Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W PSU

External Looks

As is standard for Thermaltake Toughpower PSUs, the 1,500W also gets the hardwearing metallic grey finish and the huge sticker on the side that we really don’t like – it’s indiscrete, tacky and reeks of marketing gone mad. And what’s more, it’ll be the first thing you see in any pictures of someone’s case when they take the side off.

While the fan grill is stamped out instead of a grill so it looks pretty good in being different, the obvious branding permeates further in the centre of the fan and embossed into the metal besides it. The 14cm fan is made by Taiwanese manufacturer Yate Loon and spans the width of the PSU; you can buy a similar one here for very little money.

• Model: Yate Loon D14BH-12
  
• Size (mm): 140x140x25
  
• Bearing: Ball
  
• Speed (RPM): 2800
  
• Airflow (CFM): 140.0
  
• Noise (dBA): 48.5

Why is the fan important? As the only moving part it’s the most prone to failure and hence largely dictates the unit’s MTBF. They supply many major PC component manufacturers, most notably Delta and Foxconn, so we’ve no reason to doubt this isn’t a quality pick.


Despite the fact the Toughpower 1,500W is almost as long as the Enermax Galaxy—20.5cm x 8.5cm x 15cm, 1.5cm smaller—there is only the single fan to cool everything inside. In contrast, Enermax’s unit is one third less powerful, yet feels the need for an additional 80mm fan on top of the 13.5cm in the roof to help improve the airflow. We’ve been told by more than one manufacturer, that while unpopular, the 80mm at the front and back, like PC Power and Cooling insists on using, provides far better thermal management than a central fan above everything pushing air downwards.


Facing inside towards the case the modular connectors are extremely well labelled and arranged so that the clips face outwards from each other so you can easily get to them. This is something that has annoyed us before from a few other manufacturers, Seasonic notably, who orientate the clip between two connectors. This is fine if you’ve got nails or fingers like needles.