Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home will void your 7-year warranty, thanks to the warranty seal that Thermaltake applied over one of the attachment screws. But for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you don't need to, haha. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Compared to the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 750W, the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W is actually a completely different power supply under the hood. Yep, you read that right -- while its exterior is identical, and comes from the same line of PSUs from Thermaltake, the 1200W version is actually built by Taiwan based Sirfa Electronic. Our photo above shows an overhead view of the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W's internal components. At first glance, the build quality seems to be quite a bit far from the Channel Well Technology built Toughpower Grand 750W. Although it is true the components are well spread out for optimal cooling and reduced heat congestion despite being quite packed up, the soldering job seems to be a bit messy. You can see this in our photos in just a moment. There are three main heatsinks inside the power supply, with all of them finned at the top. They are fairly evenly spread around the interior to even out heat distribution and improve airflow to the components, as shown in our photo above.
The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. Thermaltake has done a great job in the past to make sure the Toughpower Grand 750W met or exceeded the recommended requirements, and the 1200W version is certainly no exception, despite being built by a different OEM. The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W has two ferrite coils, one metal oxide varistor, three metalized polyester X-capacitors, and four ceramic Y-capacitors. That is three times as many X capacitors and twice as many Y capacitors than recommended. For reference, the Toughpower Grand 750W has three ferrite coils, one metal oxide varistor, two X-capacitor, and six Y-capacitors. In comparison, this is pretty good, but the 750W version is just better in this area.
On the primary side, we can see two Japanese brand Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors connected in parallel. Japanese brand capacitors are usually what we expect from something in this price range, so this is nothing surprising. Our 1200W version of Thermaltake's Toughpower Grand 1200W incorporates two 560µF x 400V capacitors for a total capacitance equivalence of a single 1120µF x 400V capacitor (Remember that values add up when capacitors are hooked up in parallel, unlike resistors). These units are rated at 105c; whereas more value oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
The active PFC circuit featured on the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W uses two HY Electronic Group GBU2506 glass passivated bridge rectifiers, and is controlled by a Champion CM6800AG PFC/PWM controller combo. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity with heatsink is 15A for each diode, so you can theoretically pull up to 3450W (15A * 2 diodes * 115V) from the bridge rectifier at 100% efficiency -- of course, this is limited by the fact that it is not 100% efficient, and also neglects the fact that not every component in the system are able to keep up. Two Infineon IPW60R125CP power MOFSET transistors are used on the active PFC circuit on the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W power supply. Another three in forward configuration is used in the switching section. Each MOFSET can deliver up to 16A at 100 degrees Celsius continuously. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 0.125 ohm when turned on; with a typical resistance of 0.11 ohm according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance.
On the secondary side, we can see more Nippon Chemi-Con 105c capacitors. I am pleasantly surprised by this, as most companies usually resort to cheaper Taiwanese 85c units for secondary capacitors. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produces the +12V out -- while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC to DC converter within the power supply unit. The components can be seen on the riser board behind the plastic sheet in our photo above.
The DC-to-DC converter has one ON Semiconductor MBR30L45CT power rectifier and eight Infineon OptiMOS 3 IPP034NE7N3 power transistors for its rectification, DC +12V and +3.3V/+5V output, respectively. The MBR30L45CT is a 45V/30A power rectifier with a rated average rectified forward current at 15A. The IPP034NE7N3 MOFSETs' maximum drain current is 100A at both 25c and 100c, pulsed drain current of 400A at 25c, with an RDS(on) value of less than 0.0034 ohm. Meanwhile, shunt resistors provides over current protection, and the Toughpower Grand also has over voltage, overload, over temperature, under voltage, and short circuit protection.
At the back, we have a tall daughterboard covering the rear panel for the modular cable sockets. It is connected to the mainboard by a series of wires after the secondary stage, as shown in our past couple of photos. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of Thermaltake's Toughpower Grand 1200W power supply is passable, but not brilliant -- I really think they should clean up their soldering job a bit for better built quality. On the other hand, I would say the Sirfa Electronic manufactured Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W is a pretty good with regards to the selection of components used under the hood. What they need to do is step up the built quality a bit, and choosing a better OEM for this is probably a good idea.
Lastly, we see a large 140mm fan that provides cooling to the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W's internal components. It is connected to the mainboard using a 2-pin connector, and changes speed according to the temperature inside the power supply. The controller is also set to run the fan for about half a minute after your computer has been shut down to remove excess heat, even if the power supply is unplugged. A 140mm fan is probably the largest one you can fit inside a standard ATX power supply, and it is beneficial in most cases in providing lots of airflow at lower speeds for quiet operation. This is further enhanced by its flower shaped design. The fan is a Thermaltake TT-1425, which is a rebranded Yen Sun Tech YD121425HB. I found it kind of funny how they wrote "Yen Sun Technology Copy" on the fan, haha. (Secrets revealed?) Further research indicates the TT-1425 is a ball bearing fan specified at 0.54A 12V, with a maximum RPM of 1900 +/- 10%.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
