Date: June 5th, 2006
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Thermaltake
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THERMALTAKE TOUGHPOWER 550WATT INTRODUCTION
Thermaltake has developed quite a reputation in the PC aftermarket by providing quality components with innovative features at a fair price. I've used many of their products in the past and have rarely been disappointed. Consequently, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on their new Toughpower 550W PSU. With a rich feature set and impressive specifications, the Toughpower looks very good. Let's take it out for a spin and see if it's a worthy addition to the Thermaltake line.
THERMALTAKE CORPORATE PROFILE
Thermaltake Incorporation, based in Taipei, Taiwan is the global leader Thermal Solution and Thermal Management for PC & Industrial Market. Its Engineering Staffs masters in Airflow Analysis, Material Conductivity and Heat Dissipation Efficiency. Thermaltake offers a wide range of products and services, providing effective and cost-conscious cooling devices. The Company has more than 1,000 employees worldwide supporting customers from its headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, as well as from offices in China, Europe and United States Continent.
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
Our test subject (P/N W0097) has some nice specs. I always like to see active PFC in a high-end PSU, but it's not nearly as important here in the US as it is in other parts of the world. The Toughpower, cooled by a blue LED 120mm fan with thermal speed control, has an excellent efficiency rating exceeding 80%. The compact size of the 550W will be a boon to users with limited room in the PSU area of their cases. For the metrically challenged among us, that's 5.9 inches (L), 5.5 inches (W) and 3.15 inches (H).
Two +12V rails of 19A each should be enough power for most systems out there.
Very good voltage regulation should top the list here. While the Toughpower is “SLI Cross-Fire and Dual Core ready”, it's only certified by ATI. nVidia has yet to certify the Toughpower for SLI, but it will almost certainly work fine in SLI mode. Boasting 3% voltage regulation, this bad boy seems to have it all. Let's take a closer look.
