Date: June 20th, 2007
Article by: Mike Carter (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Ultra
<--SHOP FOR A ULTRA X3 1000WATT SLI READY MODULAR POWER SUPPLY HERE
PRODUCT PICTORAL AND WALKTHROUGH
The first thing most people will notice is the finish on the PSU. Clad in what Ultra calls their Titanium finish, the X3 is a high gloss beauty, just begging for a windowed case to shine through. The housing is on the long side, though, and may cause troubles installing in smaller cases. Just something to bear in mind. I would have to remove my Kandalf's top mounted ports to install the X3.
The next thing we'll be looking at is the business end. Unlike most modular PSU's which have a permanently connected 12v motherboard connector, Ultra has made all of the connectors modular. In another nice touch, the connectors correspond to their intended use; each type of connector is a different shape, so you can only plug the proper connector in to the proper jack.
Cables are aplenty, as listed in the specs above. Whether you have a rig with lots of SATA peripherals, or a cool-running gaming machine with tons of fans, you'll not find a shortage of connectors here. Running down the list, you'll find:
One 24 pin motherboard connector. This is something to keep in mind while shopping, if you have an older motherboard, as I am using for this test. There is no provision for 20 pin motherboards, so plan on picking up an adapter if you need one.
One 8 pin and one 4 pin 12v motherboard connector.
Four 6-pin PCI Express connectors
Two 8-pin PCI Express connectors for newer, high-powered vid cards
