Thermaltake toughpower gf1 650w review in spanish (analysis)

The Taiwanese brand Thermaltake has a vast catalog of power supplies in which there are models of all price ranges and with all kinds of characteristics. Today we will analyze the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 its last bet of upper-middle range, It directly rivals some of the best-selling models on the market.

This new release is 80 Plus Gold certified, 10 year warranty, fully modular cable management and promises high levels of quality with excellent performance. It is available in powers of 650 (the one that we will analyze today), 750 and 850W. Will you keep all your promises? Join us in this review and we will see it!

We thank Thermaltake for the trust placed in sending this product for analysis.

Technical Specifications Thermaltake Toughpower GF1

External Review Thermaltake Toughpower GF1

We start, as always, by unboxing the power supply, whose box focuses on highlighting an important series of benefits of it, some of which we will have to check if they are true ( ultra quiet, Japanese condensers, low ripple, etc.) and others that we can already take for granted, such as its 10-year guarantee or its 100% modular cable management.

The inside of the box is perfectly protected, and in it we find the well-secured fountain by two layers of thick foam and a comfortable case with all the wiring and accessories.

Aside from the foam, the fountain is sheathed. The included accessories are simply flanges and screws. In the photo we also see the 100% flat wiring that we will talk about later.

We take the font out of the case and look at its external appearance, which stays in line with other Thermaltake fonts, with its characteristic grid pattern that also extends across the front and sides.

This time the source does not have an RGB fan, as it does in other Thermaltake models, a detail that is surely irrelevant for most users. For those who do want to enjoy lighting at its source (although we don't really know why), there is the “ Toughpower GF1 ARGB ” version (with addressable RGB) for around 30 euros more.

The Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 features a semi-passive mode that keeps the fan off at low loads. Fortunately, this mode is selectable and we can activate or deactivate it. In the performance tests we will check if it has a proper operation or if on the contrary we recommend keeping it deactivated.

As expected in this price range, the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 is 100% modular. But just as important as modularity is the amount of cabling included, so let's move on to your cabling management.

Cabling management

This Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 includes 100% flat wiring, and not the usual meshing. It is certainly up to the user to decide which one suits him best, it is a personal choice since both modalities are good and have their pros and cons. We also highlight that in the CPU and PCIe cabling, a thickness of 16AWG is used , that is, thicker cables than normal are used that allow more current to pass without giving problems of large voltage drops.

The number of PCIe, SATA and Molex cables is more than enough and is as expected in a source of this price and power range, being quite in line with the competition. Although we did not like so much that only an 8-pin CPU connector is included, something that also follows the guidelines of its competitors but that gradually ceases to be the norm.

Fortunately, this should only concern users who are going to mount equipment on platforms such as the Intel X299 or AMD X399 (more specifically on some of its more powerful CPUs such as the Threadripper 2990WX).

It is not even worrying in the recently presented Ryzen 3900X, since its consumption will not reach (nor with overclock) to require 2 8-pin CPU connectors. With the 3950X (which will come out in September) it shouldn't be like that either, although we have no performance tests to confirm this.

This is even less worrying when you consider that 16AWG and not 18AWG cabling is being used as usual. So no, even if your AM4 or 1151 board includes 2 8-pin CPU connections, you only need one.

Regarding the length of the cabling, all this is adequate, although the PCIe cables are somewhat shorter than normal, but we doubt that there will be problems in conventional equipment.

Finally, we highlight a very important aspect of this source and that is the absence of capacitors in the cables. These are especially annoying in the assembly and in most cases they are unnecessary, and they only serve for curl enhancements that only seek to impress in the reviews.

In conclusion, the wiring is very well thought out except for the absence of that additional EPS connector (it is concerned that it is not in the 750W model, in the 650W it is more irrelevant. In the 850W it is present ) .

Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 internal review

The manufacturer of this source is CWT, an old acquaintance for us, as it is currently one of the best known and relevant on the market. It is a company capable of making products of all qualities, from the most basic and not at all recommendable to an impeccable high-end range.

In this case, we quickly know that we find a modern and very high-quality font when we find ourselves using an internal platform apparently called GPR, which would be a variation of the well-known GPU.

Primary filtering is complete, with the desired 4 Y capacitors and 2 X capacitors, plus a ZNR varistor, an NTC thermistor, and a relay.

