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Ultra X3 Power Supply (1000w and 800w) Units Cooling is handled by a large 135mm fan mounted in the bottom of the Ultra X3. Larger fans move more air at lower RPMs which translates into lower operating temperatures and sound. Ultra claims their 135mm fan is a variable rate unit whose speed increases in relation to the temperature within the X3. No matter what the load or even when we closed off the intake fan area, the 135mm fan spun without ever disturbing us.
When it came time to check over the cables that
came with our two X3 PSUs, we were surprised to find that the cables we had
differed in length and number than those listed on Ultra's website.
Usually when you hear something along these lines, it means something bad.
No so here. The cables we had varied in length and connection type in
such a way that it was obvious that this was an intentional improvement with
the website not being updated yet.
Modular Cables
Here's an Indiana Jones snake pit for ya'.
This was something new for me. Ultra's Flex Force cables have me won over in a big way. Now the EZ-Grip connectors were absent which I'm not pleased about but the plastic coating of the power cables is flexible. Flexible as in it stays in the shape you bend it. The whole purpose of having modular cables on a PSU is so you can eliminate lines you don't need. This keeps your case looking neater while keeping air flow high. Putting modular cables with a 'bend and stay' type line is a match we haven't seen equaled since the Peanut Butter Cup.
Performance Testing both Ultra power supplies will be done by monitoring power output via mainboard sensors in addition to external measurement with a graphical multi-meter to ensure we are getting accurate readings. The use of the external multi-meter serves as an independent check that voltage measurements are accurate and more importantly, stable over time and under varying load conditions. Our testing will be done under idle and under variable load conditions in an 'average' real world environment. Load conditions being our doing some DVD back ups while running some batched Quake 4 benchmarks for extended sessions. Ambient room temperature during testing was 24' C. Test Bed
Conclusion As we have stated in the past, we wished we had a system worthy of pulling some major watts. Unfortunately an Intel Core2Quad with Quad SLI isn't in our financial future but a realistic rig that the average Joe Reader out there has is. Both the 800 and 1000w Ultra X3's showed themselves to operate within 2% of spec for the 3.3, 5 and 12volt lines for onboard sensors as well as our graphical multimeter. As far as the 12 volt and 5 volt lines we checked each and every connection and found near zero variance. Pricing at $300 and $200 for the 1000w and 800w X3 units respectively seems in line with the market right now and fairly priced. There is a lot of good things to say about the Ultra X3 power supplies aside from their accomplishing their primary duty of providing clean stable power. The Flex Force cables immediately come to mind. These are my new cables of choice without question or an equal even close elsewhere. We didn't have the EZ-Grip connectors which was a small disappointment but the Flex Force 'shape to fit' lines more than made up for that. One more thing about the lines is that Ultra gets a nice thumbs up for including a superior set of modular cables with a practical variety of lengths and connector types. Throw in near silent operation under load and the Ultra X3 is a winner. If you have an average or the low side of high end, stick with the 800 watt unit as the extra $100 for the extra watts may be for naught. But if you need a power supply with a full 1000 watts, you could do worse and probably no better than Ultra's X3 unit in a SLI or Crossfire Certified version. I almost forgot, Ultra Products backs up their gear with a Lifetime Warranty. Pros
Cons
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by R. Dean Barker.
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