Ultra is widely recognized as the originator of the modular power supply. In fact, I remember owning their first, the Ultra X-Connect. In the meantime, power supply wattage's and technologies have changed wildly. The brand-new (as in just released this morning) Ultra X4 1050W power supply is here in my lab-how does it live up to the progenitor? I am happy to be the first to bring you a review of Ultra's 1050W X4.
Clearly, things have changed in the time since the first modular power supply. ATX 2.1 and 2.2 spec have brought such changes as the EPS12V connector (that's your eight pin motherboard,) six and eight pin PCI-E connectors, and of course the twenty-four pin ATX connector is now standard. In addition, line voltage and amperage has changed, as we draw less on certain lines and far more on others-the 3.3v was often an afterthought back in the Socket A days, but now, with lower voltages across the board, it's used (among other things) to directly feed the memory, a role the 5v formerly held.
Where am I going with all this? It's explanation of how things have changed, and it's guiding us to testing criteria. Cases are a large part aesthetics, a decent part mechanics and some for engineering. Power supplies are pretty much all engineering. If it looks good, bonus points. Because while a case is certainly not necessary, a power supply is, and a poor one will destroy your PC.
Ultra has graced us with this piece of circuitry designed to run your system, and we agreed to thrash it senseless in the aims of making sure this piece of kit is worthy of your machine. So, with some ado, and a bit of nonsense, here we go.
The PSU itself is standard ATX size, sporting a 135mm fan for intake, and exhausting through the back mesh. The front of the PSU, as it appears when installed in a case, sports the modular connectors-and there are a LOT of them. ATX, P4, EPS12V, 6xPCI-E, and a TON of Molex/Berg/SATA connectors, and even a pair of fan connectors (9/2/11, for an exact count.)
The package also contains thumb screws, a silicone anti-vibration gasket (handy, and a very nice touch,) a cable carrying bag, and black zip ties. Everything you need to hook up and use your power supply, as well as tame its wiring and shut it up is included. Ultra is going the extra mile with providing accessories, and believe me, it's stuff you'll use, not stuff that looks cool and gets tossed in a drawer somewhere.
In the cable carrying bag, you find the wall cable (it's a standard thickness, I would have preferred a heavier gauge cable, as comes with some other high wattage power supplies) and all the power cables for the power supply. The ATX/P4/EPS12V/PCI-E cables are all of a length, that length being 24 inches. The braiding on the cables is kinda skimpy, and it bunches up and has to be pushed along the cable to get it to stretch to fit. Honestly, the sleeving job is rather low-quality, but I inspected the cables further. The wiring is heavier gauge, the ends are perfectly crimped and soldered, the connectors are absolutely secure-the issue is aesthetic, and no more. I wanted to see something like either the X-flex or the X-connect braided cables, but the real deal here is that the cable construction, on every cable I picked up, was impecable. No loose Molex pins, no wiggly connectors, no evidence anywhere that there was any skimping on anything but the braiding. And if you ask me, if you're gonna skimp, do it there. Braiding is a pretty, nice add on that will never cause a PSU failure, but skimping anywhere else normally results in tears.
The clip for the ATX braid, however, was weak, and picking up the PSU by the clip could dislodge it. That could be a system-killer, there. I do work inside my PCs after they're built, and if I dislodged that, buh-bye hard work. I'll be securing mine with a drop or two of hot glue, but consider yourself forewarned-it can happen, though it doesn't happen every time. The notch for the ATX clip just isn't deep enough. All the other cables are snug and secure, and the ATX has absolutely no issue with fitting in or making electrical contact.
With the outside mostly covered, we need to know what's going on INSIDE the PSU, and for that I have a few tests devised. While we can quote figure that, number this all day, the real test of a power supply is to attach it to something ridiculous and see if it works still.
A physical description of the inside is in order. There are some rather beefy heatsinks, painted black (why I'll never know,) and some pretty blasted gigantic caps. I can't get a name off the caps through the fan, and Ultra won't, of course, honor my warranty if I tear it to bits. Strange thing is that I can't get any markings whatsoever on the largest cap-its top is scored like a Sanyo Os-Con but there are no maker's marks on anything I can see. The PCB is black, and there seems to be no excess solder (this description was garnered for you with an LED book lamp, a dental mirror, and a fair bit of swearing.)
Another clue to the insides is the sticker on the PSU itself. The line amperages are all listed on the sticker, and from there we can start to work.
We have 30A on the +5V, 24A on the +3.3V (remember the story I told you?) 76A on the +12V, 0.5A on the -12V and 3A on the +5VSB. All that adds up theoretically to 1050W, yes. But, there's always more to the story. I wasn't satisfied with this description, so I went hunting.
First place I found more info was the box itself, which has the Ultra X4 listed as 80 Plus Bronze certified-a hefty certification. Well, I hit the 80 Plus website, and found an Ultra X4 1200W listed as 80 Plus Bronze. This isn't a 1200W, but I bet I know what happened. It's a common thing to either rebrand a power supply to a lower spec, or change a few items on a common platform to lower overall development costs. Even though it sounds bad, actually, it's not a bad thing at all-rebranding normally only happens on stable, proven platforms. It's also not the same thing as video cards-I can still plug in and test a power supply to make sure it hits its amperage. They take a rated PSU, change practically nothing, and rebrand it as a lower wattage to get a better certification. This means that the PSU operates closer to prime operating specs for longer life and higher efficiency.