The primary capacitors are a pair of excellent quality Japanese Nichicon at 105ºC and 390uF each (in parallel), which makes a total of 780uF, a very high figure for a 650W source, which causes high hold-up time values., something that is definitely positive.

On the secondary side, as the brand promises, all the capacitors are Japanese at 105ºC (from Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon) so we did not find any surprises in this regard. The cleanliness of the design, which practically lacks cables, gives us great confidence in the cooling of these capacitors.

A look at the DC-DC converters is what suggests the existence of this "GPR" platform as a derivative of the GPU. For those who don't understand the concept, a power supply platform is the base design that manufacturers like CWT have for different brands.

If two sources of different brands have the same manufacturer and platform, then their internal design will be very similar, with exactly the same base, and differences in more concrete aspects such as capacitors, fan, wiring, etc.

The protection is handled by a Sitronix ST9S429-PG14. This supports two channels of OCP in 12V and we have seen it in sources that have OCP in this rail (despite having only one 12V line, where it is normal that it does not carry), which suggests that this Thermaltake would also be present.

The welding quality is decent. We have not seen any mid-range or higher CWT sources with bad welds - in all cases it has been more than acceptable.

We finish with the fan, a Thermaltake TT-1425 manufactured by Hong Sheng, and which uses hydraulic bearings. The brand uses similar fans (with differences in speed and RGB lighting, but with the same manufacturer and bearing type) even in its top-of-the-range sources such as the Toughpower iRGB 80 Plus Titanium, which gives us confidence about its durability (in addition 10-year source warranty).

Regarding the sound of this fan, it is an aspect that we will know next. For now, we are dealing with a source of magnificent quality and without defects… will the same happen with the performance tests?

Cybenetics performance tests

Cybenetics is a company born in 2017 to offer an alternative to the 80 Plus certifying tests. The company seeks to offer more stringent and demanding certifications, with a greater number of tests, covering more loading scenarios and, in short, with a more complete methodology than that of 80 Plus (which, in fact, is quite simple). In addition to the ETA efficiency certification, they offer LAMBDA loudness certification, something that 80 Plus does not offer.

In addition to all this, for all the sources that test they offer a public report and accessible to everyone with the results of a large number of performance tests that have nothing to do with certification and efficiency but are useful to know the quality and performance of the power supply.

For this reason, for several months we have included Cybenetics tests in all our reviews whenever we can, due to three reasons:

1. Cybenetics equipment, valued at tens of thousands of euros (perhaps close to € 100, 000), is light years away from the humble and too basic performance tests we can do with the web team. use the data from your performance tests as long as they are given the proper attribution. Using this data allows us to give a much better view of the quality of the source, in addition to having the didactic purpose that users understand the tests and analyze for yourself the quality of a source's performance.

Having said that, let's go with a small explanation of the meaning of the different tests that we are going to show.

Cybenetics testing explained

As the tests carried out by Cybenetics have some complexity, we explain in these tabs what is measured and what is its importance.

This is information that we will include in all our reviews with data from Cybenetics so, if you already know how the test structure works, you can continue reading. If not, we recommend you take a look at all the tabs to find out what each test is about. ? /

• Glossary of terms Voltage regulation Ripple Efficiency Loudness Hold-up time

Let's go with a small glossary of some terms that could be somewhat confusing:

• Rail: PC sources that follow the ATX standard (like this one) do not have a single outlet, but several, which are distributed in " rails ". Each of those rails outputs a specific voltage, and can supply a specific maximum current. We show you the rails of this Thor in the image below. The most important is 12V.

  

  Crossload: When testing a power supply, the most common is that the loads made on each rail are proportional to their "weight" in the power distribution table of the source. However, it is known that the actual loads of the equipment are not like this, but are usually very unbalanced. Therefore, there are two tests called "crossload" in which a single group of rails is loaded.

  On the one hand, we have the CL1 that leaves the 12V rail unloaded and gives 100% at 5V and 3.3V. On the other, the CL2 that 100% loads the 12V rail leaving the rest unloaded. This type of testing, of limit situations, truly shows if the source has a good regulation of voltages or not.

The voltage regulation test consists of measuring the voltage of each source rail (12V, 5V, 3.3V, 5VSB) in the different load scenarios, in this case from 10 to 110% load. The importance of this test lies in how stable all voltages are maintained during testing. Ideally, we like to see a maximum deviation of 2 or 3% for the 12V rail, and 5% for the rest of the rails.

