Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU

[gumba]

I have one myself. the titanium one looks nice and works well for me. I to am running 64bit athlon. Got 2 optical drives, 2 Raptor hard drives as well as 1 120 mm fan and 2 80 mm fans and 5900xt videocard all running off my ultra x-connect. runs fine, no more than fine this is the most stable system I have ever owned.

 

[OrangeParktech]

I have had mine since november. I dont see how it is cheaply made, nor how it is loud. I have a winchester overclocked to 2.6Ghz with Video, TV Tuner card, 2 SATA hard drives, 2 CD Rom Burner drives, floppy, about 5 case fans, and 4 black lights in my case.My rails are as follows:

3.3 = 3.3
+5 = 5.08
+12 = 12.02

These are constant numbers verified in Bios/Core Center. Ive owned Antec and Enlight PSU's, and im telling you, it doesnt get much better than these numbers.

My only guess is that the majority of posters in this thread do not, nor have ever seen, an X-Connect PSU other than in pictures.

There is 0, "zero", no, problem with this PSU.

 

[Gamingphreek]

The Ultra is entry level falshy PSU. Basically a better Thermaltake.

One thing that i think really stinks about it is all the rails are driven off of one line. Mid Range PSU (Antec, Enermax) have at least two seperate lines, High End PSU's (OCZ and PCP&C) have a line for each and every single cable.

-Kevin

 

[jonnyGURU]

I grow weary of empty arguments.

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
The Ultra is entry level falshy PSU. Basically a better Thermaltake.

Entry level is Deer, PowMax, Allied and the such. I'd at least say mid level like Thermaltake, AOpen, Enlight, etc. You don't get "continuous power" and 34A 12V rails on entry level power supplies. Also, I'd move OCZ over with Antec and Enermax on your list and leave PCP&C out there by itself. I can't even believe you're trying to make a comparison there.

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
One thing that i think really stinks about it is all the rails are driven off of one line. Mid Range PSU (Antec, Enermax) have at least two seperate lines, High End PSU's (OCZ and PCP&C) have a line for each and every single cable.

Multiple cables that all lead to the same spot on the PSU's circuit board and move current through circuitry that has a lower overall amperage capability than the wires themselves. Good point there. :roll: Ever wonder why a motherboard has multiple interfaces for voltage? Because traces have more resistance than wires, so multiple traces and connectors closer to their destination provide better power. That's why six layer PCB's was always a big deal when the first Athlons and then the first Opteron's came out. Thinner layers = thinner traces = more resistance. Fortunately, traces in a power supply are wider and thicker in guage and are shorter in length than those on a motherboard, so the power delivery to the wires is pretty accurate.

Your typical 14AWG (I believe that what the power supply is using) wire is capable of 2400A at 12V if your cable is 2 feet long (longer than most power supply wiring.) So I think you're safe.

Besides, ever put a file server case together? The old school variety came with one single four wire lead that ran down the back of all of the drives. Even if you only had a four drive RAID5, you could easily be pulling 60W on startup on that single wire. Not a problem, right? The newer cases, like a SuperMicro with hot swappable drives in the front and a single backplane interface, supports ALL EIGHT DRIVES on a single power connector! That's potentially 120W on startup on a single power connector that's going to be even LESS capable due to the added resistance of the Molex connector and the traces of the backplane card!

 

[Gamingphreek]

No Deer Allied are generic. Im talking Entry level, Generic is crap not even fit for entry. I will compromise and say that the Ultra and the Thermaltake as well as the Antec and Enermax are various levels of mid range. But highend OCZ is there. No doubt, do you see any other PSU setting world records? The OCZ 520 second powerful in the line powered a prescott to >6ghz... World Record. I would say PCP&C and Zippy have an edge on it with superior voltage regulation but OCZ is definately not mid range.

Im not sure what you meant by the second part i do not know A LOT about electrical engineering, i only have a basic grasp on electricty and currents and what not. I do know that having all the rails driven off of one line is a signal of cheap construction, and weakness.

-Kevin

 

[jonnyGURU]

World records, eh? Now, don't get me wrong. I like the OCZ, but the 520 has horrible power factor and rails that are difficult to get closer to 12V's even with their external POT's adjustment dials. And it's 12V amperage capability is no greater than a PCP&C and only two amps greater than Ultra's.

As for your response to the second part of my post, which you didn't understand in the first place.... Having one point where all of your power is delivered is not a sign of cheapness. It's just a different way of accomplishing the same task. You look at ANY power supply and you'll find that eventually all of the power leads go to the same source, what's the point? You're reducing resistance by about .001 Ohm's maybe?

