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OCZ GameXStream 700W


Date
: 08/11/06 – 02:48:22 PM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
OCZ Technology Inc.

Price:
$159.99 (NewEgg.com)

The OCZ name has long since been synonymous with memory as they are a habitual leader in the RAM industry at the high-end, especially for overclockers. I have been spoiled by my share of OCZ memory and have not been disappointed by a single kit. OCZ not only markets their industry leading memory but also cooling products and power supplies. The OCZ PowerStream and ModStream series of power supplies have been favorites among modders and power users alike for a couple of years but nothing lasts forever.

The design of the PowerStream had remained consistent for the last couple of years and when more demanding hardware required a change in power supply design, OCZ decided to come out with a new Quad-Rail design known as the GameXStream. Coming in both 600W and a massive 700W model, the GameXStream line of power supplies is sure to handle the most demanding of needs.

Today I will get my hands on the 700W version of this new OCZ marvel and I figured that the only way to truly test an SLI -ready power supply that is designed for todays most demanding of setups was to have it power a monster of a setup for a solid two weeks flat with constant abuse thrown its way. Dive into the following pages to see how the OCZ GameXStream handles a 7900GTX SLI system.

Page 2 : Package

You don't expect it to show up in a clear plastic bag? Do you?

OCZ has never shied away from "active" packaging that has a touch of attention grabbing graphics on the box and the GameXStream is no different. The package immediately reminds me of the PowerStream and ModStream line of power supplies and the design indicates that the market this power supply is geared towards will require a nice package to take their hard earned dollars.

Front and center OCZ has the important features that the GameXStream power supplies pack inside and they proudly display some of those on the top panel alongside an image of the power supply.

The side panels continue the dark theme with the important branding logos of both OCZ and the GameXStream power supply. Based on the color of the package and the images seen thus-far, I think it is safe to say that the fan is going to have blue LEDs.

The package doesn't abandon the geek inside of us and does supply us with a table of the amperage and wattage breakdown of the power supply. A few more of the specifications listed somewhere on the package would never hurt but the important information is there.

The backside looks very bland with nothing more than a few short paragraphs of text outlying further features of the GameXStream.

A close up of the text provides all the information that one could get from the box if you had it in your hands. I appreciate the package coming in plastic wrap to ensure that buying new means buying new and not getting a power supply that has been "briefly tested".

Page 3 : Specifications

Power supplies are all about specifications. How much wattage is it capable of distributing? What is the amperage on the 12V rail? How many 12V rails are there? That last question is just a recent one that gets asked with power supply inquiries. The OCZ GameXStream has taken the route of many power supplies where more 12v rails are better and a total of 4 supply the power here.

OCZ states this on their web site and then goes on to list the specifications that we can see below:

The important information is readily available and right at the top a standard size of 5.9" x 5.5" is what this monster of a power supply comes cased in. Good news for those with small cases or limited room up top behind the power supply spot. The list of connections is good but how they are arranged is more important. The last of the information on this list indicates a maximum of 18A for each 12V rail. It sounds impressive but what happens if the video cards need more than 18A?

This second screenshot is more of a features list than specifications but the important information regarding the 3 year warranty is listed here. OCZ stands behind their products like no other company I know. I have heard many positive stories of an OCZ warranty situation and seldom ever hear any complaints. This warranty isn't just a sticker on the box, OCZ actually means it.

Cable Lengths:
as measured from the connector base to the PSU case.
1X 20/24 Pin Motherboard Connector
|——————22"
|——————>>

1X 4/8 Pin +12V CPU Connector
|——————21"
|——————>>

2X 3 X 4 Pin Molex Connectors + 1 X 4 Pin Floppy Power Connectors
|————19"—8"—-8"—-8"
|————>>—->>—->>—->

2X 3 X 5 Pin SATA Connectors
|————22"—9"—-9"
|————>>—->>—->>

2X 6 Pin PCI Express Connectors
|——————21"
|——————>>

Next up is a look at the power supply and its selection of cables.

Page 4 : Package Contents

There is only one way to find out what is inside.

Upon opening the lid we are greeted with a small manual sitting on the power supply inside which is wrapped in bubble wrap and not really protected in any other way. The cables are tucked into one end and everything appears to be nice and snug. The box is well made and the power supply seems to be well protected so I can't see any issues with a package like this. It is pretty much the same way the Ultra X-Finity gets shipped.

Aside from the small manual which basically covers the specifications and features of the power supply, we are also provided a small package of black screws for mounting the GameXStream and a power cord.

The only thing left to pull from the box is the power supply itself. As we saw in the specifications section, the GameXStream is not any larger than the standard ATX power supply so there is nothing really new or exciting about this power supply. The first thing we will look at is the jumble of cables at the end.

