Installation

The provided installation instructions (which was merely colour printouts stapled together for reviewers) are quite clear and to the point. We were not provided any screws or installation tools, which was a bit of an annoyance but no big deal as we have plenty spare here.

The above left picture is to illustrate how the cables are inserted. The finger-grip design makes installing and removing cables a piece of cake. I do suggest installing the PSU without the X-Cables first, but in some cases (small cases in particular) it may be easier to connect a few X-Cables before sliding in the PSU. The above right picture is a look at an installed setup. For comparison, below are before and after shots.

Before	After

Alright, so it may not look like much difference between the two, but that's more with my lazy wiring job. Up close and personal, the X-Cables are certainly a lot cleaner to look at, and before we forget, they are UV-ready.

Test Setup

MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R: Athlon 64 3200+ (10x200: 2GHz), 2 x 512MB Kingston HyperX PC4000, AIW Radeon 9600 XT, 120GB SATA Maxtor, Windows XP SP1, VIA Hyperion 4in1 drivers 4.51, ATI Catalyst 4.6

In addition to the above setup, a Koolance EXOS-Al will be running at Mode 3, three Sunon case fans running at full speed, and one MSI DR4 DVD will be ripping Matrix Revolutions to a secondary 120GB Western Digital SE attached as Master on the secondary IDE. Folding@Home will be running in the background as well. Voltages will be monitored with an ABRA DM-9700 multimeter.

Idle PC Performance @ 2GHz

	Multimeter Reading
+12	12.05
+3.3v	3.19
+5v	5.09

Load PC Performance @ 2GHz (Folding and Ripping)

	Multimeter Reading
+12	12.04
+3.3v	3.16
+5v	5.07

Idle PC Performance @ 2.15GHz

	Multimeter Reading
+12	12.05
+3.3v	3.18
+5v	5.07

Load PC Performance @ 2.15GHz (Folding and Ripping)

	Multimeter Reading
+12	12.01
+3.3v	3.11
+5v	5.02

Other than the slight sag on the +3.3V, the Ultra X-Connect holds up very well across the board. Though the test PC isn't running a four disk RAID or anything, the hardware setup does draw a fair amount of power. How does it fare against the Antec TrueControl 550W?

Load PC Performance @ 2.15GHz (Folding and Ripping)

	X-Connect	TrueControl
+12	12.01	12.03
+3.3v	3.11	3.09
+5v	5.02	5.01

The Antec does a little better on the +12V rail, but the X-Connect takes the cake across the other two. In all honestly, the differences are minimal.

Final Words

The Ultra X-Connect is one of the nicest looking power supplies to pass through our labs. Just being "nice" doesn't cut it though, and showing that it isn't all fluff, the X-Connect also performed brilliantly in our tests. The numbers are slightly better than our Antec TrueControl on the +3.3V and +5V rails but for all intents and purposes, very little difference.

In terms of customizations, nothing touches the X-Connect. The X-Cables are well built, and it's going to take a lot to do any damage to them if you're the type that constantly pulls power connections out for hardware upgrades. The UV glow is a nice touch, and compared to regular power cables, the winner is obvious in this beauty contest. I would like to see at least one, if not two SATA power cables included with a future revision as many enthusiasts are moving in that direction. I would also like to have a couple more point-to-point Molex cables in case a user doesn't need the Y-Type connection. Although I can appreciate how well built the cables are, they can be difficult to work with in small enclosures because they are not very flexible compared to unsleeved cables.

As for the power supply itself, we've already touched on the performance, which is on par with our previous favorite, and compared to most, the X-Connect is certainly very attractive to look at. That may seem superficial, but aesthetics are important to many people, and at least the X-Connect has the brawn to back up its beauty. The X-Connect is not very noisy when compared to other performance PSUs, but make no mistake... it isn't silent either. It is audible after some intense usage, but how much so will depend on how loud the rest of your setup is. Perhaps a built-in rheostat could be a nice addition in a future revision.

The only problem right now is availability. The MSRP is $129, and I was told that FrozenCPU, TCWO, and TigerDirect all carry this PSU. FrozenCPU are a good gang, so we certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. The also happen to carry the modular Antec we reviewed a while ago. I'm only mentioning this because of the price difference. The Antec is about $60 more expensive, and having used it, the Ultra X-Connect has it beat, hands down when it comes to being an attractive, modular PSU.

Pros: Excellent rail performance, smart design (modular), and UV sleeves are a nice touch. Solid and reliable.

Cons: Additional point-to-point Molex connections would be nice, no SATA connections, stiff cables.

Bottom Line: If you're looking to reduce cable clutter, a modular PSU is the way to go. The Ultra X-Connect is a sight to behold, and from the PSU to the cables themselves, everything screams quality. It also helps that the PSU itself provides plenty of reliable power as well.

If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.