Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W 80 PLUS Platinum PSU Review

1. Introduction & Specifications, Availability and Pricing
2. Package & Inside the Box
3. Cabling Arrangement & A Look Inside
4. Load Test Results & Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 94%

The Bottom Line

Performance and looks will often cost quite a bit, but the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum delivers both without breaking the bank.

Introduction & Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Thermaltake is one of a handful of companies that have so many different lines of power supplies that their offerings are constantly evolving. This evolution allows for them to constantly inject new technologies into their line up and bring things to the table faster than others. This provides Thermaltake with a very distinct advantage over their competition as most companies tend to rely on annual or semi-annual refreshes of all their product lines.

The Toughpower Grand series of units is certainly one of their most prominent series. Thermaltake injects their heart and soul into these power supplies to bring both beauty and performance to the table in a single unit. As such, it should come as no surprise that Thermaltake recently unveiled the next generation of Toughpower Grand units at this year's CES. The Toughpower Grand units have always fared very well for us and Thermaltake promises that this generation will not disappoint, so let's start digging into the 1050W model and see what we can find.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum power supply utilizes a single 12V rail design that is rated for 87A or 1044W. The minor rails share a combined maximum output of 120W, but are not rated for the same output individually. The 3.3V rail is rated for 25A and the 5V rail is rated for 22A. The 5VSB rail is rated for 2.5A or 12.5W. This seems a little bit low, especially for a 1000W+ power supply.

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Thermaltake never skimps when it comes to features and the new Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum doesn't falter here. All protections are present including SCP, OVP, OCP, OPP, and OTP. All of the cables are modular and of the flat ribbon variety. The Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum is rated for 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency and 100% continuous output at 50C.

Thermaltake lists the Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum with an MSRP of $209.99. This makes it one of the cheapest 80 PLUS Platinum rated units on the market. Adding to the sweet price that you can pick up this unit for, Thermaltake backs it with their seven-year warranty so you know that your investment is protected for years to come.

PRICING: You can find the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M retails for $185.86 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M retails for CDN$330.26 at Amazon Canada.

Package & Inside the Box

Package

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Thermaltake's white packaging always adds a feeling of prestige to the unit in question and this is no different. The front of the packaging presents us with a glimpse of the unit and some key features of the unit.

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Flipping things around to the back gives us quite a bit more information. The left half of the back highlights build quality, aesthetic design, and the types of cables which Thermaltake uses.

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The other half displays the I/O specifications, along with the connector types and quantity.

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Both sides are lacking any more information, but do give us the same picture of the power supply that is present on the front.

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The bottom of the box covers the same highlights that we've seen elsewhere on the box, but does it in many different languages.

Inside the Box

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Everything is well packed and organized inside the box.

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There is nearly a full inch of padding on all sides of the unit to protect it during shipping. The unit itself is also wrapped to ensure that the finish isn't marred the least before you take it out of the box.

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The Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum power supply is finished in a semi-gloss black with the I/O specification label on top.

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Both sides feature the same design with the opposite being inverted so that the text can be read no matter where this power supply is installed in a case.

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The front of the unit is very well labelled for all of the modular connectors.

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Turning things around to the back, we are presented with the standard on/off rocker switch and AC input. The exhaust grill is something different, which is always welcomed. Whether or not if affects airflow isn't something we can measure accurately, but it appears to be open enough to allow hot air to escape the unit in an effective way.

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Thermaltake cools the Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum with a 135mm fan. The fan grill follows the long-slotted design of the back of the unit and again adds something different to the unit. Aesthetics have always been a strong point of the Toughpower Grand series and this is no exception.

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All cables are of the flat ribbon type.

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The 24-pin main cable seems a bit out of place though. It is of the flat ribbon type, but because of the lack of cable wraps or sheathing, it is easy for this cable to become unruly. Just one or two more cable ties around this would have made all the difference.

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Also included with the unit is the user's manual, warranty card, AC input cable, and mounting screws.

Cabling Arrangement & A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

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When it comes to quantity of cables and number of connectors, Thermaltake does a fantastic job of giving you everything that you could possibly need to fully load down the unit. Aside from the issue with the 24-pin Main cable being somewhat unruly without any cable management, it would be nice to see some cables of varying length.

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Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail. There is no need to worry about load balancing here.

A Look Inside

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Inside the Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum power supply is a pair of heat sinks wrapping around various components. Thermaltake adds long cooling fins to increase their effectiveness and reduce the reliance on active cooling.

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A pair of Nippon Chemi-con caps sit on the primary side of the power supply.

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Nippon Chemi-con and Rubycon capacitors are both present on the secondary side of the Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum.

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Thermaltake uses their own 135mm fan to provide the active cooling for the unit as needed.

Load Test Results & Final Thoughts

Load Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers, and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe, and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there, and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits, or 1000W; whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are lower than that of the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum power supply, we can only test it to 1000W.

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The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems, and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different, and actual loads can vary greatly, even with similar hardware.

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Let's start by taking a look at the voltages, to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 2% regulation with a total voltage drop of .16V. The 5V rail managed to stay within 2% of specification, with a total drop of .07V from start to finish. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was within 2% of specification, with a total voltage drop of .06V.

DC Output quality for the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum was excellent, and well within specifications. During Test One, we saw 15mV of noise on our scope at about 20% load. When we increased the loads in Test Three, the ripple climbed to a 23mV at around 50% load. Increasing loads even further showed that the noise on the 12V rail climbed to 30mV at 1000W.

The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum is rated for 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 90% / 92% / 89% efficiency, at 20% / 50% / 100% loads respectively. As you can see, the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum performs exactly as expected.

Final Thoughts

Thermaltake is starting off the New Year with quite a bang. They have an all new power supply on the market and timed it perfectly to coincide with being able to showcase it at CES. This unit looks and performs exactly as we would have expected it to as we have come to expect nothing but greatness from Thermaltake. They promised a unit that looked great and they delivered.

From a performance standpoint, one can hardly do anything but smile at the results from the Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum. Voltage regulation is solid and stable and never any further than 2% from nominal values. Noise on the 12V rail is minimal, showing only 15mV on the low-end and no more than 30mV at nearly full load. The efficiency of the unit is spectacular as well. There aren't many units that we see break into the area of 93% efficiency, but this is certainly one of them.

The excellent performance values combine with the aesthetics and price of the unit to create the trifecta that most power supplies fall short of being able to achieve. With that being said, I highly recommend the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W Platinum, as you can't lose no matter what your reason for purchasing the unit is.

PRICING: You can find the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M retails for $185.86 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W TPG-1050M retails for CDN$330.26 at Amazon Canada.