What appears to be a large mess of tangles actually turns out to be a very manageable amount of cables that provide every connection a power user would need.

The first cables I pull out are the 20/24-pin main ATX power connector, both of the 6-pin PCI-E connectors, and the single cable that looks like two providing 12v power to the CPU for both 4-pin P4 connectors and 8-pin EPS connections. The 20/24 pin and two 4-pin CPU connections split a few inches down but are sleeved and have clean ends like the PCI-E cables.

In the Specifications section I tried to outline the lengths of each cable and here are the photos to go along with that diagram. There is essentially 4 cables left to look at and they are simply duplicates of two single cables. Two consist of 6 SATA power connections as seen in the image above.

The other two cables consist of 3×4-pin molex connections and a floppy power connection on the end. This cable selection should provide any user enough power connections and the length allows the cables to reach anywhere in even the largest of cases. The sleaving is very nicely done on each cable and the heat shrink at the ends is neat and tidy. This is the type of cable setup I like to build with, it makes it very easy to manage cables.

The only thing left to look at is the power supply itself. The exterior is a very timid flat black finish with nothing fancy or unique to it. OCZ has done a good job offering these power supplies at a reasonable price and keeping it simple is one of the ways they have been able to accomplish this.

The sticker on the side provides all information about the power supply so even if it separates from the box or manual, the power supply will always be identifiable. The bottom left corner outlines the 12V rail distribution. It breaks down like this:

It appears that OCZ has given the 4-pin CPU connector its own rail along with one of the 6-pin PCI-E connectors and left the other 4-pin CPU connector to share a 12v rail with the other 6-pin PCI-E connection. This means that using an EPS equipped main board will result in one of the PCI-E connections to share that 12v rail. The MB connector and accessories will draw power from the last of the 12v rails. If using a single video card setup, be sure to use the connector labeled PCI-E 1.

The exit point from the power supply is super clean and will provide plenty of protection for the cables. I noticed on the Ultra power supplies that this junction was somewhat sloppy while this OCZ unit is very clean and looks perfect with no chance of the grommet coming loose or falling out.

The opposite end of the power supply is a honeycomb design that allows the single fan to simply push the air out the rear of the power supply housing. This design has become quite popular recently allowing for a single large fan to keep the unit cool but also very quiet. We can see the fan buried deep in the unit.

Flipped over we get to see the fan from the outside and can clearly see it protected by a grill. This choice of a single 120mm fan should provide near silent operation and the LEDs that are contained in that fan will add all the excitement that a power supply should provide to a case. I will now crack it open and see what the power supply looks like inside.

The outgoing cables are well organized on their way out of the power supply. The cables are all clean and the sleaving comes right inside to provide a polished clean finish to the exterior of the power supply. Immediately I noticed how spacious and empty this GameXStream seemed despite being so small, now I know why.

The single fan used is an LED one and its sole job is to keep air moving through the power supply. The fan is a ProTechnic Electric MGA12012HB-025. A quick search found this fan to be quite popular in power supplies and can run up to a rated 2500RPM producing 38dBa. Clearly the fan is a two wire, 12v fan rated to draw 0.45A.

Every power supply has to have a huge capacitor buried somewhere in the mess and the GameXStream is no different. CapXon is the manufacturer and the specs can be read in the photo. CapXon capacitors can be seen throughout the power supply.

The power comes in at this location and again, many zip-ties are used to keep the cables clean. I am assuming this small circuit board standing up is our active PFC element and you can see along the edge that the CapXon capacitors continue to be used throughout the power supply.

This overhead shows the small amount of hardware inside this power supply and the distinct lack of large heatsinks. I am not an electrical engineer so I will let the power supplies performance speak for its quality, not its size and weight.

Page 5 : Installation

I am not sure why I am really going to install the GameXStream into a case because the size is no different than a stock power supply, but the ability to manage cables is also something I like to check so at least a test fit is necessary.

I start off with a naked canvas, or in this case, an ATX motherboard, a hard drive, an optical drive, a large video card and everything else required for a juicy little system except for a power supply. My task is to take the finely sleeved cables of the OCZ GameXStream 700W and install them in there.

Naturally getting the power supply in is no problem and with the supplied screws the black stealth of the PinanFarina exterior is maintained. This case is so slick, look for the up coming review soon here at OverclockersOnline.com.

Like any good installer I tend to use the backside of the drive tower to disguise what can turn into quite a mess with cables. An un-used 5.25" bay at the top will also come in handy and to be used to cram with the remaining cables that the system won't be using.

The photos are speaking for themselves and we are at the point where the entire system is pretty much wired and the loose ends are being buttoned up. The plethora of cables were easy to manage on the OCZ GameXStream and even the 20/24 pin cable was soft and malleable. The length of the cables makes hiding them quite easy with a limited drive setup like this one.

