Question Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 - A good gold-rated power supply at current pricing

[UsandThem]

I came across this PSU while on Amazon, and after seeing the 650w and 750w versions were $99.99 (850w $114.99), I was curious enough to read up on it. As most people now realize, power supply prices have increased quite dramatically over the last 18 months, so if this is a quality unit, it would be attractive to many users

I must have missed seeing the reviews when it launched, but it is covered at most popular hardware review sites:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermaltake-toughpower-gf1-850w-power-supply
https://www.eteknix.com/thermaltake-toughpower-gf1-850w-power-supply-review/
https://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/thermaltake-toughpower-gf1-750w-psu-review/

Summary of reviews:

• 10 year warranty
• Made by CWT (Channel Well)
• Japanese capacitors
• HDB fan
• Very quiet under low-to-medium loads
• Fully modular
• RGB version also available

 

[tomtom1791]

I have a Thermaltake tr2 rx 850W that was installed in December of 2012 and is still running strong. I'd buy it

 

[JEDIYoda]

There are quite a few brands that have stood the test of time!!

 

[Scour]

Is the GX1 similar to GF1?

 

[UsandThem]

Is the GX1 similar to GF1?

Not really.

The GX1 is more of a lower mid-range unit (a unit designed to get buyers to step up from budget units, but who wouldn't necessarily buy a higher tier unit). There aren't really any reviews on that model, so Thermaltake didn't send it to reviewers, which is usually a sign the unit is more of a budget offering. A few differences without really getting into the build quality or topology used:

5 year warranty vs. 10
Non-modular vs. modular cables
Japanese capacitor on main only vs. all Japanese capacitors
120mm fluid dynamic bearing fan vs. 140mm hydraulic bearing fan
Fan that always runs vs. fan that shuts off under low loads

 

[Scour]

Thanks for the info

I found the GX1 500W for a OK-price and it have a good range of SATA/PATA-connectors. But it looks like it disappear soon, the availability shrinks fast

I´m not the biggest fan of semi-passiv, a good fan with a speed of 450rpm in low load is good enough for me.

Maybe I should stay with Seasonic, they still have good components in entry Gold-PSUs. But it´s boring to buy everytime the same brand

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks for the info

I found the GX1 500W for a OK-price and it have a good range of SATA/PATA-connectors. But it looks like it disappear soon, the availability shrinks fast

I´m not the biggest fan of semi-passiv, a good fan with a speed of 450rpm in low load is good enough for me.

Maybe I should stay with Seasonic, they still have good components in entry Gold-PSUs. But it´s boring to buy everytime the same brand

Seasonic might not be an "exciting" buy, but I kinda look at them being the Honda engine of the PSU world. You pay a little more, but they have one hell of track record/reputation.

That said, most PSU brands are made by just few OEMs, so it really just comes down to what's actually inside the PSU. To get pricing lower they have to make certain quality/build/performance sacrifices in order to get it into whatever price range they are marketing it in. Pretty much all the name brand companies (Seasonic, Corsair, EVGA, etc.) all have budget units all the way to top-of-the-line models.

 

[Scour]

I drove a Honda CRX VTI long years ago, so a Seasonic would work for me

And the actual Type R also have a very nice engine , drove is last year.

What is an exiting buy in the PSU-world? Titanium, passive PSU?

I have a CM V450S, it was a budget-Gold-PSU with a very good efficency at low loads (some reviews show it was almost Platinium-level), but what did CM/Enhance? Use a cheap fan, beside good caps from Panasonic and Teapo they use Sus'con?

Yeah, the price fight is hard but why they depreciate with such parts?

 

[killster1]

i was looking at seasonic psu's (altho my go to has been hx850 hx750 on the past 10 builds i have done and they all ran perfectly through out the builds and years) but now after i looked at his review of the thermaltake (it wasnt near the best of the chart and the evga supernova g3 stood out to me as one of the best in the review ;P ) so i guess i could buy one of those on my next build. running 2x g2 750 evga's i think now.

 

[Scour]

TBH, never had problems with any PSU from a good brand in all the years I build PCs. Unless the noise of some PSUs at higher load.

