Thermaltake ToughPower SFX 450W Power Supply Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Although pending confirmation when it starts hitting retailers shelves, our understanding is that the Thermaltake ToughPower SFX 450W will cost something in the region of £79.99. A price which, if we’re honest, might have been higher than you were anticipating. Remember though, that this isn’t a standard power supply. It’s a small form factor one that comes with some pretty high specifications that you wouldn’t mind seeing in a full-sized model.

As such, taking all this into consideration, and throwing in that huge 7-year warranty for good measure, is this good value for money? We think so!

Performance

Throughout all of our testing, the Thermaltake ToughPower SFX never failed to impress us. Putting the 12V ripple test to one side (which we still note is well within the required maximum), every test we conducted on this power supply impressed us hugely. Quite frankly, we’re a little baffled as to how Thermaltake has squeezed so much performance out of such a small package, but they have, and overall, we’re definitely impressed with what this offers.

Practicality & Functionality

As an SFX power supply, this is clearly catering itself to a rather limited market. Albeit one that usually doesn’t get too many components to pick from. With its fully modular cable design, the functionality is excellent with you being able to easily fit only the cables your components require. Admittedly, the motherboard power cable is perhaps a little shorter than we might’ve liked to see, but for small form factor systems, this should be absolutely perfect.

Better still though, thanks to the inclusion of the SFX to ATX adaptor, this is still perfectly viable for slightly larger system cases. Although some compromises on cable management in those specific instances might be necessary.

Should I Buy One?

With small form factor PC designs becoming more popular again, the Thermaltake ToughPower SFX certainly manages to provide consumers with an excellent power supply design here. Offering features that you perhaps wouldn’t find in a bulkier option and performance many would fail to even match, Thermaltake has really hit the ball out of the park here to give consumers an option for a PSU with truly high-end performance with an unquestionably quality design throughout.