Package
By now we have reviewed quite a few power supplies from quite a few manufacturers. As a result, we can say that we are pretty sure how a power supply should be packaged in the box in order to keep it safe from bumps and bruises that may occur during transport. Our favorite power supply packaging thus far has been with Cooler Master’s Real Power Pro series, which features generous amounts of low-density foam and a convenient carrying handle. If anything, the Toughpower’s packaging is superior to the RPP packaging in every conceivable way except for the carrying handle. There is plenty of low-density foam padding and the unit itself is wrapped in bubble-wrap. The 10 modular cables and 3 6-pin PCI-E to 8-pin PCI-E adapters are packaged in a clear plastic wrapper. A very interesting accessory that is included with the TP1200 is a silicon vibration damper that is installed between the power supply and the case and is designed to eliminate vibration caused from the power supply. This is something we have not seen before and is a welcome addition for any user who enjoys a silent computer.


Testbed and Methods
Test Setup

• Case: Thermaltake Armor
• Power Supply: Tagan Turbojet TG1100-U96 1100W | Thermaltake Toughpower W0133 1200W
• Motherboard: ASUS L1N64-SLI WS
• Processor: (2x) AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 (Quad FX)
• Hard Drive: (2x) Western Digital WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM, RAID-0
• Hard Drive: (1x) Western Digital WD5000KS 7,200RPM
• Video: (2x) NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX Version
• Memory: 4096MB (2x(2x1024MB)) Corsair XMS2 PC2 6400
• Optical Drive: Lite-ON SHW160P6S05
• Cooling: (2x) Vigor Monsoon II

Software Configuration

• Motherboard BIOS: L1N64-SLI WS Release BIOS 0124
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2
• Video Driver: NVIDIA ForceWare Version 158.22 (May 17 release)

In testing the TP1200, we thought it would be appropriate to configure the beefiest computer we could possibly muster. Since we do not yet have the funds to acquire input regulators and DC loading units that larger publications use to test power supplies, running an uber power-intensive computer is the best we can do. We will be using virtually the same system we used with the Real Power Pro 1000W from Cooler Master, with some additional tweaks. This Quad FX, SLI system uses components that have been shown to consume pretty much the most power possible. We also threw in some Vigor Monsoon II TEC coolers for an extra 120W consumption.

In the past we have overclocked the test system to squeeze even more juice from the power supply being tested. However, the Quad FX platform used in this particular test system does not overclock with any kind of ease or significance. For that reason, we will not be testing the TP1200 on an overclocked system.

Measurements were recorded with a digital multimeter and voltage levels were recorded over a 2 minute period for each value when possible. Power consumption readings were taken using a Kill-A-Watt Electric Usage Monitor from P3 International that was plugged into the power mains.


In our testing, “Normal Load” is considered a 50% CPU load (simulated by running 2 instances of Prime 95), and “Full Load” is considered 100% CPU usage in addition to a heavy graphics and memory load under 3DMark06. 100% CPU usage is obtained using 4 instances of Prime 95 with a single instance of 3DMark06 running on top.