Tough Power – Thermaltake XT 775W PSU

As important as saving money on hardware is, this editor believes that the choice of a power supply unit (PSU) is critical to any PC build. The PSU should never be cheap nor generic. The old saying, “pennywise and pound foolish” comes to mind as being especially apt in choosing a PSU.  Too much depends on it to go bargain bin or generic hunting.  Instead, look for sales and perhaps even rebates to save money. At the time of writing this article, Thermaltake’s ToughPower XT 775 W PSU has been on sale at NewEgg.com for the last few weeks for only $124.99 after a $25 mail-in-rebate.

In considering that choosing your PSU is like buying insurance for your expensive hardware, you also need to remember that a quality PSU will likely last through several builds if you plan ahead. Another thing to consider is “noise” – ideally you do not want your power supply’s cooling fan adding any.

We are not out of order by insisting on Thermaltake’s ToughPower XT 775 W PSU. We are helping to get the word out that generic and cheap power supplies actually waste a lot of electricity and thus your money. They also hurt your wallet by producing excess heat which will cost you more in electricity usage per month in cooling your room. Even worse, a cheap PSU may not provide stable power for your PC components and will perhaps even shorten their life; and it will certainly limit your overclocking potential.

We are using our Thermaltake Element G case (which we reviewed here) to house our Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.80 GHz (plus) and we have planned for at least HD 5870 CrossFire or a GTX 480 plus our GTX 280 which we use as a PhysX card.  So, we require absolute stability from our power supply unit. We also plan a practical and thorough test of this PSU’s stability; something simple that an enthusiast might also attempt.

We have also been living with this PSU for the past two months and have used it in one other build beside our overclocked Core i7-920.  We also used our Thermaltake ToughPower XT 775 W PSU to power our overclocked Phenom II 955-x4 which is also rock solid at 3.80 GHz with the same combination of HD 5870 CrossFire or GTX 480-GTX 280 in PhysX, and we will share our impressions of both builds with you.

Why Thermaltake?

Thermaltake considers themselves to be a relatively new company that formed in 1999, eleven years ago.  They have been at the forefront of creating new and exciting products since the time where most computer users were provided with little to no choices for cooling components that may seem irrelevant, but in reality are crucial to the performance of a PC. Their Thermaltake’s ToughPower XT 775 W PSU is part of their philosophy of what they call Key 3 Spirit Initiative of Case, Cooler and Power Supply which is based on quality, performance and reliability.

Key 3 Spirit initiative is based on the strength and know-how that Thermaltake has mastered through innovation and continuous research & development that encompasses crucial components of a personal computer responsible for thermal management.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the following image conveys Thermaltake’s dedication to their customers.

Now that we know about Thermaltake’s philosophy, let’s see how it is expressed in their ToughPower XT 775 W PSU.