Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W Power Supply Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Although typically retailing for a price in the region of £149.99, the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W power supply can currently be purchased for £109.99 which, in our opinion, makes this significantly better value for money on the whole. Ok, yes, that might sound a bit obvious on the surface, but we do have a point we’re trying to make here!

This is an 80-Plus Platinum power supply and they always come with a premium level price tag to match it, put simply, £149.99 is a perfectly reasonable price for a 650w PSU of this level. Based on its standard price though, it’s probably a bit too expensive to tempt the casual consumer into making the savvier long-term decision. – Put simply, for £109.99, this is definitely affordable as a higher-tier option to many consumers who were perhaps looking at similar models with only ‘gold’ efficiency specifications.

Performance

The Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 provided us with no surprises during our testing. It’s an excellent power supply and one that again highlights the point that Thermaltake is, somewhat under the radar, becoming one of the most consistently best PSU manufacturers out there. – There is literally nothing to fault here. In fact, quite the contrary. The results, across the board, were exceptionally impressive (as they nearly always are with a Thermaltake PSU). A particular highlight, however, simply has to be its efficiency performance which not only comfortable achieved its official Platinum rating but bordered on the absolutely top-spec ‘Titanium’. A level which, if this PSU had that certification, would easily see another £30-£50 thrown onto the price tag!

Practicality & Functionality

Coming as a fully-modular cable design, the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 certainly hits the practical remit by allowing consumers to only have to install the cables their components require. Reducing overall system clutter when compared to older traditional non-modular designs, can also help promote better airflow within the system which, all going well, should see your CPU and GPU hopefully run a little bit cooler.

For those of you who value a quiet system, the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 also comes with a ‘Zero RPM Fan’ mode. This sets the cooling solution to only operate when absolutely necessary. In truth though, based on the results shown in our testing, while having this feature is nice, it is borderline pointless given how quiet the fan is in its standard operating mode. It’s there if you want it though!

Should I Buy One?

Based upon its current sale price of £109.99, the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 is an absolute no brainer bargain! This is a price point that sees its Platinum level of performance at a value more commonly associated with the lower-tier ‘Gold’. Put simply, it’s some excellent value for money and with 650 watts of power output, this particular model should be more than suitable for the vast majority of PC systems including moderate to high specification gaming designs.

Admittedly, at its ‘normal’ price, the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 does find itself slap bang in the middle of a very congested market. Even under those remits, however, as clearly demonstrates in our testing, this PSU offers a faultless level of performance that easily exceeds a lot of its so-called similar specced competition. – Again though, at £109.99, if you are currently in the market for a brand new power supply and the Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 isn’t on your radar, then you simply aren’t looking hard enough!