After getting through the packaging, we are left with the power supply, a box with your power cord and mounting screws, a bag containing the modular cabling for the unit, and a plastic grommet to keep noise levels at an absolute minimum. With a massive 140mm fan mounted within this beast, that extra protection against vibration is a very nice addition.
Keeping in line with other high-end power supplies on the market, the Thermaltake has made use of a multiple 12v rail design. In this case, there are four 12v rails that share the load of your system power needs. Two of these 12v rails are rated at 20A load and the other two are rated at a stronger 36A. The 5v rail is rated at 30A, as is the 3.3v rail. This will give you the ability to be power either a newer system that needs the strong 12v rail or an older powerhouse that requires a stronger 5v rail.
A quick look at the rear portion of the unit shows nothing more than a power inlet and a toggle switch. The remaining space is taken up with a metal mesh that allows for plenty of airflow to circulate and keep things nice and cool. The lack of a voltage switch also lets us know that this model will automatically adjust itself to either a 120v or 240v power grid.
Moving to the opposite end shows us the modular connector blocks and something else that immediately caught my eye; a label that tells us exactly which modular cable uses which 12v power rail. Why others have not taken this approach is beyond me, but this can make it much easier to balance the power draw on the PSU itself.
Cabling provided with this 1200-watt monster includes a 20+4 pin primary power coupler, both an 8-pin and a 4+4 pin auxiliary power couplers, six PCI-E connectors, three PCI-E8 connectors, eight SATA connectors, eight Molex connectors and two FDD connectors on different modular cable assemblies. This is important with regard to the FDD connectors since it will allow you to use both a floppy drive and also power a motherboard that requires this additional power lead.
Overall, there is a huge amount of flexibility with the Toughpower 1200. Add to this a modular design and it gets even better since you only attach the cabling you need for your system. This makes cable management much easier to deal with.
Oh, and they also use those Molex connectors with the release clips too. Things just keep looking better all the time.