At full tilt boogie, this puppy was fully capable of 1200W, which means that the 1050 IS technically Gold certified (if I read correctly.) They chose to underrate the PSU for the certification purposes, but the graphs I have here show the ability to push some SERIOUS power with low ripple. Good show Ultra!
The test system here is designed to mimic many user systems out there, and consists of:
NZXT Lexa S
MSI P6N Diamond
2x1GB Corsair Dominator PC6400
Hitachi Deskstar single-platter 250GB
LG DVD-RW
and a revolving door of video cards, as you'll soon understand.
First impressions when installed in a system? I can't hear it. Excellent sign.
3850 first run
3850 second run
The first runs were with one of my test card, an ASUS HD3850 256MB. I loaded up the latest version of OCCT for real-world volt measuring. Oscilloscopes are the baseline for everything, however, I'm not made of money-so we're going to work with software tools and multiple samples. I understand it's not ideal, but in the real world, where we all live, little is. When I ran the PSU test, what I got was amazing. The 12V line had 0 fluctuation in back-to-back tests. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Yes, I had to run multiple tests to prove it to myself. The 5V had less than 1%, and the 3.3v had 1.86%, however the lowest it ever got was 3.38, which is still plenty strong. The load placed on here by OCCT is in excess of what most users will place, so these numbers are even more spectacular in real-world usage.
4870x2 results
Not content with this, I pulled the 3850 and popped in one of my 4870x2s. All the tests turned out the same. That's getting more impressive. We've crossed the line from mainstream into hardcore user mode, with an extremely power hungry board, and a very high-draw dual GPU card. Even so, across all three tests all numbers are pretty much exactly the same. They basically read just like my PCP&C PSU's bill of health when I received it. Great stuff.
So, how do I feel about it so far? Well, once again, that's complex. I'll address this in a multi-part breakdown.
Power: 5/5. At least. There has to be a higher number I can use. This is a downrated 1200W PSU, and it shows. It oozes overkill. Poking around with a flashlight and mirror yielded a lot of interesting stuff, all good. Clean PCB, big sinks, great fan. Everything in place to make another solid, stable PSU worthy of Ultra's name.
Quality: 3/5. What's going on here? Simply put, I'm rather upset about the cables. If it were a well done sleeving, I'd give it a 4/5. I owned both an X-Connect and an XVS. I liked the X-connect's cables much more. I've seen what Ultra is capable of. This sleeving is the wrong size, not that high of quality, improperly used, and basically looks like an amateur job. It almost disguises the fact that the cables themselves are electrically practically perfect. The quality of the rest of the build is impeccable, but the cables are a major letdown. Short and low quality sleeving does a lot to hurt impressions. Add to that the fact that the ATX braid tried to walk off on me a few times before I got it wedged just right and that's a point for each. Maybe Ultra will offer cable upgrade kits like they did for the X-connect.
Value: 4/5. It's almost perfect-but at 1050W, it should have another set of PCI-E for powering folding systems or Quad SLi/QuadFire. You have the power, it's clean and usable-please give it to me. Other than that, and the sleeving, it's an incredible piece of kit. The power it provides is stellar. The pricing is reasonable, at least as an MSRP, and believe me-if it has the cables you need, you won't hurt this thing. It'll outlive you and your system quite possibly.
Innovation: 5/5. They didn't reinvent the wheel-though they did retread it, rebalance it, sand off the rough spots and polish it out real nice. It's not an attempt to revolutionize everything-it's a perfectly logical evolution in the power supply industry and a perfectly capable successor to the Ultra line.
Geek Factor: 5/5. It's a 1050W power supply, and it's able to hold well over that. It's big, black, weighs a lot, and could totally squoosh a spider. It's also brand new to the market, and we all love being first.
Overall score? 4/5. I'd hit it harder for the cables, but there is nothing wrong electrically with any of them-just the aesthetics. There is NO problem with the power from this, and a cosmetic thing isn't worth more than a point. However, especially if you don't mind redoing some sleeving, this is one of the strongest power supplies to ever cross my desk. I can without reservation recommend it as a power supply able to handle anything. I can also recommend it as a perfect project for those who like to sleeve things. It needs it. Ultra might have not gotten the cable sleeving to my liking, but they still hit the ball out of the park.
This still gets my "Must Have Tech" recommendation. I call them as I see it-and I see this as a perfect PSU for quite a few people. Those people being modders, at least if they visit this site often. It's not every day we get offered a power supply that can do the job and still look awesome, usually we have to choose or go get the power tools. Sleeving, eh, but most of us want to sleeve them ourselves anyway, so there's no real issue there. If you need a PSU, go grab one. Or two, one for spiders.
Be sure to check out the official press release we covered at the TBCS News Desk.
Banner Artwork By Slaveofconvention
|
