by Matthew Harris on February 1, 2007 in Cases & PSUs
So, you’re on a budget and shopping for a new power supply. You want a decent wattage and a modular cable setup but don’t have much to spend? There are a few choices that might suit you, today we look at an offering from Ultra and see if it has what it takes to garner your hard earned dollars.
Ultra has been around for a few years now. They basically invented the modular PSU for mass consumption with their X-Connect line of power supplies and have not rested on their laurels since. Today they have offerings from the uber budget 350W to the uber PSU with their upcoming 2000W and everything in between from the mild to the wild.
Today I’m taking a look at a milder offering, the XVS 600W modular budget PSU. The XVS 600 is a no-frills unit. It doesn’t have Ultra’s signature modular connections nor does it support SLI. Instead the modular connections are of the molex variety but I’m getting ahead of myself. First let’s take a look and see what Ultra has to say about the XVS 600:
All New X-Connect® V-Series (XVS)
Never before has so many features been bundled together and offered at such a great value. Our new XVS power supply combines durability and high-performance with a quiet 120MM cooling fan and Ultra’s patented modular interface. All of the cables are Ultra’s exclusive FlexForce design, offering unparalleled ease of use. Because users only plug in the cables they need and can easily route cables underneath and behind components, the airflow inside the chassis can be improved by 30%!
Modular Design
Use only the cables you need!
No need to clutter up your computer with useless cables. This not only increases airflow within your case, but it gives the inside of your case a clean professional look.
120mm Cooling Fan
Low noise 120mm fan will maximize airflow through the power supply as well as keep the noise level of your pc down.
Flex-Force Technology
FlexForce Cables are designed to be easily routed and hidden within your case while increasing the airflow.
Power Protection
- Short Circuit Protection
- In-Rush Current Protection
- Thermal Overload Cutoff Protection
- All the power protection you’ll need!
What is FlexForce?
- Manageable – FlexForce Cables are designed to be easily routed and hidden within your case.
- Increased Airflow – Special design promotes easy cable management and 30% better airflow than ordinary cables by easily routing cable under the motherboard, behind drive bays, etc.
- Design – Cables are dressed in a sleek looking titanium like finish.
Output
AC INPUT
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115V/230V 10A/6A 60/50Hz
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+5V
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+3.3V
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+12V
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-5V
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-12V
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+5VSB
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32A
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26A
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35A
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0.6A
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0.6A
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2A
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600W
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180W
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420W
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3W
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7.2W
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10W
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580W
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20W
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600W
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Total Output Power:
600W (Full Load, Nominal Input Voltage)
Efficiency:
78% Typical at Full Load and Nominal Input Voltage
Input
AC Input Voltage: 115V/230V
AC Input Frequency: 50-60Hz
AC Input Currents:
· 10A (RMS) for 115VAC input
· 6A (RMS) for 230VAC input
Additional Features
- Supports AMD and Intel Motherboards
- Low Acoustic Noise
- 120mm Fan
- Meets ATX Version 2.03, and
ATX 12V Version 1.2 Specifications
- Short Circuit Protection
- In-Rush Current Protection
- Thermal Overload Cutoff Protection
- MTBF > 100,000 Hours at Full Load,
110VAC and 25°C Ambient Condition
- FCC and UL Recognized
As you can see there’s just a single 12V rail rather than the usual dual rails. More and more PSU manufacturers are moving to larger single 12V designs despite the Intel 240VA recommendation towards multi rail designs. Personally I like this move towards a large 12V rail rather than mincing the rail into bite-sized portions. If you’ve got a PC that doesn’t need 18A going to PCI-e graphics cards but uses 25A on start up to spin up an insane amount of hard drives a single rail design has you covered. That said the XVS has a rather modest 35A 12V rail but for a mid range PC 35A is more than enough.
The box for the XVS 600 is pretty large and lists the various features and benefits of the unit. Not just in English but in French as well so our northern cousins will not be left out in the cold (no pun intended).
Inside the box is the PSU, manual, cables, power cord and screws. The cables are black rather than the titanium finish that Ultra lists on their site. No matter though they are of the Flex-Force variety and are still great for hiding out of sight in your PC case with some forethought when installing everything.
There are 6 – 4 pin molex, 2 – SATA, 1 – 4 pin floppy, 1 – 6 pin PCI-e 1 – 4 pin ATX 12V and a 20 + 4 pin ATX power cable. The 20 + 4 and 4 pin 12V ATX cable are hard wired into the PSU, the rest though are modular. The modular connections aren’t the typical ones found on the X-Connect and X-2 instead they’re terminated with a molex on the end (male) and plug into a female molex mounted in the body of the PSU.