![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , June 12, 2007
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
OCZ 1000w Power Supply Duel
We take two very similar OCZ desktop power supplies and give them a through evaluation while getting to the bottom of just what is the true difference between the GameXStream and ProXStream line of PSUs from OCZ. Spend your cash wisely!
OCZ GameXStream 1010w
The first thing we are going to look at with the GameXStream 1010w is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a real make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing, and use more efficient.
The GameXStream packaging is only sparsely populated with information about the power supply inside. The majority of the information broken down in tables below was retrieved from the user manual. The box does provide the power label (though it is a bit confusing) and the fact that the unit carries a 3 year warranty. Certainly not the longest warranty we have seen to date but a longer warranty does not guarantee a better product as a manufacturer can slap a guarantee on the side of a box for the price of printing.
Interestingly while the OCZ website, literatures, and box constantly reference the unit as being multi-GPU ready there is no SLI or Crossfire certification to be found on the box itself. A quick check of the SLI Zone website reveals, at the time of writing, no certification for the 1010w model but one for the 700w model at the 8800GTS SLI level. Previously we have seen other power supplies be CrossFire not SLI certified so a quick check of the CrossFire page was in order and yielded that indeed the GameXStream 1010w is 2900XT Crossfire certified. While this discrepancy proves that NVIDIA’s SLI program is not the only game in town any longer, it ultimately is not of major importance to the user as a unit that will run a pair of 2900XT video cards in Crossfire will run a pair of 8800 video cards in SLI.
The power label for the OCZ GameXStream 1010w is perplexing and disappointing. On the perplexing side, in one section it calls for a maximum 12v current of 66A while just below it calls for a maximum current of 75A. This labeling is present on the box, and on the unit as well. If the GameXStream 1010w has 66A on the 12v rails that would give it ~78% of its output capacity there while if it has 75A it would be an even more impressive ~89% during testing we will see which of these two numbers is valid. On the disappointing side we something reminiscent of the recent Apevia and Xclio reviews where the units ripple is specified in the literature to exceed the ATX12v allowance of 120mV for the 12v rails and 50mV for the 3.3v/5v rails. As was pointed out in those reviews advertising the fact that a product violates specifications does not make it all ok. The GameXStream is based on the FSP Epsilon platform which has been plagued by noise/ripple issues in the higher powered units but recently we reviewed a 500w Epsilon based unit (the FSP BlueStormII) that was not plagued by this issue. Hopefully, the GameXStream has shed these issues as well and all the consternation over the labeling is for not.
Once the box is opened we find the power supply, the instruction manual, some screws, and the power cord. This all is very typical fare but the manual is informative.
External Build Quality
As we already know the GameXStream 1010w features a single 120mm fan design that has come to be the preferred standard for quiet cooling environments due to the ability to move a larger volume of air at slower speeds than a smaller diameter fan. While great for quiet computing environments the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, rather than its sound level or form factor.
The GameXStream 1010w is dressed in a slightly textured black offset by a frosted 120mm fan. The unit is by no means flashy but it does look good while being scratch resistant. On the label we see next to the 1010w in small print the rating of 75A for the combined 12v output. The rear of the GameXStream 1010w lacks a voltages selector switch, instead sporting a white sticker indicating the unit is full range. Also on the back we see the wire guard used to protect the wires as they exit the power supply housing a small inexpensive piece of insurance to add but one that is skipped by many companies.
The cables are ~20 inches long to the first or only connector. All the cables are sheathed in black mesh and protected by a plastic guard as they exit the power supply housing.
Internal Build Quality
Once the screws securing the fan to the rest of the housing are released we are greeted by the typically sparse interior of a FSP Epsilon based power supply. The 120mm fan used to cool this particular FSP built OCZ is a Protechnic Electric rated at 0.68A at 12v. The fan is mated with 3 heatsinks, two of which are ridged while the third is cut into “fingers” and bent to increase the surface area that will come into contact with the air stream being produced by the single overhead 120mm fan.
On the primary side there is a single large CapXon capacitor since the unit has APFC. The CapXon is rated at 470uF 420v 85c. While not the best capacitors out there we have seen a number of units with CapXon capacitors and they do seem to be a rather popular choice at the moment. Overall, I have not seen any large scale failures attributed to these as yet.
Over on the secondary we find it is populated with a mix of Teapo and CapXon capacitors. The standard Teapo capacitors disclaimer applies here as Teapos have gotten a bit of a bum rap when used in other electronics but when used in power supplies they seem to fair alright and are even used by some very expensive brands of power supplies.