Thermaltake ToughPower SFX 450W Power Supply Review
Mike Sanders / 3 years ago
Ripple
Although marketing itself as having a low ripple noise level, while our testing found that to largely be an entirely accurate assessment, there were some aspects of it that would seem to mildly contradict that point. While the 3.3V and 5V rails were exceptionally good (achieving a maximum score of only 6.2) when it came to the 12V rail, we found this a little more excitable than we would usually expect to see from a Thermaltake product.
Now, admittedly, with the highest recorded score being 29.2, this is still well within the EU required maximum of 50. That being said though, this is, again, still higher than we would expect to see and certainly not within any remits we would call ‘low’. – With this in mind though, we should note that this is a small form factor power supply and, as such, is somewhat limited in terms of how many 12V components we can successfully connect to our system. Given that this power supply only comes with 2 x PCI-E outputs, when usually compared to at least 4 on more standard power supplies, it’s entirely possible that this has just created a little bit of a hiccup. So, overall, the results may likely be lower than what we’re seeing here, but even then, they’re still absolutely nothing to be even mildly concerned about.
Load (%) | 3.3V Ripple | 5V Ripple | 12V Ripple |
20 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 29.2 |
40 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 27.6 |
60 | 8 | 4.2 | 23.8 |
80 | 6 | 5 | 22.8 |
100 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 22.8 |