Tuesday, 06 January 2009

Product Analysis:

The power supply is highly polished with a reflective surface, which gives it an elegant appeal. There are two LED fans (one of them is a green LED for impressive aesthetics) that cool the internal circuitry of the unit while also adding to the extravagant look of the power supply. OCZ is using a golden grill in the front for protection purposes. While all these features are ordinary, the left side of the power supply will excite many enthusiasts. The power slot is covered with a red warning label with the power switch at the top. You can also choose the voltage rating for the power supply by sliding the red button to either 115v or 230v.

Above the power switch are three LED lights and voltage adjustable knobs. The three LED lights represent a certain voltage rail - 3.3v, 5v, and 12v. OCZ has implemented three colors to indicate the performance stage of the power supply. When the LED light is green, it is noted that the adjusted output voltage is within the +/- 5 percent range. The yellow LED indicates that the adjusted output voltage is lower than - 5 percent range, and finally the red LED light displays the adjusted output voltage of the power supply to be higher than + 5 percent range.

Before we begin our discussion of the adjustable voltage knobs, we would like to point out that you should only adjust the voltage rails unless it's absolutely necessary. By being careless, you may very well damage your system's components. With the blue knobs, you can increase or decrease the voltage rails as you please. The 3.3v rail can be adjusted between 3.6v to 4.2v, the 5v rail can be adjusted between 5.8v to 6.3v, and the 12v rail can be adjusted between 14.0v to 17.0v. Without a doubt, these are power options for power users.

In order to protect users from over voltage settings, OCZ has over voltage protection features built-in with protection for short circuitry. Add these to the five year warranty and you have a remarkable product in the market that will allow users to experiement with their systems.

This is the back side of the power supply. Yet again we see the green LED fan for optimal heat dissipation. What you will notice is that this power supply does not have many ventilation holes on its sides. The only ventilation holes are on the back, front, and two on the right side. Although adding ventilation holes wouldn't make much of a difference as many computer cases cover the power supply altogether, but the clean design may come in handy for those with acrylic cases.

The insides of the power supply, although not shown, are also impressive in terms of what OCZ has to offer cooling wise. The PowerStream line of power supplies is equipped with two black heatsinks. They cover the circuitry of the power supply fairly well and aid in the overall heat dissipation of the unit.



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