Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Sync Edition PSU Review

A Closer Look

Thermaltake has a clear and distinctive branding we are getting to know very well. In terms of the design though, Thermaltake know how to package a product. The front of the box has all of the key details as well as a nice large image of the power supply itself.

The back of the packaging is equally impressive for information. Not only does it give you the list of key features, it also provides you with the output specification and the cables provided to ensure this will be suitable for your system. It is also highly commendable that Thermaltake includes the efficiency, fan and specification charts. Not many brands are brave enough to put that information on the box!

The side of the packaging gives you some solid information regarding the sync capability which is the key factor in what makes the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand Series RGB Sync Edition unique to the range. As you can see, this is compatible with ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. Put simply, all of the major motherboard brands that offer RGB sync technology should be set with this power supply.

What’s Inside The Box?

The power supply itself is fantastically presented with a lot of nice logo placement and information. It is hard to ignore that sleek Thermaltake branding on the top where the RGB magic happens. In addition to this, you will also see the branding on the side of the power supply. While there is a lot going on there, the information is exceptionally well presented and would not look garish or out of place when fitted in your system.

With this power supply having a hybrid cooling option, passive air flow is a big factor. In this regard, the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand Series RGB Sync Edition is not found wanting. There are nice large vents to the top and rear of the power supply and in addition, there is also a smaller vent to the side. The latter is a little unusual and we don’t recall seeing it on a Thermaltake product before. This should, however, all help to keeping it running as cool as possible.

The fully-modular imputs to the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand Series RGB Sync Edition are really nice. Not only are the PCI-E slots colour coded, but everything is labelled for ease of use. In addition to this, you will also note that they are designed in the ‘back to back’ style which makes installation and removal of the cables really easy. You will also note the sync header cable and also an on-off switch if you prefer to go for the manual settings of the RGB lighting from the button on the rear exhaust vent.

Even if your motherboard isn’t sync compatible, you can still use the manual settings. They made sure to think of that and a good job too!

Accessories

In terms of accessories, you will find a product manual, details on the warranty (which is a fantastic 10-years), the power supply itself (in a nice covering to prevent scratching) and all of the fully-modular cables within a nice Thermaltake branded canvas bag.

As the cables are listed as a key feature of the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand Series RGB Sync Edition, it’s worth taking a closer look. The cables are nice and thin which allows for ease of movement. That shouldn’t, however, make you worry about any durability issues. While they might be thin, they are still very tough!

In addition, the cable lengths are also very good and even a big chassis shouldn’t have any problems with the management.

Interior

We have always found Thermaltake brand power supplies to be very well designed on the inside. You will not find any massive blobs of glue and nor will you find ugly clumps of cables. As we have noted above, hybrid cooling is a factor for this product and as such having a decluttered interior is a huge plus for this design.

The interior components of the power supply are well spaced, but in addition, they have also been fitted with a very clean design. Note the complete lack of any huge lump of glue at the base of the main capacitor. Something you see quite often even in reputable brands. In addition, with the main heat sync in an almost central location, keeping this cool shouldn’t be a problem.

A closer inspection of the capacitors can confirm that these are 100% Japanese. The main capacitor itself is a Rubycon design which is one of the best in terms of electronics. With it rated to perform up to 105c this is exactly what you want to see in any high-performance power supply. We have seen Thermaltake use this capacitor in the past, however, for this model it is a slightly higher rated version. It’s all good news!

The cooling fan is a Thermaltake TT-1425. While we haven’t seen this exact model before, we have seen variants of it (specifically the 1225). If the performance of the variant is anything to go by, this should have no problem keeping your power supply nice and cool even when you ask the most from it.

Important – Please Read

To understand the results on the new few pages, please take the time to read our detailed testing methodology page. The next page of this review will help you understand what the results of our testing mean, and educate you on the various qualities we look for in a good PSU.