Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 1350W Power Supply Review

A Closer Look

Out of the box (and canvas cover), the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 presents itself excellently with a sleek and stylish aesthetic. – With that being said though if you’re familiar with the ToughPower brand then, quite honestly, there isn’t anything particularly new going on here. Overall though, this is all about performance!

While some branding is, of course, present, it’s nicely understated which again adds to the overall professional ethos of the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3.

The top of the PSU has the Thermaltake logo in the centre and a nice large vented area for the 140mm fan which sits behind it.

The cable input bank is well presented with each section being clearly denoted for its particular and specific usage. – Coming in a ‘back to back’ design as well, this helps accommodate easy cable insertion and removal.

The rear of the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 comes with plenty of ventilation in practically all areas available. With the small ‘slat’ design as well, this is also a solid design choice for effectively hiding what’s going on inside from the external view. You’ll note that this PSU comes with a ‘Smart Zero Fan’ which we will, of course, be testing later in this review.

Cabling

The cabling for the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 is excellent with it being both high quality and more than long enough to accommodate good management. – On something of a mildly interesting side note, however, while most of the cabling comes within fairly standard plastic sheathing (making it well protected, but also highly flexible), the PCIe Gen5 connection is the only one to actually be braided. This does make manoeuvring slightly more tricky since its thicker. On the whole, though, this shouldn’t provide any issue. It’s just a little terser, and, by proxy, probably more awkward when it comes to weaving this through a case.

Internals – A Look Inside!

The initial impressions once you get inside the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 are excellent (please don’t do this by the way as it WILL invalidate your 10-year warranty). Everything is clean, tidy, well organised, and well presented. Nothing looks even slightly messy or out of place (with no hint of ketchup or mustard) which clearly indicates that Thermaltake put a lot of effort into giving the GF3 an exceptionally solid design.

A closer look at the fan reveals it to be a Thermaltake own TT-1425. We have seen this 140mm solution utilised within a number of their other ToughPower PSU products and have never failed to be impressed with the level of performance it offers.

The PCB is very well presented with all components being both well organised and well-spaced. There are five separate heat sink banks located on the board which should, all going well, get excellent airflow from the fan thanks to them having a fairly wide berth from each other.

Although tricky to see, we can confirm that the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 features two main capacitors which are both Japanese (Rubycon if you were interested). – Rated to 105C, this is exactly what you want to see within any quality PSU design.

Overall Thoughts!

Both inside and out, the Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 looks like an exceptionally solid and professional-grade power supply. There is literally nothing to criticise here aside from possibly the fact that in terms of aesthetics, some may consider it a little boring. – Overall though, from what we’ve seen from the visual design, this should provide us with some excellent figures in our testing!