What is the Best 600W+ PSU?

Thermaltake Tough Power Grand TPG-650M Review

Manufacturer: Thermaltake
UK price (as reviewed): £131.58 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $155.60 (ex tax)

Thermaltake's TPG-650M is one of the more distinctive-looking PSUs in this group test, thanks to its rounded shape and eye-catching red detailing. Its fan also dominates its design more than most of the other PSUs, as it’s a 140mm model, rather than the more common 120mm or 135mm fans seen in the other units on test. The rounded shape of the PSU is more than just an aesthetic design choice too, as the PSU has rubber mounting strips that fit around these curved edges and provide a vibration-absorbing layer between the PSU and the frame of your case.


The TPG-650M, which is designed by Thermaltake but manufactured by CWT, is also modular in design. This is a feature we value highly – not only does it make a PC build neater and better looking, but the resulting lack of clutter also aids airflow and makes upgrades easier to install. We were also pleased to see that the TPG-650M also features post-shutdown cooling; a useful feature that we’re accustomed to seeing on Enermax PSUs.

Thermaltake seems to belong to the bigger-is-better school of PSU design; like the SilverStone Strider Plus ST75F-P, the TPG-650M is equipped with one large 60A 12V rail. Some may argue that this arrangement is better, as electronically, it’s a simpler layout, so there’s less to go wrong.

Meanwhile, people on the other side of the fence would argue that having multiple rails makes a PSU safer and more stable - if there’s an overload on one of the 12V rails, it should mean that components on the other 12V rails are relatively safe. We’ve yet to see any evidence of either approach being superior to the other, however, so we’ll reserve judgement in such areas until we do.

However, we do expect any PSU that retails for around £100 to be completely stable and the TPG-650M lived up to this expectation, but only just; at 100 per cent load the 3.3V rail only output 3.14V, which is the absolute bare minimum expected by the ATX spec.

On a more positive note, the unit’s efficiency was excellent; at half load, the PSU required only 358W from the wall to output 325W – an efficiency of 91 per cent. This dropped to 89 per cent when we raised the power draw to the unit’s maximum rated output of 650W. The TPG-650M performed well when we drilled down to look at the quality of power it supplied too. Its ripple amplitude of 21.9mV was one of the better results in this group test, and its holdup time of 36.3ms on its 5V rail was frankly epic, although 15ms of holdup time on the 12V rail was poor.

The Toughpower Grand TPG-650M is a good PSU with a couple of nice features but it’s pipped to an award by the Antec High Current Pro HCP-750, which is more efficient and has more PCI-E connections.