Preview | Thermaltake ToughPower GF1 ARGB 650W 80 Plus Gold PSU

The ToughPower series received a new model in the form of the GF1 ARGB available in 650W, 750W and 850W variants. Ours is the 650W model, featuring an 80 Plus Gold certification and a 10 year warranty. Nice.

The Thermaltake ToughPower GF1 also comes loaded with a 140mm addressable RGB fan and a set of modular cables. It is also a single rail PSU with a peak power output of 780W.

Technical Specifications

PSU
Form Factor	ATX
Capacity	650W, 780W (Peak)
Power Factor Correction	Active PFC
Power Good Signal	100-500 ms
Hold Up Time	>16 ms at 100%
Certification	80 Plus Gold
Protection
OCP	Yes
OVP	Yes
UVP‎	Yes
OPP	Yes
OTP	Yes
SCP	Yes
Fan
Model	Thermaltake Riing Duo 14 RGB
Speed	500-1400 RPM
Noise	26.2 dBA
Airflow	NA
Dimensions
Length	160 mm
Width	150 mm
Height	86 mm
Weight	NA

Packaging and Accessories

The ToughPower GF1 is cradled inside a standard PSU packaging. The product should come with the following items inside:

• User manual
• Warranty card
• Power cable
• 4x zip tie
• 4x screw
• 24-pin ATX cable
• 8-pin CPU cable
• 2x 6+8 pin GPU cable
• 3x SATA cable
• Molex cable
• Floppy cable
• Data cable
• Cable pouch

Design, Layout and Build Quality

The ToughPower GF1 650W is a standard size ATX PSU. It is well ventilated with perforations carefully laid out at the four sides of the power supply’s case.

Most of the things you need to know about the power supply’s capabilities are located at the top of its case. Notice that the actual peak output is rated at 789W.

Thermaltake utilized the 140mm Riing Duo 14 RGB fan. The fan is rated to output 26.2 dBA of noise which is super quiet. If it’s not quiet enough, the GF1 is zero dB capable with a push of a button.

All modular ports are grouped based on their category. Nothing to complain here with the exception of the 10-pin cable’s position for the 24-pin power. It is a minor complain but make sure to put that cable set first before anything else. The addressable RGB header for your motherboard is also located on this area by the way.

Since the ToughPower GF1 features modular cables, management is easy enough. These are flat cables too, so they have better flex and could fit on some areas where normal braided ones couldn’t.

These cables have enough length to stretch even within full towers as long as there are adequate cable management routes. There are also extra cables for the higher wattage 850W unit such as another ATX 4+4, SATA and PCI-E cable.

Cable Type	Cable	Connector
ATX 20+4 pin	1	1
ATX 4+4 pin	1	1
PCI-E 6+2 pin	2	4
SATA	3	9
Molex 4 pin	1	4
FDD 4 pin	1	1

Safety and Efficiency

A power supply unit is just not about power and reliability; it’s also about safety and efficiency. On this section, we check out if the PSU carries the commonly adapted safety or protection features. We also get to talk about the 80 Plus certification and its effect on efficiency.

Safety Feature	Description	Support
OCP / Over Current Protection	Activates when the current in the rails surpasses a certain limit.	Yes
OVP / Over Voltage Protection	Activates when the voltages surpass a trigger point.	Yes
UVP / Under Voltage Protection	Activates when the voltages go below a trigger point.	Yes
OPP / Over Power Protection	Activates when the PSU exceeds its maximum rated capacity.	Yes
OTP / Over Temperature Protection	Activates when the PSU exceeds its rated temperature threshold.	Yes
SCP / Short Circuit Protection	Activates when the PSU impedance is too low.	Yes

The ToughPower GF1 got 6 out of 6 commonly used safety features. OVP protects the majority of rails (+3.3V, +5V, +12V), while OPP kicks in when the PSU reaches 150-170% over peak load on the major rails. SCP on the other hand will kick in when any of the DC rails have short circuited, while OPP will trigger a system shutdown when the system reached 120% of its capacity continuously.

The ToughPower GF1 650W features an efficiency rating of 80 Plus Gold. That means it has a minimum efficiency rating of 87% at 20% and 100% load. It gets better at 50% load with an efficiency rating of 90%.

Test Setup and Methodology

Testing a Power Supply Unit (PSU) is not an easy task. It requires expensive measurement tools I.E., load testers, incubators and a lot of balls to make sure a PSU is tested properly.

Test System Specifications
CPU	Intel Core-i5 6600K
Motherboard	ASUS Z170-A
Cooler	Noctua NH-L9i
Memory	ADATA Premier DDR4
GPU	ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1060 OC
Storage	Crucial BX200 480GB
Case	Thermaltake Core P3
PSU	CORSAIR RM850X
Display	DELL U2715H
OS	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

We do not have the tools required to strain any Power Supply Units yet we could still provide performance insights based on what we have. Hence, titled as a preview and not a full review.

Voltage and Power Good Delay

Voltage tolerance is an important aspect of any power supply unit. If for example, a power supply unit provides the parts of a computer with a particular voltage outside of this tolerance, the system being powered may fail to work properly. Power good delay tolerance on the other hand is the amount of time it takes PSU to start up completely and begin delivering the proper voltages to the connected devices.

Voltage Rail	Tolerance	Result
+3.3V	±5%	+3.3V
+5V	±5%	+5.0V
+5VSB	±5%	+5.0V
+12V	±5%	+11.9V
-12V	±10%	-11.8V
Power Good Delay	100-500 ms	396ms

As far as our test results are concerned, the actual voltage rail outputs from the GF1 are within tolerance. Perfect Good Delay is at 396 ms though. A little higher compared to the ToughPower BX1 but nothing to worry about.

Software, Lighting and Special Features

The ToughPower GF1 doesn’t require any software for its lighting to be configured – although it will rely on your motherboard’s own should you pick the RGB sync route. Supported motherboards and or brands are those with the ASUS Aura Addressable Header, GIGABYTE Digital Pin Header, MSI JRAINBOW Header and Addressable RGB LED Header.

There are 8 lighting effects to choose from the get go and all of them looks spectacular. I’m particularly impressed by the Spiral and Flow effects. The side ventilation helps to showcase these effects more too. No need to flip the PSU to enjoy the light show.

Final Thoughts

Again, I don’t see myself reviewing power supply units anytime soon. We simply lack the necessary equipment to deliver results for a proper review. With that said and with simple tests done, we proceed to use the ToughPower GF1 for more than a month. System load is no more than 300W at its maximum.

Now the ToughPower GF1 650W is an awesome PSU. It has 6 of the most common safety features and comes with strict voltage regulation. The 54.2A +12V rail also helps ensure a stable and reliable supply to your components on top of the Japanese made capacitors.

Connectivity wise, you’d get the usual stuff plus with legacy support as well (Molex and FDD). Now what I like about the GF1 is the inclusion of the Riing 14 fan. The thing is just too quiet with nice lighting effects in tow. The duality of this fan is much appreciated.

Coming in hot at $109 USD the Thermaltake GF1 650W is rather pricey for a 650W capacity unit. That price point is totally understandable though with round the clock protection, its build quality, excellent lighting and a 10 year warranty.