Ultra X-Pro & X-Finity 800watt Power Supplies

Sagittaria - 2007-03-10 07:43:57 in Power Supplies
Category: Power Supplies
Reviewed by: Sagittaria   
Reviewed on: March 15, 2007
Manufacturer: Ultra
Provided by: Ultra
Price: $200 USD

Introduction:

Today's technology requires more power than ever, so this is where Ultra's X-Finity and X-Pro come in, with a monstrous 800 watts. Both are extremely heavy, with dual 80MM fans and AST technology, which continues to power your fans at a low speed even after turning off your computer - a nice feature! Both the X-Finity and X-Pro are just about identical, with the X-Finity being black and having unique Flex-Force cabling and the X-Pro, silver, with sleeved cables. Even better, they're both brushed aluminium!

You've probably heard of Ultra at one time or another. They are a US-based company who focus primarily on power supplies, which include some famous ones like the X-Connect - the first modular PSU! Some of their earlier products weren't up to scratch, but recently Ultra has taken a turn for the better! I have no doubt in my mind that these power supplies will not disappoint.

Closer Look (X-Pro):
First up is the X-Pro, which is the silver version with black sleeved cables.



It comes in a somewhat large box and the first thing I noticed is the huge life time warranty sticker on the opening. I doubt you'll ever have to worry about the unit failing!



Opening the box, I find the actual power supply, a rather thick power cable and a short manual.  A tiny thing I noticed is that they included an extra mounting screw, a nice touch! On to the unit itself.




The entire case is extremely thick brushed aluminum. This has got to be the toughest power supply I've ever layed eyes on! There are two 80mm fans on the front and rear sides of the unit, which intake from inside the case and expel outside. Please note the large warranty sticker on the side of the case. I highly suggest NOT to take apart the power supply - leave that to us so you will not waste your warranty! Not much I can say here, the pictures should do it justice.

Closer Look Continued (X-Pro):

Let's take a look at the specification sticker now.



As you can see, there are four 12V rails, something I'm not too pleased about. Thanks to intel, the ATX 12V 2.2 revision requires that a 12V rail shall not be greater than 20 amps for protection. Now we have to try and balance our rigs load across two and in this case, four rails. But this isn't much of an issue to most people, as most power supply manufacturers already have the connections balanced correctly. This only becomes an issue if your're running an ultra high-end rig with 8800GTXs.

The UL # is registered to Andyson Inc., an excellent manufacturer of PSUs.

Closer Look Continued (X-Finity):

Now for the X-Pro's counterpart, the X-Finity 800w.



The X-Finity is practically identical to the X-Pro. The only difference is that it's black and has Flex-Force connectors.



As seen, it has the same package as the X-Pro. It includes five standard hex screws, a thick power cable, manual, and the unit itself. Let's take a look!




The X-Finity has the same extremely strong build quality X-Pro. But one thing I noticed was how easily the black paint scratched off! Just taking pictures of the beast scratched the entire thing pretty badly. It is pretty evident in the above photos. You'll have to be careful with it unfortunately. But once again, it's virtually the same product.
Closer Look Continued (X-Finity):
Here's the specification sticker.



Again, It's basically the same as the X-Pro. The UL number E239028 is also registered to Andyson Inc..

The Flex-Force cables supposedly give you better airflow.



In my opinion, it doesn't do squat. If your power supply is already sleeved, then it won't make any kind of difference. As far as flexibility goes, the X-Pro's sleeved cables and the X-Finity's Flex-Force cables are about the same and it also looks sort of flashy. Seems almost silly to me. It's really up to you if you like the silver cables, as they don't really improve anything.

Closer Look Continued (Miscellaneous):
Let's take a look at the innards now! Please be warned, opening this or any power supply will void your warranty and is highly dangerous if you do not know what you're doing. If a capacitor is not discharged, it has the potential of seriously injuring or even killing you! Also, if you do not put it back together properly, you can fry your hardware! Please do not open your PSUs - I nor OCC are responsible for your actions and cannot be held liable for anything you may choose to do to your PSU. This is why we're here to do it for you instead!



The X-Pro is on the left, and the X-Finity is on the right. As you can see, they're both identical. The unit overall has an excellent build quality with a massive heatsink! However, it is not as cramped as I thought it would be, since both are extremely heavy. I can probably attribute that to the extremely thick case.



The next things I noticed were the PSU fans, which are not your everyday fans. They are smaller and thinner and as a result, will never push the amount of air that a full size 80mm fan can. But this isn't bad, as it already has two fans with an excellent heatsink - no big deal.
Closer Look Continued (Miscellaneous):
Here are the capacitors used in both PSUs.



Why is this important? The capacitors used in a particular PSU are extremely determinate in its performance. If you use junk caps, then you get junk performance. In this case, all of the caps used in both PSUs are manufactured by Teapo. Certainly not the best, but far from the worst as well.

Now for the connectors. I'm just going to use the X-Pros cables, since both the X-Finity and the X-Pro have the same amount of connectors.




There are only two PCI-E connectors, a bummer. For a high-end powerful PSU like these, I'd expect four PCI-E connectors for SLI'd 8800GTXs, which use two connections for each card. The motherboard connector is a solid 24pin connection - sorry 20pin users. But if you still use a 20pin,then you will probably never need this sort of PSU anyway. Now this is what bugged me - there are only four SATA power cables! I'd expect at least six from a PSU of this price range!



