Ultra Products X-Pro ULT-XF800S (800W)

Ultra Products has already been represented in our earlier reviews. For this review it offers an 800W PSU with a rather queer exterior:

Its case is made from aluminum and it is cooled with two 80mm fans. It is not the only PSU to have this type of case ?the aluminum boom has affected many industries, including power supplies ?but such models are still rare in our reviews.

The PSU features a push-pull cooling design with one fan sucking air into the case and another exhausting it. There are vent holes near the first fan for some air to pass through because the performance of the intake fan is lower here than that of the exhaust fan.

The heatsinks are impressively large, yet their design is somewhat disappointing. I had expected the aluminum case to be used to dissipate heat as well (thanks to its excellent heat conductivity) but it proves to be a purely decorative element. None of the PSU components has thermal contact with the case. The PSU is cooled only by the stream of air passing through it.

The PSU has a dual-transformer design. This is about all you can see behind the massive heatsinks that occupy almost all of the top part of the case.

With a max output power of 780W, the allowable load on the +12V rail, divided into four ?virtual?output lines, is 660W or 55A.

The PSU offers the following cables and connectors:

• Mainboard cable with a 20+4-pin connector (49cm)
• CPU cable with a 4+4-pin connector (48cm)
• Two graphics card cables with 6-pin connectors and ferrite filters (48cm)
• Two cables with four Molex connectors and one FDD mini-plug on each (45+15+15+15+15cm)
• Two cables with two SATA power connectors on each (48+15cm)
• Tachometer cable of one of the PSU fans to be connected to the mainboard
• Cable with a 3-pin connector for a system fan
• Cable with a 3-pin connector for a CPU fan and another connector that transfer the signal from this fan?s tachometer to the mainboard

The idea to connect the CPU fan via the power supply may look odd, yet it is not without a reason. Having shut down, the PSU is still powering the attached fans from the standby source for a few minutes more to additionally cool your system components. On the other hand, it is better to control the CPU fan with the mainboard?s tools, so you may want to limit yourself to connecting only your system fans to the PSU (up to two fans).

Each cable is sleeved.