Corsair is only a labeler, I remember they also use Seasonic in some series like Ax and some HX etc.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Corsair is only a labeler, I remember they also use Seasonic in some series like Ax and some HX etc.

Only the AX is manufactured by Seasonic, and honestly, most of the engineering is done by Corsair and not the OEM in most cases.

 

[Scour]

Hm, sure? I thought my VX450 was a Seasonic S12 (VX 550 = CWT), some older HX like the 520,620, 650 were also Seasonic S12 or S12 II. Maybe the HX-series exists to long, I remember some old 80Plus named HX.

Long time ago (10 years or something) I read somewhere that CWT isn´t a manufacturer which make many changes of their own designs for the customers. If you are right the things must be changed.

be quiet also changes (many) things, don´t use the standard-designs of the real manufacturer. They use mostly FSP, HEC, Seasonic (in the beginning Topower, but who remember it) but never CWT. I thought it´s because of CWT won´t change much.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Hm, sure? I thought my VX450 was a Seasonic S12 (VX 550 = CWT), some older HX like the 520,620, 650 were also Seasonic S12 or S12 II. Maybe the HX-series exists to long, I remember some old 80Plus named HX.

I'm talking about NOW. Not 15 years ago.

Long time ago (10 years or something) I read somewhere that CWT isn´t a manufacturer which make many changes of their own designs for the customers. If you are right the things must be changed.

Yes. That changed about 20 years ago.

be quiet also changes (many) things, but never CWT. I thought it´s because of CWT won´t change much.

That's incorrect. Case and point, the new be quiet Dark Power Pro 11.

Other examples of CWT working with their customer's designs is the RM1000x and RMi Series.

 

[Scour]

OK, Thanks for the info.

But I´m sure I read the CWT-thing not 20 years ago

 

[jonnyGURU]

OK, Thanks for the info.

But I´m sure I read the CWT-thing not 20 years ago

Then you read incorrect information. Either that or 10 years ago you read a 10-15 year old article.

CWT has been a manufacturer with its own factory for as long as I've been in the industry. Think about it: Antec power supplies like the True Power, True Control, Smart Power, etc. from 2000 were made for them by CWT.

Even prior to that, CWT was building in Taiwan from 1995, starting with ATX power supplies in 1997. It was only for the first couple years they were in business did they relabel other factory's products. One of the owner's sons was telling me how when he was a kid, it was his job to apply the CWT labels to the sides of the PSUs.

Their history is documented here: http://www.cwt.com.tw/AboutCWT/enus/Events.aspx

When they say, "CWT is largest power supply manufacturer of desktop industry in the world", it's true. The only reason why Delta, Chicony, Flex, Acbel, FSP, etc. are bigger are because they also manufacture power bricks, wall adapters, server PSUs, telecom, etc. Which CWT does as well now, but it's a small percentage of their overall business.

 

[Scour]

Thanks

I discussed this in a german forum and a guy which have good knowledge in PSU also wrote that CWT maybe since 2005 make custom designs.

So was the info I read about 2008-2010 wasn´t not correct or obsolete.

Some years ago I read these manufacturers were the biggest in the business, don´t know who released this info:

1. Delta
2. LiteOn (only know these PSUs from HP and old Clevo-based Notebooks)
3. FSP
4. CWT

Till I get at work a Lenovo Workstation I thought Acbel was gone long time ago. I remember a Coolermaster Real Power M520 which was made by Acbel (one of the most sold PSU in this class in my favorite Online-Shop), but then the brand vanished or was out of my scope.

Isn´t Chicony a brand of Delta?

Did Flextronics also have Gold or higher in range 400-600W in the consumer market? I know some Platinum from Corsair, but very expensive and to much power for my systems.

Also didn´t know Acbel and Flextronics are bigger than CWT.

I think the last CWT-based PSU I ever used for a freinds PC was the Corsair VX 550, was in the years 2008-2009, I guess.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Thanks

I discussed this in a german forum and a guy which have good knowledge in PSU also wrote that CWT maybe since 2005 make custom designs.

So was the info I read about 2008-2010 wasn´t not correct or obsolete.

