Power Supplies by petervandamned @ 2012-08-02
Thortech ??? Like most of the Memory companies, GeIL is also making Power Supplies under the brand name Thortech.
The Thunderbolt 1200 is a high end powerfull 80+ gold, semi modular PSU. Only 160mm in length. So it's sounds like a real contender for all the well known high end powerful PSU's. Let's bring on the [M] testbench set-up and compare what the thunder god has to offer.
The initials GeIL stand for Golden Emperor International, a really traditional and at the same time classy name for an IT company. GeIL is a large memory manufacturer that desired to enter the Power Supply Unit market but didn’t want to include the new products in their traditional memory related brand. So they used Thortech, a company with over 15 years of experience in this field, as a trojan horse to step into this market. Currently Thortech has only two PSU series and both of them include only units with high-end characteristics. The main difference between Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt Plus units is that the latter includes a device called iPower meter, through which vital information about the PSU can be obtained. The Thunderbolt Plus series consists of four units with capacities ranging from 800W to 1200W and in this review the test victim will be a Thunderbolt Plus 1200W.
The TTBPK00G is 80 Plus Gold certified, has a single +12V rail which can deliver up to 83Amps, it uses a semi-modular design with rather many fixed cables, all of its capacitors are Japanese and the cooling fan uses ball bearings so it enjoys a longer lifespan compared to a sleeved bearings one. The unit shares the same compact dimensions with its 1200W big brother so it will not face any compatibility problems with most chassis/cases. Finally, like all Thortech Plus units its most fascinating characteristic is of course the iPower meter device which provides lots of interesting information including Watts drawn from the unit, efficiency, current, voltage readings per rail etc.If Thor is the God of Power, then Thortech should be considered the God of Power Supplies. Thortech is determined to bring to the market only the best blend of performance, efficiency, technology and value of Power Supply brand and products. Thortech Power’s R&D team has experience in designing innovative industrial level power supplies for over 15 years, such experience will be transferred to make first grade consumer level power supplies with high yield rate of 80Plus Gold level or higher efficiency performance. All of Thortech Power Supply products will carry a five year warranty and service policy to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction. Computex 2010 brings the first chapter of Thortech Power in the power supply industrial history and it is just the beginning. Everyone at Thortech is ready to continue writing chapter after chapter of successful stories with you. “Thortech, throws nothing but power”.
Let's go to the real world now ->
The Thortech 1200 Watt PSU comes in a black sealed box, sporting a nice image of the included PSU. Weight is 3500 grams, lighter then the Seasonic 1000 watt PSU.
80+gold at the right lower corner. Strangely we can only find the 115 volt version on the 80plus website? And on the left the mandatory SLI certification label. But what is more important: Thortech gives you 5 years of warranty!
Turning the box we see more info about this Thunderbolt 1200W Specifications, connectors and cables. And most important the amps on the in & output rails:
Inside, we can see from left to right a little black poly protecting the PSU. On the right, a little bag with the modular (aka removable) cables. Furthermore some screws and cable management ties.
And what do we have here?
Is the thunder god showing his powers ? Or is this just some bluff?
So lets dig in deeper...
Inside for PSU cooling a Globefan fan. looking at the outside:
And from the inside:
We spot the power outlet and the Power on/off button:
This side give us the information about the model, S/N number and all kind of official certifications required for import and electrical rules.
And the AC input / DC outputs on most PSUs are nicely listed:
And:
But we go to the most important section of the PSU, the connector side.
Semi modular:
On the back of the PSU box:
Plenty to connect with already integrated cables but you can add in the cables you really need.
But more interesting is the PCB housing all the main electrical components:
Hello city called Thortech 1200 watt: a small bus tour brings us among some CM chokes, Y & X caps, a MOV, thermistor with heatsink, electromagnetic relays, bridge heatsinked rectifiers, mosfets and more unknown buildings. The streets are really nice, made of solder points and nicely clean. If you don't have any clue about those previously mentioned parts, just retain their names and look for a more detailed scope in the upcoming High end PSU Roundup article. Sorry, I always copy this part as all PSU's have simular bus lanes, some better some worse just like real life.
Let explain the cables ->
The Nylon bag holds the modulair cables and a power cord:
Starting with the 20/24 MB cord:
CPU cables times 2:
SATA cables one fixed on the PSU:
And 2 more modular cables:
Followed by Pata cables x2:
And finishing with 4 x PCI-E connector fixed in the PSU:
Plus even 4 more modular ones:
The Thortech will provide U with plenty of connectors in the end. Some Velcro ties, bolts to do your cable management and firmly secure your PSU.
A few bags to keep all clean inside the box plus a manual:
Time for tests like we do at home -?
Before the real system test we will do a small PSU tester set-up: it's very simple tool for testing if a PSU does run correctly or not. One ATX tester and the 2 x Arcol HS25 plus the Energy power meter:
Besides the Seasonic and PCP&C 860 we are testing several others too.
Not bad for a 1200watt PSU comparing to another 1200watt in the test lab.
Time for the bench set-up ->
We have a normal system like you probably will use at home:
Intel 2500K overclocked at 5gig 1.425 volt WC cooled by an Antec Kühler H2O 920
Patriot 4GB DDR3 Viper Xtreme 2133 Mhz
MSI R6970 Lighting overclocked at 970 x 1580 1.3 volt
Intel SSD 80 gig 320 series x 2 in raid 0
Some volt meters and all mounted on a Dimastech bench table, and to get some extra juice from the system I will be using 2 x Arcol HS25 plus a reference ATI 3870x2 card.
For reference I will use my trusty old PC Power & Cooling 860 watt PSU and the Seasonic 1000 watt:
To test the power supply in both IDLE and Full Load, we will use OCCT 4.0 PSU test.
I had to lower the CPU multiplier to 49X for the OCCT power supply test to keep it stable. Then I let it run for a full hour for each PSU.
The CPU test I however could complete at 5000Mhz:
As you can see the this system also needs plenty of power like we did in previous reviews.
All read outs from my charts are in Watts. I did run some game benchmarks to see how much watts those need.
Starting with a GPU test from 3Dmark Vantage:
Yes he needs his powers and plenty he has!
Finishing with my favorite game at the moment Codemasters F1 2011:
Well it's 1200 watt so it supposed to be higher in Qatts
Time for some final words on the last page ->
Time for us to give a final verdict to this 1200 Watt PSU:
For a price at €229,00 you will get the normal PSU without a extra called the IPOWER Meter
This PSU is a not fully low noise semi modular power supply, stable enough tho for daily high end use and plenty of connections to add devices.
Price is at a nice low level for a 1200 watt version, however there are more contenders in this price and watt range, some cheaper, some more expensive and some insanely priced.
Madshrimps will be doing more and more PSU tests in the near future and after a while we take these to our Madshrimps friends at Cooler Master Eindhoven for an in-depth lab test.
Maybe we will get some other results here but for now it's a fine PSU and I am sure it will not make you unhappy.
I would like to thank Thortech for supplying the review sample. Also I want to give a big thumb up for there patience.
Check back from time to time, to see more PSU reviews and in the end a real lab test on all the tested models.
Hope you had a good time reading my preview article and till next time !