Tests
OCZ GameXStream 850W

We did not have high hopes for the performance of this power supply going into the test. After all, it has only one transformer for 4 +12V rails, relatively miniscule heatsinks, and is much smaller than its competition. Don’t get us wrong, we had confidence that the unit was going to perform fairly well by the shear virtue that it is really an FSP Group product, and those have garnered quite a nice reputation for being serious performers. We were also very interested to see how noisy (or quiet for that matter) the power supply was while operating.


The results here are not too surprising. It is clear that there is a large amount of fluctuation across the rails under different loading scenarios, and that the numbers themselves are a bit higher than the optimal target values. While the fluctuation recorded is far more dramatic than in any other power supply we tested, at no point did the voltages spike above or below the accepted values. The magnitude of the fluctuation itself is also far from what is considered problematic. This is all pretty much expected from a unit that taps most of its 850W from a single transformer. You can see how the +12V rails are affected by this when the system is subjected to maximum load.

Antec TruePower Quattro 850W

Plugging the TPQ850 into the computer was actually very simple. Our previous remarks about the unit’s cable deficiency turned out to be unfounded. One string of SATA connectors sufficed for the hard drives in the system, while two strings of MOLEX connectors were more than enough for all of the optical drives, cooler control modules, and cooling fans. The cables on the TPQ850 are also plenty long enough to reach even the top-most drive bay of a full-sized ATX case (when the PSU is located at the bottom, that is).


We were very interested to discover that the TPQ850 did not seem to get excessively hot at any point during testing. Furthermore, the unit stayed rather quiet – or at least less quiet than the disgustingly loud fans around it – for the duration of the test. Performance wise, the TPQ850 does fairly well. We would have liked to see an adjustable potentiometer for the +3.3V rail in this scenario because it was a little bit lower than we would have liked. We also noticed that two of the +12V rails fluctuated rather a lot from changing the loading conditions. The magnitude of fluctuation here is nowhere close to unacceptable, and not once did the voltage across any rail drop or spike to out-of-spec levels. The fluctuation observed on this unit is slightly less than with the GXS850, but we stress that both units perform well here. The biggest story of the day for the TPQ850 lies in the power consumption numbers vs. the GXS850. The TPQ850 consumes significantly less power than the GXS850 at all loading conditions. The difference here is not huge, but it is worth noting and is a testament to the 80 Plus efficiency certification carried by the unit from Antec.