Overclocker Cafe - OCZ GameXStream 700w PSU Review

OCZ GameXStream 700w Power Supply

All of the lines are sheathed with black shrink wrap at the end points as you can see below. Another very nice feature is the EZ-Grip Molex connectors. These are the only connectors to have on your PSU! One item that was unfortunately missing was that of modular cables. I've gotten pretty spoiled with only plugging lines in I need to keep cable clutter to a minimum. This was however, the only downside of the OCZ GameXStream we found.

A couple of quick notes here on some of the features that you don't see right off. The first is the Active PFC. Active PFC stands for active power factor correction. Basically, this keeps voltages strictly regulated within set limits making the overall efficiency of the power supply high.

Another is OCZ's PowerWhisper Technology. This is a fancy way of saying this unit is very quiet. While I didn't have a true decibel meter on hand to measure the sound level, I can tell you subjectively, it was virtually silent - as in, I could not hear it under power.

Performance

Testing methodology with the OCZ GameXStream was fairly straight forward. Abandoning the onboard BIOS sensors we shifted to a standard Multimeter to record power under load externally over a period of time to see how pure and stable the power delivery is.

Test Bed

AMD Athlon 4000+ (Clawhammer)

Kingwin AquaStar H2O Cooling Kit

Foxconn NF4SK8AA Mainboard

Albatron GeForce 7800 GTX

OCZ PC3200 Gold FX XTC 2GB Memory Kit

Maxtor DiamondMax 80gb SATA HDD

(2) Maxtor 200GB IDE HDD

Generic DVD-RW drive

Windows XP Pro SP2

Senfu Tech Station open case rack

Results

We retested the power manually every five minutes for one hour and in that time saw no fluctuation of power delivery under load. Our observations were straight forward.

Idle

Load

3.3v

3.34

3.35

5v

4.95

4.96

12v

12.15

12.18

Check out the soft glow of the blue LED 120mm fan. Just the right brightness, soft without being overpowering.

Conclusion

OCZ has done an excellent job with their new GameXStream power supply. 700 watts of stable power is lots of juice to power the most hungry of LAN rigs with practical features that keep the end user happy. What I thought especially nice was the shifting of connectors to be more current. The dual 6-pin PCI-E rails for SLi / CrossFire setups, while exceptionally nice, don't make this point by themselves. OCZ's shifting to six SATA connectors and the 20+4 / 4+4 main ATX power connectors really make the point that OCZ isn't just paying attention to the obvious but is truly changing to adapt to the end user's needs. Aesthetically, the flat black coloring and matching sheathed lines and shrink wrap really give off a clean and neat appearance. This is only amplified by the tactful soft blue of the 120mm blue LED fan. Our only dislike with the OCZ GameXStream was that it didn't have modular lines. But for all the features it does have and for a street price of $130, I can live without them. The OCZ GameXStream is most certainly a power supply for your short list on your next upgrade.

Pros

Stable power
700 watts
20+4 and 4+4 ATX power connectors
Six SATA connectors
Two separate rails for 6-pin PCI-E power
All cables sheathed and shrink wrapped at ends
EZ-Grip connectors
Nice line lengths
Active PFC
Super quiet operation
EMI Isolated Casing
120mm blue LED fan's light very soft (soothing)
Good pricing schedule

Cons

Lines not modular

BACK HOME