- Date:
- Wednesday, November 12, 2008
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Share:

OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro Power Supply
700 watt power supplies are easy to build right? Not really. These “middle of the road” units not only have to put out a lot of quality power, but are probably the most exposed to pricing competition when it comes to big power. We put the screws to the new OCZ ModXStream.
Conclusions
The OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro is the fourth power supply from OCZ we have had the opportunity to review, and the first that is not a 1000+ watt unit. So far with OCZ units we have had two award winners and one FSP Epsilon based unit which failed. Today however, OCZ has tossed us a power supply that is lower in capacity, 700 watts, and modular with a price point that is sure to please most users. So with a new OEM (Sirtec) and a new model line that is sitting in a power output level that, to date, has been dominated in our testing by the highly variable FSP Epsilon based offerings OCZ had a real softball to crank out of the park. So was OCZ able to hit a home run or did it strike out in the 700w-750w range?
HardOCP’s testing methodology is intended to very much push power supplies to their advertised wattage rating in temperatures that will represent some of the hottest computer enthusiast cases. So if a unit passes all our testing it is definitely not something to take lightly. In fact we expect more power supplies to fail our testing than make it through unscathed.
Build Quality
Externally the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro is a fairly subdued semi-modular design that looks good. The unit has a nice finish, well sleeved cables, good quality modular cables, and a large overhead fan. However, once we open the unit we find that OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro looks very much like a cheap group regulated unit. This is further compounded by the fact that the unit has some questionable component selections in the mystery "Rec" capacitors. Good capacitors only add slightly to the total cost of a unit so why even something along the lines of Samxon or at the very least Teapo was excluded from this build is bewildering. Further, the unit only features a 3 year warranty and with questionable capacitors this is hardly reassuring. Also related here is the unit’s "documentation." The documentation that came with the unit is simply a waste of time. This fact is punctuated by the power distribution table at the back of the manual was never actually finished by whomever was annotating it. The only upside to all of this is most of the information about the unit is printed on the packaging, but still sans a correct power distribution table as these are genuinely useful. They are especially useful when units do not follow the ATX12v specification or EPS specification for 12v power distribution such as this unit.
Load Testing
For a group regulated power supply the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro’s load testing results weren't half bad, until it stopped working; twice. The unit had good voltage regulation at both AC input voltages and showed a peak change of just 0.16v on the 12v rails while the minor rails showed less than a 0.09v change. With a group regulated unit that is being heavily 12v loaded we would expect the voltage regulation to be worse than this given our experiences with other units on the market. However, as with the Sigma SP-700 which is a FSP Epsilon based group regulated design this unit most likely had good voltage regulation in spite of its design due to the fact that the 12v capacity is sufficiently low as to require a 5v and/or 3.3v load of high enough capacity in order to pass using a load tester. Obviously, for an end user this kind voltage regulation scheme is not ideal but it is cheap. In the remaining load testing we found that while the unit was capable of 80% of its rated capacity at 45c, since it passed the Torture Test! 100% load at 45c was simply a bridge too far as both of our review units failed this test in similar manner.
DC Output Quality
For the tests the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro would complete its DC Output Quality was acceptable. Acceptable, however does not win you awards, especially when you cannot complete testing. The peak values of ~70mV on the 12v rails and 35mV on the 5v rail during Test #3 and the Torture Test are very reminiscent of the types of results we have seen from the other most commonly reviewed group regulated design the FSP Epsilon. This isn't to say all group regulated designs are noisy, rather it seems a side effect of the majority simply being cheap designs that are built for a price point not performance as some units (such as the BFG LS Series) have excellent DC Output Quality that rival the best (and more expensive) independently regulated designs on the market. The bottom line is, if you expect an in specification performance from this unit you will get it through 80% load, but don't expect anything magical like what we saw with the BFG LS series.
Noise
The OCZ ModXStream 700w for the most part struck a good balance between noise and cooling. The unit never exceeded an exhaust temperature of 57c as the fan produced a fairly stiff breeze from the rear of the unit at all times. Indeed, the airflow was so great at lower load levels that this unit took longer to equilibrate at 45c in the incubator than any unit in recent memory. However, once it did and the clock was started the unit remained very cool and quiet; until the Torture Test. During the Torture Test both units began to produce a slight vibrating sound that at first I thought was due to the air diverter. However, once the unit was out of the incubator the sound seemed to be coming from the fan hub itself. The real caveat to all of this is of course that we have simply no idea how loud the unit is at full load as it failed to complete a full load test. Through 75% though, this was certainly an acceptably quiet unit for the majority of users.
Paul's Thoughts:
Unlike a lot of reviews where an item is farmed out for review I actually asked for this power supply when I saw it was coming out because I had just reviewed three bad to only barely-acceptable 700w units. However, as we now know this unit was far from good and there are a lot of points I could comment on, but I want to focus on two partially intertwined topics in particular. When I opened the package with the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro and found a test report from PC Power & Cooling certifying this unit at full load I instantly thought I had a winner. Until, of course, I actually gutted the unit and found the very questionable "Rec" capacitors. Unknown origin capacitors with a PC Power & Cooling stamp of approval seem like an odd marriage that I simply do not understand. Good quality capacitors add very little to the BOM so why OCZ/Sirtec has decided to cut corners here is simply beyond me. Now, while I did not actually have a capacitor failure in this unit given the short time period of testing (just 14 hours) it turned out that PC Power & Cooling test report was not worth a whole lot as I had two units fail to pass testing and over time I would be very concerned about this component selection given the prominent history of dodgy capacitors in power supplies and motherboards alike.
From these experiences today, and discussions with PC Power & Cooling founder Doug Dodson, it became clear to me that OCZ units are not held to the same standards as PC Power & Cooling products as I was told about this OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro in particular "It's not a PC Power & Cooling unit it is an OCZ unit" and "OCZ's thing is more consumer oriented and designed for room temperature conditions." On one hand, I do fully understand the need for product differentiation and product segmentation in the marketplace from OCZ/PC Power & Cooling's perspective but after working with the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro I am fully disappointed in this product. More importantly, I am disappointed in OCZ/PC Power & Cooling for the inclusion of the PC Power & Cooling generated test report with this unit. If OCZ units are not going to be held to the same standard as PC Power & Cooling fine (it is in my opinion a bad business decision to put out an inferior product though) but at the very least don't include a “PC Power & Cooling” branded hallmark item to bolster this unit as at the very least it seems to imply PC Power & Cooling quality in a unit that is far from it. However, instead of worrying about whether or not to include a PC Power & Cooling test report, OCZ could just improve the quality of the OCZ branded OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro to match that of a PC power & Cooling product so this would not be an issue.
The Bottom Line
While we had high hopes for the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro given OCZ's decent track record and the unusually low standards that other 700w units have set forth in our testing to date the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro hardly lived up to its “Pro” moniker. The unit’s build quality was decent but the component selection was certainly questionable and in the end the unit was unable to complete our testing at full power. As such at $104.99 (after MIR) the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro simply cannot be recommended, especially in light of the fact that its PC Power & Cooling stablemate, the Silencer 750 Quad, can be had for $104.99 (after MIR) and actually does perform well in our testing. In the end the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro is just another in a long line of 700 watt victims in our testing regiment.
Update - 11/13/2008: A Chinese speaking reader pointed us to the company that builds the capacitors found on the PSU. Transcend Electorlytic Co. in Shenzhen. (http://www.trec-con.com/) My browser identifies Malware on that page so I did not hotlink it. Even with the find of the company, TREC unknown to us.
Discussion
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