Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W PSU Review

1. Introduction2. Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W (Bundle & Cables)3. Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W PSU (External)4. Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W (Internal)5. Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

The Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W has been named to instill imagery of a hammer wielding Norse God showering down lightning on his enemies. However in the real world it is a decent, well built power supply. We also like the small physical size, which means it will fit into a variety of systems without problem.

The inclusion of the iPower meter device is a talking point, and if you are the kind of person who likes to play with gadgets then it is certainly worth installing into a drive bay at the front of a case. Just don't be expecting to read close to real results, as it proved highly inaccurate during our testing.

On a positive note the supply managed to deliver over 1,300 watts and did so without a problem, but there are some issues under the hood.

The Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W technically is a fairly good unit, although there are areas of weakness which mean it won't be winning one of our top awards today. Voltage regulation is decent for a 1,200w power supply although there is quite a drop on the +12V and +3.3V output, especially when tasked with an intensive cross loading test.

Noise/ripple suppression is below average, and we recorded 75mV on the +12V output at full load which while within rated tolerance parameters, is higher than we would like from such a high end unit.

Noise emissions are also higher than I would have expected. At full load, the large fan spins very fast which subsequently produces a significant level of noise. Granted, there will be few instances when you are pulling 1,200watts from the socket, but even at 800Watts, the Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W is clearly heard.

The balance of hard wired to modular cables also disappoints me. There are too many hardwired cables and moving some of these to the modular panel would have helped improve cable routing in a wider cross section of system builds.

Overall, we think this is definitely worthy of a shortlist, however with the Seasonic Platinum 1000W Modular, BeQuiet! Dark Pro 10 1200W and Corsair Professional Series AX1200i currently available it is difficult to wholeheartedly recommend.

Pricing in the UK is around the £230 inc vat mark. With the Corsair Professional Series AX1200i available for only £10 extra, we see no reason to buy the Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W. If it dropped to under £200 then it would make for a more viable purchasing decision.

Pros:

• Small physical size is practical.
• good build quality.
• delivered over 1,300watts
• iPower meter is a cool addition.

Cons:

• better units available for close to same price from Seasonic, Corsair and BeQuiet!
• can get noisy
• ripple suppression isn't the greatest.
• iPower readings are inaccurate.

Kitguru says: A decent power supply, but it is currently overpriced.

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