Thermaltake Toughpower XT 750 W Power Supply Review

Conclusions

Thermaltake Toughpower XT 750 W is based on the same basic project as the original Toughpower 750 W, but modified in order for the power supply to achieve higher efficiency: the reviewed unit presents an excellent efficiency between 84% and 86% if you pull up to 60% from its labeled capacity, i.e., up to 450 W. Pulling 80% from its maximum load (i.e., 600 W) efficiency was still good at 83%. But at full load (750 W) efficiency dropped to 80%.

You have to keep in mind that the 80 Plus organization measures efficiency at a room temperature of only 23° C, which is impossible to achieve inside a PC. We test power supplies at a room temperature at least double that and we consider our results to be more realistic. Since efficiency drops with temperature, usually our numbers are lower than the ones achieved by 80 Plus.

Voltage stability was the highlight from Toughpower XT 750 W. All outputs (including -12 V) were within 3% from their nominal values. Translation: they were closer to their nominal values than allowed by the ATX specification, which sets a 5% margin (10% for -12 V).

Available with or without cabling management system, it competes directly with Seventeam ST-750Z-AF (modular cabling system) and ST-750P-AF (no modular cabling system), Corsair TX750W and several other units. Toughpower XT 750 W has as advantages a little bit higher efficiency, which is always great, a higher number of power connectors, the status LEDs and the fan delay control.  On the other hand we have the problem with ripple and noise, which on Toughpower XT 750 W were higher than the maximum allowed when the unit was delivering 750 W. It is important to keep in mind that this won’t be a problem for most users, as even fully loaded PCs won’t pull even close to 750 W.

You should pay attention on price. For some strange reason Newegg.com is offering today the model with modular cabling system for USD 130 (the right price for this product, in our opinion) and the model without modular cabling for USD 170, which doesn’t make sense, as for this price we can buy products such as Corsair HX750W and Seasonic M12D 750 W, which are far superior products.

Toughpower XT 750 W is certainly an option if you are looking for a power supply up to USD 130.

We are giving it our “Silver Award” instead of our “Golden Award” because of the high ripple and noise levels measured during our tests.