Ultra x-connect 500 watt modular psu

[Ckleijne]

In you local Fry's newspaper...89.99 - 20.00 rebate =69.99
Are these psu's any good?

 

[uwannawhat]

Damn Fry's AGAIN!!!!

Arrrghhh..

About the PSU. You either love 'em or hate 'em.

They got mixed reviews on release. Those who actually have/own/use them say they are very nice & most have paid well over the $70 AR.

Personally I like the concept alot, though I don't have one. But for $70 bones after the rebate I'd love to check one out.

 

[olds]

No

 

[Mucker]

Originally posted by: uwannawhat
Damn Fry's AGAIN!!!!

Arrrghhh..

About the PSU. You either love 'em or hate 'em.

They got mixed reviews on release. Those who actually have/own/use them say they are very nice & most have paid well over the $70 AR.

Personally I like the concept alot, though I don't have one. But for $70 bones after the rebate I'd love to check one out.

I "actually had/owned/used" one. And I also "actually returned it". I got it at fry's when it was $49.99. Wasn't my cup of tea. It's plenty slick looking enough but 2 very important things turned me off, wacky voltages and noise. Alot of people like them and that is cool, I'm just not one of them. Hopefully, Ultra will listen up to what people are complaining about and come up with version 2 improvements....

m

 

[Sandersann]

I hate Fry's... since there are none in VA

Down with Fry's

 

[imported_Bleh]

I have an Ultra Ps and I have no problems with the voltages.

 

[Ckleijne]

Could you explain a little more what you meant about the voltage being wacked
Thanx

 

[Mucker]

Be glad to elaborate, remember, this is my experience only. As I said, many people are happy with them.

Problems for me:

1. Very noisy compared to my Antec True 380s and my Antec 550 True control. The Ultra's tiny heat sinks need alot of air movement and that menas only one thing, more noise.

2. The voltages were way off:

12.71 on the 12v
3.68 on the 3.3v
5.12 on the 5v

3. The plug ends are fat. The 4 pin ATX power plug was flexing DIMM1 and a capacitor on my Abit IC7. A little tight on my 9800 Pro too.

I wanted to like the PSU alot because the modular cabling is great, however, its' shortcomings didn't impress me. I got it brand new factory sealed for $50 plus tax when Fry's was running a deal. I promptly returned it. Some people like them alot and that's great, it just wasn't my cup of tea.........

Good review here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article193-page1.html

I'd take this dual 12v rail one over the Ultra: http://www.electroseller.com/M...A/R&Category_Code=_fsp
It's not modular but I have heard that modular designs can be problematic because of bad connections at the plug. Ever had a bad headphone plug that looked perfectly normal?

Review here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article212-page1.html

m

 

[TheLizardMan]

Ultra X-Connect power supplies are a pile of junk.

If you wana buy it, then buy it and good luck. But if you have any sense at all, you will look else where. www.pcpowerandcooling.com has some nice quiet series power supplies. they are not 500watts, but for what 50% of you guys will use your computer for, they will hold up just fine and be more stable than the x-connect. pc power and cooling also has GREAT power supplies, but they are upwards of $180 or so.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Mucker
Be glad to elaborate, remember, this is my experience only. As I said, many people are happy with them.
Problems for me:
1. Very noisy compared to my Antec True 380s and my Antec 550 True control. The Ultra's tiny heat sinks need alot of air movement and that menas only one thing, more noise.
2. The voltages were way off:
12.71 on the 12v
3.68 on the 3.3v
5.12 on the 5v

Interesting info, thanks. The tiny heatsinks alone would be enough for me not to choose one of those PSUs, especially for the premium price that they are sold for. I wanted to ask about those voltages though, in the interest of fairness, were those measured with a DVM, or by the mobo's monitoring chip? Those can often be a bit off, in fact I've swapped/upgraded a PSU in the past on a board where all of the readings were a bit low, and after installing another better PSU, the readings were the same, and all low. My conclusion was that the readings were simply off on the low end, and I should have checked with a DVM before upgrading. (It was a new build, and there weren't any apparent problems, but I didn't want the PSU to be overtaxed and fail prematurely on the client.)

 

[Mucker]

I did not meter check it, but using the 3 different PSU's I mentioned above, the 2 Antecs and the Ultra, both the Antecs were spot on target on my Asus P4P800. The Ultra (as well as the Antecs) may have been lower than what Asus told me but the difference in voltages was blatantly clear to me. I probably got a bad unit, but coming right out of the factory like that with QC stickers saying A-OK raises a red flag for me..........

m

 

[Idleuser]

HMm strange, even though i didn't use a volt meter my numbers are all within spec of +/- 2% according to corecenter. My computer is more than overclocked and running 2.5ghz on water, with 4 hd 1 optical drive, 6800gt, raid controller card. Here's a picture. http://img.photobucket.com/alb...d3rman/overclocked.jpg

Btw, I heard of those PC Power & Cooling making whining noise and are loud... bottom line... dont believe everything you read until you try it out yourself.

 

[Mucker]

Your numbers look great Idle :thumbsup:

I think it is very important to look for a PSU with good sinks inside. Not only will they dissipate heat better, but will run quieter and and be more power efficient......

Fabricated metal is not cheap, and some manufacturers choose to cut costs by going with small sinks. Big mistake IMO....


m