Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1000W Power Supply Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Thortech’s Thunderbolt Plus 1000W power supply has an MSRP of $239.99 but typically sells for around $224.99. In the UK the MSRP would be about £190-200 but it does sell for around £170-180. Of course these prices are based on the presumption that you can actually find stock of this power supply, stock is limited.

Conclusion

Thortech’s Thunderbolt Plus 1000W power supply is another interesting product from Thortech. While the Thunderbolt Plus 1000W may not have all the performance of rival giants PSU vendors like Seasonic and FSP, Thortech do offer up an interesting variation from the usual OEMs. The power supply uses relatively tried and trusted technology and delivers solid results in all areas. We see strong voltage regulation, efficiency that meets its rated certification, reasonably high PFC performance and above average ripple & noise suppression. The Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1000W PSU will deliver 1000W in a solid and clean fashion. The power supply itself is also a nice unit in terms of how compact it is for its relatively high wattage – 1000W in just a 160mm length PSU is very impressive. The included iPower Meter accessory is also a nice inclusion which is sure to appeal to a lot of enthusiasts though the unit itself isn’t actually that accurate and while we do not have any exact figures it was as much as +-3%~ off in its voltage and amp readings. Of course that’s still a decent level of accuracy and significantly more accurate than any software monitoring could provide, though the unit does tend to overestimate efficiency so we can’t help but feel there is something a bit fishy about that.

At its price point and as a whole we can’t help but feel this power supply is average – certainly nothing special or out of the ordinary. As we mentioned the performance is pretty solid, I’d put it in the above average to good region. We can see that for such a pricey unit the PFC and noise & ripple suppression needs a lot of work. The voltage regulation and efficiency is pretty much spot on. The total noise output of the unit is also reasonably impressive though we feel a larger PSU enclosure would give the components more room to breathe and require a lower overall fan speed – that said 1400 RPM was the maximum we saw, which is moderate, and that was at 100%. As I mentioned with my previous Thortech 1200W Thunderbolt PSU review the cabling needs work. While Thortech have the cable lengths and number of connectors pretty much spot on, I think they need to pay more attention to detail on the presentation of the cables – I’m talking better quality sleeving and more neutral colours (like black) wherever possible. Or if they are going to go for the yellow and black colour scheme at least jazz it up a bit more and make it more consistent – yellow connectors and black cables or vice versa.

Overall the Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1000W PSU is definitely an above average unit if we just take it as a PSU alone. However, when combining its deficiencies with the rather high pricing this unit is relatively average in relation to the competition. There are plenty of other 80 Plus Gold 1000W power supplies out there on the market with better performance and lower price tags. The Thortech unit does benefit from a 5 year warranty which does set it apart from some of the competition though I’m not sure how many people will trust that given the way Thortech burst onto the PSU scene in 2010/2011 with a bang and have since fizzled out to almost nothing. In fact I sometimes wonder if Thortech even still make power supplies given their products are out of stock at most retailers across the world. Yet I always seem to see Thortech active at trade shows, they were participating in Computex 2013 and have sponsored several gaming events in 2013. They certainly are a strange brand but if you can pick up a Thortech Thunderbolt (Plus) power supply for a good price then there is no reason at all to doubt its quality.

Pros

• Solid voltage regulation
• 5 year warranty
• Abundant connectors and good cable lengths
• Compact design
• High quality components
• iPower Meter device – nice extra

Cons

• Ripple suppression wasn’t that impressive
• Priced uncompetitively
• iPower Meter device isn’t that accurate
• Cable sleeving needs some work
• PFC could be stronger

“The Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1000W power supply performed well in our tests and is a solid power supply capable of delivering 1000W of stable power. With a 5 year warranty, abundant connectors and the nifty iPower Meter the Thunderbolt Plus 1000W PSU is a good basis of any high end system. Yet the price and performance relative to the competition does leave something to be desired. This PSU is definitely worth considering if you can grab a good deal.”

Thank you to Thortech for providing this review sample.