[section_title title=Closer Look]Closer Look
The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850watt power supply comes in a pretty good looking box with some very bright accents. The yellow is very vibrant and goes very well with the black; should be great in a retail environment. On the front of the box we have an illustration of the fully modular unit with the slogan “The Efficiency Avant-garde”; very posh! Along the bottom boosted by the bright yellow we have information regarding warranty, efficiency rating and the unit’s compatibility with Intel’s Haswell CPU’s.
Oh look, a wild 7 year warranty appeared:
On the rear of the box we have a closer look at different angles of the 850watt unit and also a list of included cables which we will take a look at in a moment. This model is also the EU version as Thermaltake also do one catered towards the US market.
Upon opening the box, I was greeted with an instruction booklet, a power cable (not UK) and 4 x screws to mount the PSU inside your chosen case; this is complimented by a Thermaltake black bag filled to the brim with cables. Underneath this is the fully modular Grand unit itself which is barricaded in with strong foam.
As the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850watt power supply is fully modular, it comes with the following cables:
1 x 24pin main connector (600mm)
1 x 4+4pin + 12V CPU connector (600mm)
4 x 4pin Molex peripheral connectors (500mm)
12 x 5pin SATA connectors (500mm)
6 x 6+2pin PCI-E connectors (500mm)
1 x 4pin floppy connector (1100mm)
Plenty of cables and tons of options in terms of connectivity; what you would expect from a high end power supply.
The cables included are essentially flat black ribbon cables and have black/red connectors which is mirrored on the rear panel so it’s even easier to figure out how to connect each cable to the power supply; easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Starting with an overall look at a diagonal angle, the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850watt power supply has a lovely gold grill with an embossed Tt logo in the centre. This is accented by a solid black design with a red near central trim which goes around the entire unit; bar the back panel. Underneath the exquisite gold fan grill, we have a single 140mm fan cooling the unit when in operation.
The rear of the Toughpower Grand is pretty standard and has ventilation parts cut into the metal; this is absolutely vital for allowing airflow inside the PSU. We have the regular 3 pin kettle lead input and an on/off switch; nothing out of the ordinary here.
Touching more on the vital specs of the unit itself, the OEM is Sirtec who may not sound too familiar but have been a pretty mainstream OEM for quite a number of years. They also sell their power supplies under the name HighPower and have made units for OCZ and Rosewill. With that information out of the way, the Toughpower Grand 850watt power supply utilises a single 12V rail which means the need to balance load among rails is eliminated; we love single rail PSU’s, oh yes we do!
As previously mentioned this particular power supply is fully modular and each separate port has a colour which follows suit with the relevant cable; very easy to know which cable goes in which socket due to the red/black connectors and of course the guide on the unit itself.
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The top of the unit (non-vented side) has an information label which contains the power output (850watts of course), the relevant safety information and amperage on each rail; as mentioned the Grand features a single rail design.
Overall the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850watt power supply features a well presented look and certainly contrasts well with the red trim; I’m not so sure the gold will contrast well with other components but in the majority of cases, the grill will be facing towards the exterior of the case and will be hidden.
