Hardware Secrets
Home | Camera | Case | CE | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
First Look
Gabriel's Blog
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Awarded Products
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Forums
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Twitter
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search





Recommended Book
Switching Power Supplies A to Z
Switching Power Supplies A to Z
By Sanjaya Maniktala
Newnes
Price: $45.00

Home » Power
Thermaltake Toughpower 1500 W Power Supply
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: First Look Last Updated: July 30, 2008
Page: 1 of 9
$ Check REAL-TIME pricing for Thermaltake Toughpower Qfan 650W $
Amazon: $150.99 CDW: $186.99

Introduction

Thermaltake Toughpower 1500 W is one of the most powerful PC power supplies in the world – so powerful that it can’t be sold in the USA, as it is over the maximum allowed power for household appliances set by the Underwriter Laboratories (UL) – which is 1,300 W, by the way. Because of that, this model can only be found in Europe. The architecture used is really interesting: this power supply is in fact two completely independent 750 W power supplies inside the same housing. Besides its monstrous power capability – which the manufacturer says can be delivered at 50º C with a peak power of 1,600 W –, Toughpower 1500 W has a modular cabling system with a total of eight power connectors for video cards and a 140-mm fan. In this article we will completely dissect this monster.

Unfortunately this time we won’t be able to put this unit on our load tester to see if it can really deliver its rated power. Besides the real risk of melting the wires from our lab, this power supply only works at 230 V, as it is targeted to the European market, and our voltage here is 115 V. Also, our load tester can only handle units up to 1,000 W. We will, however, show all the internals from this unit.

Thermaltake Thoughpower 1500 W power supply
click to enlarge
Figure 1: Product box.

Thermaltake Thoughpower 1500 W power supply
click to enlarge
Figure 2: Thermaltake Toughpower 1500 W power supply.

The first thing that comes into our mind is… who needs a 1,500 W power supply anyway? Thousand-watt units are overkill even for the most high-end user, so in the right mind would buy a 1.5 KW unit? There are a few answers to this question. Besides showing off to friends, this unit is clearly targeted to the user that wants to build the most extreme system with the power supply running around 50% of its maximum capacity. As we explained in detail in our Everything You Need to Know About Power Supplies tutorial, power supplies reach their maximum efficiency when they are operating between 40% and 60% of their maximum power. So by operating this product at around 50% of its capacity, you can enjoy its maximum efficiency (87% according to Thermaltake) and save on your electricity bill.

Another reason for someone buying this power supply would be the support for eight power cables for video cards, allowing you to install up to four very high-end video cards that use two auxiliary power connectors each. Almost all high-end power supplies provide only four auxiliary power cables for video cards, allowing you to connect only two very high-end video cards without the use of adaptors.

Pages (9): [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »
Print Version | Send to Friend | | Bookmark Article | Comments (19)

Related Content
  • Zalman ZM600-HP 600 W Power Supply Review
  • OCZ StealthXStream 600 W Power Supply Review
  • Corsair HX1000W Power Supply Review
  • Enermax PRO82+ 525 W Power Supply Review
  • Antec TruePower Quattro 850 W Power Supply Review

  • Recommended Deal
    Power Supply TruePower Quattro 850WAntec Truepower Quattro 850 Atx12v & Eps12v Power Supply - W Tpq850


    Beach Audio: $160.99 Buy.com: $150.30
    Amazon: $156.77 ZipZoomFly: $164.99

    RSSLatest News
    Thermaltake Launches PW880i Water Cooler
    July 3, 2009 - 1:27 PM PST
    NZXT Announces Sentry 2 Touchscreen Fan Controller
    July 2, 2009 - 2:25 PM PST
    Transcend Intros Thermal Sensor-Equipped DDR3 Memory
    July 1, 2009 - 11:40 AM PST
    Cooler Master Launches Universal Laptop Charger
    June 30, 2009 - 5:03 PM PST
    Active Media Products Launches “President Barack Obama” USB Flash Memory
    June 29, 2009 - 6:57 PM PST
    New SSD Drives from Corsair
    June 26, 2009 - 4:33 AM PST
    MSI Announces X-Slim X600 Notebook
    June 25, 2009 - 6:00 PM PST
    Zotac Releases GeForce GTX 275 with 1,792 MB GDDR3
    June 24, 2009 - 7:54 AM PST
    Kingston Launches DDR3-1600 HyperX T1 Memory Kit
    June 23, 2009 - 11:20 AM PST
    Walton Chaintech Announces eSATA/USB Flash Memory Series
    June 22, 2009 - 2:00 AM PST
    .:: More News ::.

    RSSLatest Content
    Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 3
    Thermaltake Element G Case Review
    Corsair CX400W Power Supply Review
    Seventeam ST-750P-AF Power Supply Review
    Rocketfish 550 W Power Supply Review
    In Win X-Fighter Case Review
    Gigabyte G31M-ES2C Motherboard
    BFG ES-800 Power Supply Review
    And The Training Goes On...
    2 TB Hard Disk Drive Battle: Seagate Barracuda LP vs. Western Digital Caviar Green
    Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 2
    Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 1
    Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology
    What WePC Dreams Are Becoming Reality?
    All Phenom Models

    Our Most Popular Articles
    Maximum CPU Temperature
    988,052 views
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    617,006 views
    How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model
    595,536 views
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    517,667 views
    Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable
    512,426 views
    How To Correctly Apply Thermal Grease
    495,531 views
    ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
    467,128 views
    ATI Radeon X1600 XT Review
    458,119 views
    How To Perform a BIOS Upgrade
    342,903 views
    Sempron vs. Athlon XP
    320,050 views

    Latest Threads in Our Forums
    Area 51m 9750 temp assistence
    by tomahawk 1705
    Thermaltake Launches PW880i Water Cooler
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology
    by jolphil
    Fujifilm FinePix A150
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 3
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Antec CP-850 Power Supply Review
    by Gabriel Torres
    Dynex 400 W Power Supply Review
    by Gabriel Torres
    New tft monitor
    by Olle P
    bottleneck?
    by Olle P
    No video signal
    by Olle P
    .:: Visit Our Forums ::.


    © 2004-9, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)