The finished result is pretty much what I exacted without a ton of drives being used. The cables are easy to work with and the power supply will fit in any ATX case because it is the standard ATX size.

Nothing really screams clean install like the night time photo with the blue LEDs from the OCZ GameXStream providing the light for the photo. Now time to be put to work on the bench.

Page 6 : Performance & Testing

Every now and then one is presented with the task to test a 700W power supply from OCZ, the GameXStream, and the easiest and most conclusive way would be to run the power supply in a power hungry environment for an extended period of time and document the multiple rails throughout the testing period through use of a digital multi-meter.

Running the system 24/7 crunching for Rosetta will ensure reliable power and using this machine as a very competent bench marker on a constant basis will give the power supply everything it can handle. I will document in detail the voltages throughout given activities at the beginning, end, and during the testing period. Here is a detailed list of hardware that will be used for the testing period:

When getting idle readings I would shutdown all programs aside from essential Windows services and let the system idle like this for 3 hours before taking the readings with the digital multi-meter. The Rosetta load readings were taken after a minimum of 6 hours straight of crunching Rosetta at 100% on both cores. Finally, for 3D load testing I would either loop the 3DMark 06 Deep Freeze HDR test for 6 hours or if I had time, play F.E.A.R. on ridiculously high settings for a good 4 hours before taking the readings. We start with the 24-Pin motherboard connection readings.

24-Pin ATX Connector

Our first look at the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v2 rails show very solid readings throughout the two week torture test. The 3.3v and 5v rails show 0.2v variance at the greatest throughout the entire testing period. The 12v2 rail which also powers the accessories such as hard drives remained very strong through the two weeks only offering a drop on .05v at the most between idle and the heavy 3D gaming load. These changes are more than acceptable and could be chalked up to testing error they are that small.

4-Pin CPU Connector

The 4-Pin CPU connector gets its own 12v rail and the 12v1 rail that powers the CPU proved very strong only having a .06v gap between idle and full load. Keep in mind this is a heavily overclocked and over-volted X2 dual core processor. In two weeks not once did the system reboot or shut down unexpectedly.

6-Pin PCI-E Connector #1

The real test for the GameXStream 700W is the PCI-E rails as these powered two very large, power hungry video cards in BFG 7900GTXs. The chart at the top tells the story. Like the other rails there is a slight voltage drop from idle and full load, more over 3D load, but the drop is more than acceptable and over the two weeks of testing the gap doesn't increase nor do the values drop. This type of testing is in no way a conclusive reliability test for a power supply but does provide solid information about its abilities.

6-Pin PCI-E Connector #2

The second PCI-E connector provides similar results although this may have been different had the motherboard used an 8-Pin EPS connector for the CPU as the second 12v cables for the second 4-Pins are shared with the 6-Pin PCI-E #2 connector in the 12v2 rail.

4-Pin Molex Connector

The last of the rails to check was that of the 12v3 that not only powered the 24-Pin ATX connector but also the accessories such as 4-Pin Molex connections and SATA drive connections. I took these readings from the Molex connection supply the OS hard drive. The 12v rails show some flexibility but again the 5v and 3.3v rails hold very strong.

The only other comments I will make about the power supply are that the blue LED didn't really suit the power supply in my mind and I don't like LEDs on any of my hardware. Unfortunately the only way to disable the LED would be to open he power supply, voiding warranty in the process. I understand that the market on the whole does like the LEDs so I can respect the reason it is there. The fan that the lights are a part of does seem to only spin at one speed and while it is quiet it can still be heard. Perhaps a thermally controlled fan can bring it to a noiseless design in the future.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply was not OCZs first power supply offering and likely won't be the last but the GameXStream line did seem to improve on the high quality that their PowerStream and ModStream power supplies toughed despite coming from a different manufacturer this time around. The compact size and clean black finish give it a very un-assuming attitude. Installation is simple thanks to the soft yet moldable cables and excellent sleeve job.

During testing I never experienced any issues, reboots, blue-screens, or hang issues and throughout the entire two week period the computer only shut down and rebooted when I told it to. The power supply really did take a beating seeing sometimes up to 12 straight hours of 3Dmark 06 looping and every spare second for two weeks this machine crunched for Rosetta so it was always 100% loaded…always.

I think OCZ has another winner on its hands with the GameXStream as it has proven to stand up to the abuse and show no signs of slowing down any time soon. I will update this review with any comments after further use of the OCZ GameXStream 700W.

Advantages

Standard ATX size
Perfect cable length
Good cable selection
Rock stable power supply

Disadvantages

Blue LED can't de disabled without warranty being void
Fan is quiet but not silent

Overclockers Online would like to thank OCZ Technology for the GameXStream review sample.