There is a new trend that recently emerged in the world of power supplies, the wireless trend. Yes, the industry is moving towards reducing the unnecessary wires from the power supplies to better assist in system aesthetics and overall heat dissipation. Personally, this is one of the impressive, long awaited changes that have happened to power supplies in a long time. Agreeably, the power of the units increased and manufacturers paid close attention to noise, thermal and exterior aspects, but the annoying wires were left untouched. Thankfully, the power supply manufacturers have introduced something that will leave many users delighted. The modular design of the power supply allows you to disconnect/connect the leads according to system requirements. For example, if you only need four molex connectors, you can simply leave the additional connectors in its original packaging, in return, reducing the wire clutter inside the system.

Few weeks ago, we evaluated Ultra’s X-Connect Modular power supply, which left us with a great feeling. The unit looked more than impressive, housed matching cables and was rock solid throughout our testing. Not to mention that the design was a breeze to work with. Ultra was the first one to introduce modular power supplies and in a matter of days other manufacturers introduced their classics as well.

In this roundup, we have OCZ’s 450W and 520W ModStream modular power supplies for evaluation. Currently, OCZ only offers the aforementioned flavors of the units as far as power is concerned. OCZ has also done something different, although not unique, to make them rise above the rest, at least from a thermal standpoint. The ModStream line of power supplies is designed and built for enthusiasts with taste buds for UV lighting and effects.

Although this is a roundup of OCZ’s ModStream line of power supplies, we will only evaluate the 520W version throughout the analysis, as the difference between two editions is far to none. We will, however, include performance results for both versions. How well does OCZ’s ModStream line of power supplies stack up against its competition? Read on and find out…

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