What does not matter so much is 'what voltage is it based on', although it is a fairly widespread myth, it should not matter to us that the 11.8V or the 12.3V are around for example. What we do demand is that they be kept within the limits of the ATX standard that governs the correct operation rules of a PSU. The dashed red lines indicate where those limits are.

Vulgarly, it can be defined as the "residuals" of alternating current that remain after the transformation and rectification of the household AC into low-voltage DC.

These are variations of some millivolts (mV) that, if they are very high (being able to say that there is a "dirty" energy output) can affect the behavior of the equipment components and in some cases damage fundamental components.

A very guiding description of what a source's ripple would look like on an oscilloscope. In the graphs below what we show is the variation between peaks like the ones seen here, depending on the source load.

The ATX standard defines limits of up to 120mV on the 12V rail, and up to 50mV on the other rails we show. We (and the community of PSU specialists in general) consider that the 12V limit is quite high, so we give a "recommended limit" of just half, 60mV. In any case you will see how the majority of sources that we test give excellent values.

In the transformation and rectification processes from household alternating current to the low voltage direct current required by the components, there are various energy losses. The efficiency concept allows quantifying these losses by comparing the power consumed (INPUT) with that delivered to the components (OUTPUT). Dividing the second by the first, we get a percentage. This is precisely what 80 Plus proves. Despite the conception that many people have, 80 Plus only measures the efficiency of the source and does not do any quality testing, protections, etc. Cybenetics tests efficiency and sound, although it altruistically includes the results of many other tests such as the ones we showed you in the review.

Another very serious misconception about efficiency is believing that this determines what percentage of your "promised" power the source can deliver. The truth is that the "real" power sources announce what they can give at the START. In other words, if a 650W source has 80% efficiency at this load level, it means that if the components demand 650W, it will consume 650 / 0.8 = 812.5W from the wall.

Last relevant aspect: the efficiency varies depending on whether we are connecting the source to a 230V electrical network (Europe and most of the world), or to 115V (mainly the US). In the latter case it is less. We publish Cybenetics data for 230V (if they have it), and since the overwhelming majority of sources are certified for 115V, it is normal for 230V to fail to meet the 80 Plus requirements advertised by each source.

For this test, Cybenetics tests the PSUs in an extremely sophisticated anechoic chamber with equipment worth tens of thousands of euros.

It is a room isolated from outside noise almost entirely, suffice it to say that it has a 300kg reinforced door to illustrate the great isolation it has.

Within it, an extremely accurate sound level meter capable of measuring below 6dbA (most have at least 30-40dBa, much more) determines the loudness of the power supply in different load scenarios. The speed the fan reaches in rpm is also measured.

This test basically measures how long the source is able to hold on once it is disconnected from the current while at full load. It will be a few crucial milliseconds to enable a safer shutdown.

The ATX standard defines 16 / 17ms (according to test) as a minimum, although in practice this will be more (we will not always be charging the PSU at 100% so it will be greater), and there are usually no problems with lower values.

It should be noted that in this Review we will use the data from the 850W version, since it is the only one that Cybenetics has listed for now. In any case, all versions use the same internal platform, so the performance will be similar. We recommend you take a look at the test report published by Cybenetics:

Link to full Cybenetics report Cybenetics official website

Voltage regulation

The regulation of voltages is excellent on all rails, with values ​​that suffer deviations much less than 1%. The brand promises a voltage regulation of 2%, therefore the actual tests even exceed the specifications.

Curly

As for the curly we find more of the same, because the brand promises us excellent values ​​of less than 30mV on the 12V rail, and the same 30mV for the smaller rails, which are more than respectable. In practice, we find almost nonexistent curling on all rails. The only exception is the 12V at 10% load, which curiously suffers a slight increase in ripple compared to higher loads, but is still in excellent values.

It is important to keep in mind that these wonderful ripple values ​​have been obtained without using capacitors in the cables, something whose inclusion is very common in the competition and which is inconvenient when assembling the equipment due to the rigidity that the wiring at their ends.

Efficiency

The efficiency of this 230V source is as expected. It should be noted that these values reach the minimums established by 80 Plus Gold at 230V. This does not have to happen since this source (and the vast majority) is certified at 115V, the voltage of the homes of the United States, where the efficiency is lower and the requirements of 80 Plus are also. So it is remarkable that the requirements are also reached in this voltage, the European, the one that interests us the most?

