Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050w Modular Power Supply Review

When it comes to power supplies there are only a few basic form factors and the Toughpower PF3 1050W is smaller than most at 140mm deep and yet is still fully modular meaning that all of the power cables are removable.  A modular design is an important consideration for any PSU as it allows you to control cable management by using only the cables you need and gives you an easy opportunity to swap the cables for individually sleeved units at any time.

One of the special features was the venting of the PSU.  As you can see from the photos the chassis is fully stamped with venting located across the entire face of the fan, at the back and along the top edges of the PSU.  This type of styling has been a stable of TT PSUs for quite some time and appears to work well.

I had mentioned that the Toughpower PF3 is fully modular and in terms of connections you’ll get a standard 24-pin main power connector and a five (5) combo CPU and PCI Express connections.  There are a total of three 6-pin ports for peripherals and located in the center is a single 12VHPWR connection to support PCI Express 5.0 and modern graphics cards.    

At the back of the PSU you’ll find the main input power connection along with a main power switch and Smart Zero Fan switch.

The internal 120mm fan is thermally controlled and when the Smart Zero Fan switch is enabled it will remain off when PSU loading is below 40%.  Even when enabled this fan is near silent and will likely never be needed given the 80 Plus Platinum rating

You will get the following cables
1x 24-pin Main Power Cable
2x 8-pin CPU Power Cables
2x Dual 6+2-pin PCI Express Power Cables
1x Single 6+2 pin PCI Express Power Cable
1x 12VHPWR PCI Express Power Cable (600w)
3x SATA Power Cables with 4 Plugs per cable
1x MOLEX Power Cable with 4 Plugs per cable
1x FDD Adapter Cable

According to the documentation the included 12VHPWR cable is rated for 600w and comes fully sleeved.  This is in contrast to every other cable that is built from a flat ribbon.  I suspect this is due to the smaller data lines being a different gauge but visually, the cable just stands out.