Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU

There were no issues with the installation of the PSU at all. I was curious about the cables during installation, and whether they would feel sturdy or not. These are definitely heavy duty cables, especially the 20-Pin motherboard one.

The cables fit securely in the PSU, very tight. All the cables are sturdy, but are able to be maneuvered easily. The Motherboard cable is the hardest to handle, since it’s very thick. The 4-Pin cables especially, though, were very easy to work with.

Overall, I had no issues with the installation, and I am very happy with the fit of everything. Of course, there are some things that could not be connected to the X-Connect, such as the system Fans and video card (Which required a 3-Pin). But it still looks pretty snazzy.

System tested: AMD 2600+ @ 2.2GHz, 1024MB DDR400, MSI KT4V, MSI Radeon 9800 Pro (420/380), 200GB * 2 WD, 160GB WD, Lite-On 8x DVD+RW, Phillips PSC724, D-Link NIC, 4 system Fans, excluding PSU and CPU.

Now to benchmark this puppy. To get the Idle figures, I booted up my computer, and left it there for 30 minutes, then got the information. For the normal use, I surfed the web, listened to music, did all the normal everyday stuff, including working on this review. To get the max load figures, I ran the Burn-In test on all the components, with SiSoft Sandra 2005. To be more CPU intensive, I ran Prime 95 at the same time. To add to the fun, I had a 4GB DVD image copying from one hard drive to another as well. The results follow:

It’s interesting to note that while the +3.3 and +5 are head on, the +12 is actually 0.60 above at max load. Even at idle and normal use it’s much above +12. As we see across the three figures though, is that it’s quite stable. It doesn’t zip from +12 to +12.60, it starts off at 12.50. During the review, I noticed that the +12V got to +13.13, which is high.. that’s almost 9% over the sense level. This could be that Motherboard Monitor is not reading it that accurately, but it’s still high regardless.

So how does the X-Connect sound? It’s not the quietest PSU out there, which is helped by it’s dual fans. However, it’s still not so loud that you wouldn’t be able to sleep in the same room as it, (I know, because I do it).