Some years ago I read these manufacturers were the biggest in the business, don´t know who released this info:

1. Delta
2. LiteOn (only know these PSUs from HP and old Clevo-based Notebooks)
3. FSP
4. CWT

Till I get at work a Lenovo Workstation I thought Acbel was gone long time ago. I remember a Coolermaster Real Power M520 which was made by Acbel (one of the most sold PSU in this class in my favorite Online-Shop), but then the brand vanished or was out of my scope.

Isn´t Chicony a brand of Delta?

Did Flextronics also have Gold or higher in range 400-600W in the consumer market? I know some Platinum from Corsair, but very expensive and to much power for my systems.

Also didn´t know Acbel and Flextronics are bigger than CWT.

I think the last CWT-based PSU I ever used for a freinds PC was the Corsair VX 550, was in the years 2008-2009, I guess.

You do realize they don`t call him Jonny GURU for nothing??

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks

I discussed this in a german forum and a guy which have good knowledge in PSU also wrote that CWT maybe since 2005 make custom designs.

So was the info I read about 2008-2010 wasn´t not correct or obsolete.

Some years ago I read these manufacturers were the biggest in the business, don´t know who released this info:

1. Delta
2. LiteOn (only know these PSUs from HP and old Clevo-based Notebooks)
3. FSP
4. CWT

Till I get at work a Lenovo Workstation I thought Acbel was gone long time ago. I remember a Coolermaster Real Power M520 which was made by Acbel (one of the most sold PSU in this class in my favorite Online-Shop), but then the brand vanished or was out of my scope.

Isn´t Chicony a brand of Delta?

Did Flextronics also have Gold or higher in range 400-600W in the consumer market? I know some Platinum from Corsair, but very expensive and to much power for my systems.

Also didn´t know Acbel and Flextronics are bigger than CWT.

I think the last CWT-based PSU I ever used for a freinds PC was the Corsair VX 550, was in the years 2008-2009, I guess.

Instead of continuing to derail a thread about the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1, if you want to discuss PSU history from 20 years ago, how about start your own thread about it?

 

[jonnyGURU]

Thanks

I discussed this in a german forum and a guy which have good knowledge in PSU also wrote that CWT maybe since 2005 make custom designs.

So was the info I read about 2008-2010 wasn´t not correct or obsolete.

Some years ago I read these manufacturers were the biggest in the business, don´t know who released this info:

1. Delta
2. LiteOn (only know these PSUs from HP and old Clevo-based Notebooks)
3. FSP
4. CWT

Till I get at work a Lenovo Workstation I thought Acbel was gone long time ago. I remember a Coolermaster Real Power M520 which was made by Acbel (one of the most sold PSU in this class in my favorite Online-Shop), but then the brand vanished or was out of my scope.

Isn´t Chicony a brand of Delta?

Did Flextronics also have Gold or higher in range 400-600W in the consumer market? I know some Platinum from Corsair, but very expensive and to much power for my systems.

Also didn´t know Acbel and Flextronics are bigger than CWT.

I think the last CWT-based PSU I ever used for a freinds PC was the Corsair VX 550, was in the years 2008-2009, I guess.

You're chock full of misinformation. I sent you a link showing you that they've been building PSUs since 1997. I've been reviewing PSUs since 2002 and even then, CWT made their own PSUs. But you still want to argue that "maybe it was 2005".

CWT is not in the top 4. They're not even in the top 15. They're number one for desktop PSUs. But since all of the other OEMs make so many other power products, they eclipse CWT.

Your list looks like this one: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-r...facturers-growth-and-forecast-2026-2020-04-15

This list takes into account the BRAND that's on the PSU. Delta, Lite-On and Chicony (aka HiPro) tend to keep their own brand on the PSU, where as the CWT number used doesn't include units branded by other companies on the list like Antec, Gigabyte, Corsair, etc. who don't even make their own PSUs.

Chicony has nothing to do with Delta. They're two COMPLETELY SEPARATE companies.

Acbel is most certainly still around. In fact, they're #9 on the list of top power supply manufacturers. They're even bigger than FSP.

And VX 550 was not made by CWT. That was actually made by Seasonic.

Instead of continuing to derail a thread about the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1, if you want to discuss PSU history from 20 years ago, how about start your own thread about it?

Agree. I would think he was just a troll if he hadn't joined the forums back 12 years ago.

 

[Scour]

Sorry for asking