Fan speed and loudness

In Cybenetics tests Thermaltake's premise that the fan stays off up to 30% load is perfectly fulfilled, although in practice it will obviously depend on the internal temperature of the source and other factors.

In any case, we have a source that is extremely quiet up to approximately 60% load. From this the fan speed already increases significantly, reaching a top of 1500 rpm that generates a loudness of 37.6 dBa. Remember that the source carries the LAMBDA A- loudness certification.

Hold-up Time

Hold-up time Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W (tested at 230V)	20.0 ms
Data extracted from Cybenetics

The hold-up time far exceeds the 16 / 17ms minimum set by Intel. It is not the most common thing to be like this in sources of this price range, so it is worthy of being appreciated.

Our experience with the semi-passive mode and fan control of the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1

In all the reviews of sources with semi-passive mode we invest more hours of testing than normal to verify if this mode works correctly. And we have identified that the vast majority of semi-passive controls do not work well for a very simple reason, since they are too simple they are created in such a way that, if there is a minimum temperature threshold to turn on the fan, it is the same threshold which is applied to turn it off.

For example, we are going with a hypothetical case: a source that would turn on its fan at 60ºC, reaches 61ºC and turns it on, lowering the temperature to 59ºC, then the fan would turn off, the temperature would rise to 60 again, entering a long loop of ignitions. This is detrimental to most fans and unfortunately we have come to observe it in all kinds of situations, not just demanding performance testing but also gaming and so on.

Let us now look at the behavior of the Thermaltake in the two possible modes of ventilation.

"Smart Zero Fan: ON"

In the case of this Thermaltake, the semi-passive mode seems very well designed, since in all the hours of tests we have done paying special attention to its behavior, we have always seen that the fan spends long periods on or off, it is Say, it never goes into the endless and damaging loop that we see in other sources.

"Smart Zero Fan: OFF"

With this mode, the fan works constantly at a very low 540 revolutions per minute, as long as we are in idle or making normal use of the equipment. At this speed, the source is almost inaudible, and we can only hear the fan noise if we get too close and put our ears to it. Compared to other models, the Hong Sheng fan of the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 is among the best in terms of loudness.

We only know of one competing source in this price range that has a semi-passive mode that works in a similar way, and doesn't disable it, so the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 has all the ballots to be the source with the best fan control in this price range.

Final words and conclusion on Thermaltake Toughpower GF1

We ended this review overwhelmed by the difficulty we have had to find any really negative aspect in this Thermaltake Toughpower GF1. And it is a model that does not give rise to any major complaint: its internal quality is excellent, its features are good and its current price is sensational (we do not know if it will rise in the future).

Specifically, it is surprising the very low noise we have obtained both without the semi-passive mode (which allows us to cool the source better), and with it activated (which works surprisingly well); excellent cable management whose only weak point is the inclusion of a single EPS connector; an internal quality that leaves us with no objectionable aspect; and a solid 10-year guarantee that give us a plus of confidence.

Regarding performance, thanks to extensive Cybenetics tests we can affirm that it is simply impeccable. There is no weak point, because in all aspects we have verified the performance is excellent.

This font is currently at a price of 90-95 euros. For that price it would be our main choice, while for the 100-110 euros we see in other stores it would be in our "Top 3". In short, an almost impossible choice to criticize.

Let us now summarize the advantages and disadvantages of this power supply:

Advantage

• Wired with 16AWG thickness for the PCIe and CPU connectors, ensuring that we will be able to safely pass a large amount of current safely and without noticeable voltage drops. There are no annoying capacitors in the cables. 10 years warranty Efficiency 80 Plus Gold more than fulfilled. Fan control with or without semi-passive mode is among the best in this price range.Excellent internal quality and faultless performance, with excellent results in all tests, without exception.

Disadvantages

• Slightly short PCIe cabling.The price in stores ranges from a sensational 90-95 euros to less competitive € 110, going through not very surprising € 100.

The Professional Review team awards you the Platinum Medal and Recommended Product.

Thermaltake Toughpower GF1

INTERNAL QUALITY - 95%

SOUNDNESS - 95%

WIRING MANAGEMENT - 91%

PROTECTION SYSTEMS - 90%

CYBENETICS PERFORMANCE - 98%

PRICE - 91%

93%

One of the best sources of the upper-mid range for this 2019 and an absolute success on the part of Thermaltake.