Also, the way the cables all meet on the same interface on the X-Connect is just a inherent "limitation" of it's modular design. If you open up a regular Ultra 500W non X-Connect power supply (just so we're comparing apples to apples,) you'll find that the power supply is identical in every way except for all of the wires go to the PCB instead of an "interface rail" (I don't know what else to call that thing that all of the modular cables plug into.) So because the 500W non X-Connect has 7 12V wires, 9 5V wires, 6 3.3V wires, etc. soldered straight to the PCB instead of to a second PCB only two inches away, you would say that makes it better than it's cousin X-Connect: a supposedly cheaper made power supply? And you'd feel better if the X-Connect did the same even though all of the wires would have to intersect the modular cable's "interface rail" even though it would be uselessly redundant? Ok.... Sure.

Think of it this way. The X-Connects wires all terminate to the block where all of the modular cables plug in (the part I called the "interface rail.") Imagine that interface is on the main PCB instead of a seperate PCB mounted to the shell of the PSU. Now that you think of it that way, how is that power supply different in this respect than any other power supply out there? Other than the 8 or 10 2" long wire that gets the juice up from the PSU's main PCB to the "interface rail", what's really the difference? And the point I was trying to make is that I'd rather have one 2" long 14AWG wire carry 34A of 12V to it's destination on the "interface rail" than 2" of traces moving through hot components on the PSU's PCB.

The way I interpret what YOU'RE saying is that the Ultra X-Connect would be better quality if they used more materials, that would serve no-purpose but to restrict airflow further. When I put it that way, do you see why I won't let your "argument" die?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Thanks for the explanation! Ill learn from it

As for the OCZ. It has awesome Power Factor considering it is only passive PFC. On the international models it has active PFC so it is as good as any out there. Also its efficiency is right behind Seasonic. It peaks at 81 IIRC. Still a far cry from the Antec Phantoms like 91 but still very good puts it amongst the highest efficiency PSUs out there.

I do agree with you on the rails. I think that they should have it within +=1% until it gives a green light.

That is why i said that the PCP&C is a bit better as it has tighter rails, i just didn't think about power factor.

-Kevin

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well... I don't think about Power Factor either. I don't know if it was in this thread or another, but I think somewhere I might have said something along the lines of "I don't have to pay the electric bill for commercial mains in Europe, so I could give a crap about PFC."

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
I grow weary of empty arguments.

Your typical 14AWG (I believe that what the power supply is using) wire is capable of 2400A at 12V if your cable is 2 feet long (longer than most power supply wiring.) So I think you're safe.

Err, that's 28.8 kilowatts of DC power there. On one 14AWG wire? I don't think so, I think you forgot a decimal point somewhere or something. (Most PSUs tend to use 16/18 AWG too, don't they? I wish they would use 14AWG.) Car jumper cables handle less DC amps @ 12V, and they generally have much bigger cables and insulation than a PC PSU does.

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Besides, ever put a file server case together? The old school variety came with one single four wire lead that ran down the back of all of the drives. Even if you only had a four drive RAID5, you could easily be pulling 60W on startup on that single wire. Not a problem, right? The newer cases, like a SuperMicro with hot swappable drives in the front and a single backplane interface, supports ALL EIGHT DRIVES on a single power connector! That's potentially 120W on startup on a single power connector that's going to be even LESS capable due to the added resistance of the Molex connector and the traces of the backplane card!

That's still a lot less than 28kW.

 

[jonnyGURU]

New math. Maybe that supposed to be 240A. I did the math with an Ohm's Law calculator. And I think you're right about the gauge of wire. I just looked at one and it's marked "16AWG." But if you measure the resistance for a single 16 gauge wire, you'll still find it's overkill for the entire load of a 500 or 600W power supply, so it's a moot point.

As for the jumper cable analogy... TRUE, BUT look at the hot lead coming off a 100A alternator. Often a single 12 or 14AWG wire that runs two to three feet. That's a lot of juice for a single wire (some cars do use two hot wires, but still....!) Jumper cables tend to be larger gauge for the same reason the cable to the starter is around 6 or 8AWG. When you're cranking a car over, you can easily pull 600 or more amps. That IS more than a power supply. If you're just RUNNING a car, even with all of it's accessories on, with jumper cables, yeah.. That IS overkill.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

1.21 GIGAWATTS?!... 1.21 gigawatts?...Great Scott!

What the hell is a gigawatt?