Reliable power for your computer is most definitely one of the most important aspects of building a PC. You can have that fancy new top of the line processor with a brand new video card, but it is not going to do you any good at all if your system keeps restarting and locking up. Even if you do not have the latest and the greatest components, reliable power is still important. I don't know how many times I have solved a random rebooting problem or a lockup problem by simply installing a quality power supply.

Today we'll be looking at Ultra Products' 400W UV Reactive ATX Power Supply. It features such things as 400w total power, dual fan cooling, and a load of UV reactive goodies. So let's take a look.

Total Output Power
- 400W (Full Load, Nominal Input Voltage).

Efficiency
- 70% Typical at Full Load and Nominal Input Voltage.

Input
- AC Input Voltage: 115V/230V
- AC Input Frequency: 50–60Hz
- AC Input Current:
- 7.5.5A (RMS) for 115VAC input
- 4.5A (RMS) for 230VAC inp

Additional Features
- All ULTRA power supplies are equipped with dual ball-bearing fans for added reliability and virtually silent cooling.
- Supports Pentium 4 and AMD CPU's
- Low Acoustic Noise
- Meets ATX Version 2.03 and ATX 12V Version 1.1 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 Approved

Ultra 400W UV Reactive ATX Power Supply
Looking at the picture on the front of the box you are instantly shown that this is not your normal looking power supply. The Ultra 400w UV power supply has three large green UV reactive windows on the top, and both sides. The top features a green UV reactive fan with a standard wire grill.

The back of the power supply has another 80mm green UV reactive fan with the standard wire grill. Next to that is the power connector, voltage switch (115v or 230v) and right on the bottom is the power switch.

One thing I have not mentioned yet is the finish on the body of the power supply. Ultra seemed to have gone all out with the black finish. It definitely does not look like a standard spray painted finish. It looks exactly like the powder coated finish on the case I have it installed in. It is immaculate, definitely the classiest finish I have seen on a power supply yet.

The Ultra 400w power supply has a total of eight large 4-pin power connectors and 2 small 4-pin connectors. These are split up into two lines, each with four large and one small. Personally, on a 400w power supply I would have liked to have seen this split into three lines, each with three to four large connectors. You will definitely want to check if you will be able to cable your system the way you want with this line setup. You may need to purchase extra splitters (which will look out of place).

The reason the power splitters would look out of place is because of the cables used in the power supply. Gone are the regular red, yellow and black cables. Replacing them are green, pink and silver. Now you may be wondering how this is going to look, well the colors are not solid, but semitransparent showing the silver wires underneath so it makes for an interesting effect. All of the cables also glow blue under ultraviolet light. To add to the already large amount of UV-reactive goodies are the power connectors themselves. These are green colored under normal conditions, but once the ultraviolet lights are turn on they all glow a bright green color.

The Ultra 400W power supply is designed to supply 380w of power to the positive leads (+3.3, +5, +12), with the remaining 20w being supplied to the negative leads. One thing to note is the fact that the Ultra 400W UV power supply supplies its power at an efficiency rating of 70%. This basically means that 70% of the power it draws is being converted into power that is used by your computer, with the rest being converted into such things as heat. Just keep in mind that 30% of the power is being wasted, it just doesn't sound all that effective does it?

Max Output Current	+ 3.3V	+ 5V	+ 12V	- 12V	- 5V	- 5VSB
	21A	37A	18A	0.6A	0.6A	2.0A
Max Combined Wattage	190W		216W	7.2W	3W	10W
	380W			20W

Test Setup
ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe: AMD 1700+ @ 12.5x170, 2x 512 MB Corsairs PC4000, FIC Radeon 9600, Seagate 200GB SATA, Seagate 120GB, Windows XP Pro SP1.

Also connected to the power supply during testing was: ASUS 52x32x52x CDRW, Pioneer DVDROM, Nexus Fan Controller, 3-120mm fans, 2-80mm fans, 3-UV Cold cathode lights, Leadtek TV-Capture card.

All testing was done at two points: system idling with fans on low, system under full load with fans on high. Measurements were taken using a digital multimeter.

	+ 3.3V	+ 5V	+ 12V
System Idling (Fans Low)	3.369V	5.12V	12.28V
System Loaded (Fans High)	3.361V	5.08V	12.44V

In my eyes, the Ultra 400W UV power supply did an excellent job. It only dipped 0.008 on the 3.3v line between the idle and load. It did drop a bit more on the 5v line, dropping 0.04 volts; this is still a very small dip. The one result that really surprised me was the 12v rail, the voltage actually increased between the idle and load testing, increasing by 0.16v. The really important thing to note though is that the Ultra 400W UV power supply supplied the full specified voltages under all testing conditions, no extreme power dips were evident and the system was fully stable.

Conclusions
Ultra have definitely introduced an interesting power supply to say the least. It is extremely flashy. Windows are everywhere and there are more UV goodies than I thought naturally possible. Everything in this package either glows lights up or shines. The thing that really got me about this setup though is that everything is executed perfectly. The finish on the power supply came to me unscratched, with no blunders what so ever and it did not scratch during the install. The windows were the same, no scratches or marks. The windows were seated well into their respective positions. The fans were mounted securely minimizing vibrations. This power supply definitely had the image of quality.

Image is not everything though. I have seen many things that look awesome on the outside, but are not so nice once you start using them. The Ultra 400W UV power supply is definitely not such a product. It not only looks good, but has the performance to back it up. Under my test bed the Ultra power supply supplied consistent power both under load and at idle. All voltages were all above the specified voltage under all conditions.

The Ultra Power Supply handled my test bed excellently under full load. I had no problems with any of my devices during testing. I did not really have all that much stuff in the case, as I did not have a 5 hard drive raid array and a dual processor machine. I would say that I did have the same if not more that what most would have. Noise levels on the power supply were slightly louder than average. My other power supply (Thermaltake 420W) also has a dual fan system and is quieter than the Ultra 400W power supply. I would like to see fans that either were thermally controlled or had an external control to adjust the noise levels.

Pros: Everything is UV reactive, excellent finish, stable power readings

Cons: Only 2 lines of power connectors, slightly loud

Overall: The Ultra 400W UV is an excellent PSU; it provided reliable power to my system and had a lot of visual appeal. I would have liked to see another power line and have the fans slightly quieter.

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