However, there are plenty of Molex connections - eight to be exact - divided on two cables. There are two floppy connectors as well.

Now here comes the cool stuff. What happens if you're running your precious computer which heats up quickly and you shut off your computer? Your components actually get hotter for a little bit before getting cooler due to the lack of flowing air. Ouch! This is where Ultra's after spin technology comes in. You can run up to two fans, one from your CPU and one case fan. Plug your CPU fan into the AST cable labeled CPU, then plug that cable into the motherboard. As for the case fan, simply plug it into the cable marked case AST; this does not plug into the motherboard. The case fan will be controlled by the PSU according to case temperatures. But this is the fun part. Turn off your computer and both fans along with the PSU will continue spinning at low RPMs! Be warned: if you are using a CPU fan that uses a four pin connector (Newer Intel Heatsinks), you will not be able to use this without modifications.

Finally, there is another cable which you can plug into your motherboard to monitor the power supply's fans. Cool stuff!
Closer Look Continued (Measurements):
Here are the measurements of the PSUs and its cables!

Power Supply Length
Ultra X-Pro & X-Finity 800W 18.5CM
PCP&C 750W 18CM
Etasis 850W 18CM
Apevia 680W Iceberg 16.75CM
Ultra X-Connect 500W 15.6CM
Generic 400W 14CM

Yep, you read that right. It's massive in comparison to other power supplies! Be sure to measure out 18.5CM and another 5CM for the cables (23.5CM) from the edge of the case to your optical drives. You might have some spacing issues.

As for the cables. All of them are about 50CM long from the PSU to the first connector. So the second connector on the SATA line will be 17CM away from the first. The Molexs and floppy connectors are spaced about 16CM away from each other. Should be plenty long for most cases.

Installation:
Well, installing a PSU is pretty easy. It took some muscle trying the squish the thing into my already packed case, but it did fit. Once again, make sure you have room!
 


All you have got to do is screw and hook up your connections. Easy!
Specifications:
X-Pro & X-Finity 800W
Output
AC INPUT
115V/230V 10A/6A 60/50Hz
MAX OUTPUT
CURRENT
+5V
+3.3V
+12V1
+12v2
+12v3
+12v4
-12V
+5VSB
30A
30A
20A
20A
20A
20A
0.5A
3A
800W
Max
Combined
Watts
160W
660W
6W
15W
780W
21 W
800W

Total Output Power:
800W (Full Load, Nominal Input Voltage)
Efficiency:
78% Typical at Full Load and Nominal Input Voltage

Input
AC Input Voltage: Automatic Full Range (100-240 VAC)
AC Input Frequency: 50-60Hz
AC Input Currents:
· 12A (RMS) at 115VAC input
· 8A (RMS) at 230VAC input

Connectors Available

1 - 20/24 Pin Motherboard Connector
8 - 4 Pin Molex Connectors
2 - 4 Pin Floppy Power Connectors
2 - PCI Express Connectors
4 - SATA Connectors
1 - 8 Pin EPS Connector / 1 - 4 Pin +12V Motherboard Connector
1 - AST Controlled CPU Fan Connector
2 - AST Thermo-controlled Chassis Fan Connector
1 - PSU Fan RPM monitor Connector

No surprise here - they both have the same specifications. On to the testing! Testing:
Testing Setup
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 @ 3.4ghz 1.5v
Motherboard: eVGA 680i SLI "BR"
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB @ 1100mhz 5-5-5-15 2.225V
Video Card: eVGA 8800GTS 640MB
Power Supply: Ultra X-Pro & X-Finity 800W
HDDs: Western Digital 2x80GB 8MB RAID-0
Media: NEC 3550A & Pioneer A06
Sound: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
Operating System: Windows XP SP2

Using this system, I will test idle (nothing running) and load (Every possible thing running). I decided to use ATI Tool's Scan for Artifacts Utility which puts the CPU, RAM, and GPU at load. Unfortunately, I can only measure the voltages using a multimeter as my motherboard does not have any reliable means to measure voltage while in Windows. I'll be using my trusty Etasis 850W as a benchmark, which is also in the same price range. So let's start!

Note: There was no significant difference between 12V rail voltages. I will just measure the 12V from the Molex rail.





The rails are pretty good; well within the specified tolerances. It ran everything I threw at it without a hitch.

Testing Continued


Noise
The fans in both PSUs are barely audible. They are dead silent even at load!

After Spin Technology
I love this feature! After turning off my computer, my CPU and fans continue to spin for exactly five minutes at very low RPMs. I feel more comfortable with this and foresee this technology becoming standard in the computer industry!

Stability
I ran both power supplies at full load, each for 3 days straight. Of course, nothing 'bad' happened, no voltage spikes, crashes, or any sort of problem. Nice!

Conclusion


These PSUs are simply awesome! They are extremely sturdy and heavy and just scream "monster"! It ran everything I threw at it without a hitch and the brushed aluminium gives it a great look. Both are silent and the AST was simply awesome! For the X-Pro, I loved the sleeved cables!

On the negative side, the black paint on the X-Finity scratches extremely easily, so watch out for that. In my opinion, the Flex-Force cables on the X-Finity didn't do much and looks silly to me. It would have been nice if Ultra could have incorporated more connectors, especially SATA and PCI-E! Also, if you have a four pin CPU fan connection, then you will not be able to use the AST. The length of the unit threw me off as well. Overall, good PSUs. 9/10!

Pros


Cons