Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050W Power Supply Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050 Watt Fully Modular PCIe Gen 5 ATX3.0 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply is available now from Scan for a very reasonable £129.98 at the time of writing, however, it does have an MSRP of £139.9, but again, I think that’s fair given the features and overall power output on offer.

Overview

Thermaltake has a lot of power supplies in its range. Some are pretty affordable low-power units, ideal for those on a tighter budget or needing lower power outputs for basic system builds, and they have some extreme all-digital high-power output units for workstations and enthusiast systems. However, the GF A3 1050 Watt is a more mid-range unit, but with a few high-end perks that help it strike a balance of big performance, without the prohibitive prices of their flagship units.

There are some cost-saving techniques used here, but none of them seem like they’re a particularly big compromise, at least not for most PC gamers. At 80 Plus Gold, the efficiency is very good, and while there are 80 Plus Platinum and Titanium efficiency-rated units, however, at around 1000W the price goes up around 30% for a Platinum-rated unit vs gold, and anywhere from 100 to 180% increase in Titanium rated vs gold, and that kind of cost increase just isn’t worth it for most users wanting to be more efficient.

Thermaltake has put a more expensive Japanese bulk capacitor in this unit, and it’s a very good one too, but used less expensive, but still very good quality Taiwanese capacitors for the rest of the PSU, this again has kept cost down, and honestly, the overall benchmarks still held up well, so I can live with these kind of savings. If you wanted all Japanese capacitors, you could expect the PSU to increase in price by another 15-20%.

I think this PSU would be ideal for a 140mm fan too, it’s big enough, but TT kept it to 120mm. It’s not a loud fan thought, at least at most typically 60-70% load which is where something like an i9 paired with an RTX 4090 would put it. However, if you were maxing out your PSU all the time you will hear the 1400 RPM fan a bit, and should maybe invest in a more powerful PSU to begin with. I do appreciate the hybrid fan mode though, as for daily work and YouTube stuff, the fan stops entirely, making it silent.

The Snow Edition looks great, and I love the premium quality of the flat cables, and that it is fully modular. I also like that they’ve used their own branded fan in here, it helps keep things on theme, and it’s a good quality unit too. Plus, there’s lots of ventilation on this PSU, allowing for the hybrid fan mode to work more efficiently.

Should I Buy One?

Big power often comes at a big price, but I think Thermaltake has been pretty realistic with their cost saving here, trimming back in a few places but still keeping their investment in the most important aspects of the PSU aesthetics and component options. It’s well made, and while there is room for some minor improvements, they would again just push the price up. If you need big power without spending big bucks, this is the way to go. If you didn’t want a little more power and efficiency, the next step up is the PF3 1200W, and that’s around £100 more expensive, making the GF A3 look like a pretty sweet deal.