V: ✓ 5VSB: ✓ -12V: ✓

PWR_OK

Proper operation

NLO

SIP

Surge: - Inrush: NTC Thermistor & Bypass relay

OCP is correctly set at 12V and 5V, but we cannot say the same for 3.3V. There is absolutely no point for such a high triggering OCP point at 3.3V. 

OPP is properly configured, and there is over-temperature protection, which is essential to any power supply. Finally, it is a great shame that there is no MOV in the transient filter, limiting the PSU's surge protection.

DC Power Sequencing

According to Intel’s most recent Power Supply Design Guide (revision 1.4), the +12V and 5V outputs must be equal to or greater than the 3.3V rail at all times. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't mention why it is so important to always keep the 3.3V rail's voltage lower than the levels of the other two outputs.

The 3.3V rail is lower than the other two in all tests we conducted, so there is no problem. 

Cross Load Tests

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails. The deviations in each of the charts below are calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12V, 5V, and 3.3V) as point zero. The ambient temperature during testing was between 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Load Regulation Charts

Efficiency Graph

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Ripple Graphs

The lower the power supply's ripple, the more stable the system will be and less stress will also be applied to its components.

Infrared Images

We apply a half-load for 10 minutes with the PSU's top cover and cooling fan removed before taking photos with a Fluke Ti480 Pro camera able to deliver an IR resolution of 640x480 (307,200 pixels).

The primary transformer looks to be the hottest part of the PSU when there is no airflow. This is why HKC used three metallic bars to keep its operating temperatures at lower levels. 

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Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.