Thermaltake's Toughpower series of power supply's makes a big statement with its name. Oddly enough even though we have taken a look at a variety of their products we have never put the Toughpower line to the test to see how tough they really are. Today we have the chance to check out the Toughpower XT 750 watt power supply. Lets find out how it compares to other PSU's we have tested in the past.
Product Name: Thermaltake Toughpower XT 750w
Review Sample Provided by: Thermaltake
Review by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Specification
Packaging
Most quality power supplies come in great packaging and the Toughpower XT is no exception. Thermaltake included all of the need to know information on the back including its output specifications, a listing of all of the included connectors, and a quick feature list. Inside the PSU was secured in a thick layer of padding. Next to that all of the cables were all tucked away in a nice pouch with a Thermaltake logo on it.
Installation
Installing the Toughpower XT into our test rig went smooth as always. After testing the Cooler Master Silent Pro M recently the cables on the Toughpower seem thicker than normal when compared to the Silent Pro M's extra thin cables. That's not saying they are any thicker than normal, just in comparison. The modular design did help prevent the wiring from being such a big mess.
Our Test Rig
Intel i7 920 2.67Ghz
Gigabyte GA-EXS8-UD4P Motherboard
Corsair 620 Power supply
2 x 3 Patriot Viper Series Ram 1600Mhz
Western Digital Velociraptor
Sparkle X265 Video Card
Cooler Master Storm Sniper Case
Windows 7
Performance
In order to test the performance of the Toughpower XT I installed it into our i7 test rig and ran our normal power supply test. Our test consists of putting the power supply under load while running 3dmark Vantage and watching the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v rails. Here are the results.
As you can see from the results above, the Toughpower XT has one rail similar to the CM power supply I tested last week. That means that you don't have to worry about spreading the load across 4 different rails. During our testing, the ToughPower XT performed well. Even tossing the i7 and 260 at it, it hardly flinched. The 140mm fan was quiet and had no trouble cooling things down when put under a load. Another feature included is what they call FanDelayCool. FanDelayCool is a switch on the back of the PSU that allows you to set how long the fan should stay on after powering down your system. Like a turbo timer for your power supply, it should help extend the life of your power supply if you shut your system down often.
Overall
80Plus Bronze certification, a quiet 140mm fan, FanDelayCool, and good performance. Thermaltake put together a good overall package with the Toughpower XT. The only way I would like to see them improve on this design is to consider the thin and flexible cable design seen on some other power supply's. At $129 on newegg right now it falls into the middle of the pack price wise, but with its feature set it's still a good deal.