Thermaltake Toughpower SFX(L) 1000W Gold PSU Review

Epilogue

The Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 1000W is actually an SFX-L unit with high overall performance at 115V, equipped with a 12VHPWR cable set at 600W (not in my sample, though). Not many SFX-L units meet the ATX v3.0 requirements for PSUs equipped with 12VHPWR connectors, and I am not sure if brands will go fully into this category or prefer to throw the fight in the SFX market. That said, Corsair, Asus, and Silverstone have models in this category, which are pretty good, so you are not out of choices.

Besides good performance with 115V, the Toughpower SFX-L 1000W won’t bother you with its operation under normal operating conditions. It only gets noisy under high loads or/and high operating temperatures. Thanks to its semi-passive operation, it will also be whisper quiet at light loads. To make it more competitive, I suggest Thermaltake fix the high vampire issue at 230V and tune the APFC converter, which delivers low PF readings, so increased energy goes wasted, returning to the grid. High PF readings are as essential as high efficiency, and all brands must understand that and improve the performance of the respective circuits for optional operation at 230V, besides 115V.

At 250 dollars, at the time of the review, the Toughpower SFX(-L) 1000W is not affordable, but unfortunately, the higher the power density, the higher the price. The Toughpower SFX 850W costs 50 dollars less, but it uses a different design since it is a genuine SFX unit. The same goes for the Toughpower SFX 750W.