Final Thoughts
Pricing
Thermaltake’s London 550W power supply is currently limited in its retail availability. In the UK we managed to find this power supply at Scan Computers for £64.26 while we could not find the product for sale in the USA. Thermaltake provide a 5 year warranty with this product.
Conclusion
The Thermaltake London 550W is by no means a high-end or enthusiast grade power supply. Thermaltake’s decision to use CWT as the OEM producer make this unit a budget-orientated power supply with a nice upgrade from the usual 80 Plus Bronze efficiency we’d typically expect to find at this price point. This is by no means a bad thing because the Thermaltake London 550W is backed up by aggressive pricing that makes it cheaper than rival 80 Plus Gold 550W units from many other vendors. In this competitive market segment there are very few other vendors who can offer a competing product, the only notable one that stands out for me is the Corsair CS550M. That unit commands a virtually identical price point with the same hybrid modular design. The main difference between those two units is Thermaltake’s one offers a larger, and quieter fan as well as an extra 2 years on the warranty. When you put the Thermaltake London 550W within the context of its market segment it is clear to see it offers a stong value-for-money proposal that few can match.
In reviewing the performance of the Thermaltake London 550W we’ve found that the value for money proposition doesn’t incur any significant performance penalties. The London 550W offers quiet operation, strong efficiency and better than expected ripple suppression. Voltage regulation is strong on the minor rails although the 12 volt rail can definitely be improved upon. For the money there is nothing that this unit lacks if you’re in the market for an affordable Gold rated power supply. As a final deal-sweetener the all-black cables with a hybrid-modular design allow you to keep a tidy build even on such a tight budget.
Pros
- Hybrid modular & all black cables
- 5 year warranty
- 80 Plus Gold Efficiency
- Good ripple suppression
- Quiet operation
- Competitive pricing
Cons
- 12 volt regulation starts off quite high
- Fairly average PFC performance
“Thermaltake’s London 550W power supply may have a strange name but strange performance it does not: this is one of the best value 80 Plus Gold semi-modular power supplies available on the market right now.”
Thank you to Thermaltake for providing this review sample.
There’s no reason to state “Fan speed lower is better” on the chart because that is only a subjective opinion while factually speaking, higher is better for the PSU itself to reduce temperature except in this particular case that low quality Yate Loon fan will probably wear out its sleeve bearing before the life of the PSU is otherwise exhausted.
Hello. I am looking into buying a new PSU for my computer. I will upgrade to the AMD R7-370, my CPU is AMD FX4300. I want to buy the Thermaltake Tt Toughpower DPS G 550W ATX23 (here is the link http://hardware.nl/thermaltake/ps-tpg-0550dpcgeu-g.html ), but it seems to be different from the one you are reviewing. Is this a really different line? The one to which I linked has a 140mm ventilator, so it should be quieter. But the one I see in the image has a 120mm.
Yeah, it seems so. Strange Google gives this link when I am looking for a different Thermaltake.