Hardware Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W PSU

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/04/16/thermaltake_toughpower_1500w_w0171_psu/1

Thermaltake takes things to an extreme with its Toughpower 1500W W0171 power supply. We test this 1,500W behemoth to see if it really is worthy of the Toughpower name. And, more to the point, find out if is there a need...

 

i bought this psu as it was the only one available at the time to supprt tri-sli and im sorry but i hate it with a passion, sure the specs are nice but its a bloody nightmare to work with and cable, the 8 to six pin pci-e adaptors are a joke and can turn any beutifully crafted machine into a ****ing rats nest.

i have mine up for sale if anyone wants it.

 

Yikes, that's a monster!! Do the all the lights in town flicker when that thing is switched on? ;P

 

I agree - the cabling could have been done *a lot* better

 

seems all overkill to me. I think in the future we don't even have to go that far for power anyway, because the consumers demand for efficient green power rated devices (like videocards, cpu's etc) is getting more and more support. even Bit-tech is measuring power consumption nowadays with testing all kinds of hardware.

Even 3xSLI is overkill, in a few months you may have a single slot PCI-E card that runs around all three filled PCI-E slots with two fingers up the nose.

 

The only good products that have a Thermaltake label are the psu's because they are not made by them.

Shame about the heat though, especially outside of a case... I mean inside a Case the ambient temp will be much higher so its questionable if the psu would really hold up at 1,5kw load, but then as bit-tech proofed, no system pulls that much power anyway so it can be forgiven.

 

But then if you never have a system that pulls that much power, why do you need a 1,500W PSU? It's a negative cycle.

 

And I even laugh at people who buy PSUs over 700 W.. Damn that's over double it.

Current mid-spec rigs take about 300 W, so the 1000 W PSUs seem like showcase products to me. And I hope it stays that way, I don't want to see standard PCs consuming any more power than they already do.

 

48DBa?

Next please.

 

nice article rich. One thing that strikes me is that if you are going to do something why not do it properly...for example, this psu is aimed at the uber e-peen user who by my guess will probably have a window on his case to show his dual sockett skulltrail with tri sli and all the trimmings, yet the unsightlycable management would negate showing off what inside if it looks, as GUNSMITH says...."a ****ing rats nest".

Something else i noticed from the pics is the non pairing of the gpu connections on the psu, i'd have designed it to have the six pin on top, and the 8 pin underneath so its paired for one card rather than 2 reveresed L shapes....if that makes any sense to anyone.

Finally the price, as a high end product with its flaws, the price indicates a lesser product for the money to me. Whilst the PC Power and Cooling goods for some 300 squid is ludicrous(i dont even like their stuff anyways) it has more of the right idea at appearing super high end where these psu's live. So to me, it appears as an attempt at making a product that they didnt quite pull of, but money had been spent on r and d so it's going to see the market before anymore money is lost on a niche product rather than spending some more and hitting the market with a pow as they have the efficency, but some more time looking at cooling and cable design that enthusiasts prefer would mean it could easily have been the choice for all wanting a 1500w psu....as always its only what i think.

note: i was well surprised that you can run tri sli on 9XXX for like less than 500w, i thought most cards under load used 150-200Watts, obviously more if you have x2 revisions but then they are special.

peace

fatman

 

Note:
Quote:
"but that's because it was only loaded to ~450W, peaking at 515W. "
Rich S

I checked, and from the article http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/04/01/nvidia_geforce_9800_gtx_512mb/17 your tests indicated that one 9800GTX under load uses 285 Watts, therefore 3 would use 855 Watts. I dont wish to undermind you bindi but from my level of understanding you've made a booboo in calculations, but then i dont do this for a living so if you can put my mind at rest and say which is truer and if i am wrong, give an explanation so i know where my thinking took the u turn i'd be greatful.

cheers

fatman

 

@ mrb_no1:

I think that power rating is for the entire computer. Not just the video card.

 

wow.
40a at 12v ~ 480W which is more than some power supplies produce as a whole!
Completely ott though
And which PSU manufacturers are paying Nvidia to only licence 1100W PSUs for 3-SLI? or maybe it is just to guard against rubbish makes

 

This isn't overkill. Why would this be overkill? This couldn't be overkill.
Imagine the mess if this wasn't modular.

 

Good god.

I've never seen a PSU bottlenecked by the rest of the comp before.

 

"Thermaltake has uses glue instead of zip ties to hold the heatshrink on the ends – zip ties compress the cables and make them heat up more under heavy use. This results in higher resistance and poorer voltages or inefficiency, but the effect is dependent on the quality of cable used though."
Anyone else notice the ridiculousness of this statement?

If there is enough current on the wires that heat matters, something is very, very wrong. Quality of the cable? Uh, copper is copper. Gauge is all that matters.

 

Sometimes they use steel instead of copper to save money - there is a copper shortage in China at the moment. I sympathise with what you're saying but at the same time I've also been told by more than one PSU manufacturer (or representative) that it is "an issue". Pinch of salt either way.

bubsterboo - yes, that's the reading at the wall socket so even after the efficiency loss too.

 

Most likely it is to guard them from rubbish psu's... there are psu's out there that are rated at 600W and more but coudnt power more than a E2160 a single hdd, a single fan and a geforce 7300, its the type of psu you find included in budget cases or super cheap on ebay. there are plenty of psu's out there with a fake Watt rating, a decent psu can easily cost 100£, so its financially attractive to buy the cheapest s**t that exists and put a 700W label on it and flog in on ebay.

 

3x9800? what kinda of resolution and frame rates did you get?

 

Tim will have a full review shortly of this and Quad-SLI. I will also be covering it in more general depth in my upcoming 790i Ultra SLI article.