OCZ ModStream 520W PSU Author: JonnyGuru Date Posted:06/04/2005 12:52.05 SLRating: Bottom Line: OCZ started out as a performance memory company. When they came out with power supplies JonnyGuru was sceptical but at just over $100, it's probably the best power you can get for the money. Article Navigation Introduction First Impressions Label and Specifications Results and Conclusions Pages: 1 2 3 4 Discuss This Article

First Impressions

The OCZ Modstream has a nice look to it.  One fan with blue LED's, stainless steel braided cables with UV reactive jackets and blue ends.  A very nice looking power supply.  Of course, it also had... What kind of finish boys and girls?  That's right... A TITANIUM finish.

Modular cables are like a combination of the best and worst of all three modular power supplies we've reviewed.

I was a little disappointed with the modular cables.  This, and the quantity of cables (I'll touch on that later) is what's holding this power supply back from scoring a 10.  The ends are like the A.C. Ryan or Mad Dog.  Regular connectors with heat shrink about 1/2 inch from the back of the Molex so we can see all of the wires.  The X-Connect has me spoiled, but I guess Ultra has the market cornered on plastic Molex covers.  On the power supply end of the cables, we have what made me NOT like the X-Connect modular cables:  Regular 4-pin Molexes.  Although they "shouldn't" come loose, I've already heard it and apparently they do.  The A.C. Ryan and Mad Dog power supplies use connectors with clips on them.  Then there's the cables themselves: Stiff.  And the 24-pin power connector was short in length and VERY stiff.

Here's the ends of the modular cables that would plug into your motherboard and drives.  Note the two piece 20/24-pin ATX connector.

The modular interface for the OCZ uses spade terminals. This adds a little more resistance than soldered on connectors, but clearly there would be no issue with shorting given the jackets over each spade.

Inside we see a whole lot of Topower goodness.  Note the large black heat sinks.

Despite being an "OCZ" "520W" made by "Topower," the ModStream is very different from the PowerStream 520W.

On the left, the ModStream.  On the right, the PowerStream.  It's clear that the ModStream is not a PowerStream with modular cables.

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Article Navigation Introduction First Impressions Label and Specifications Results and Conclusions

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