Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products, because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects must be taken into consideration. Certain criteria consist of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We are not going to try to create useless test results by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, it is not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 9W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is very good. This specific model has not been tested in independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment, but other models in the product line delivered good efficiency for its class and very good regulation and ripple across all rails. This is an 80 Plus Gold certified power supply unit.
Voltages with minimal load are generally accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation all are within 4%. The Power Good or PG delay is tested at 180ms, which is compatible with Non-Alternative Sleep Mode per ATX specifications. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it, as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W has active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W is a silent to very quiet power supply, depending on the amount of power being drawn. Under idle level loads, or less than approximately 30%, the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W is inaudible because the fan can be shut off completely with Smart Zero Fan on. Under moderate to high loads, which is above 30%, the Toughpower GF1 1000W is reasonably low noise. Personally, I found the Thermaltake TT-1425 to be excellent, even when spinning at high speed. While this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W to be at 0.0/10 when the fan is off, because, well, the fan is off. Above that, I would peg it at 1.5/10 acoustically under moderate loads. If you are a silent PC enthusiast, the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W is a very respectable choice.
Thermaltake provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
Is the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W within reach and is it something you should get? The Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W is a good looking fully modular power supply that delivers a lot of power in a relatively compact package with a depth of only 16cm. The kilowatt-spec Toughpower GF1 features a quiet 140mm hydraulic bearing fan and supports fanless operation for loads up to 30%. There is a great selection of components inside the cleanly laid out interior as well. I could not find any test results for this particular wattage variant, but according to our affiliates with professional load testing equipment on the 850W model, the overall performance was very good. At a retail price of $220 at press time, the Toughpower GF1 1000W is well within reach for an 80 Plus Gold certified unit with a 10-year warranty to back you up.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
