A few months ago we looked at our first Ultra product, the Ultra Xconnect PSU. The quality of the unit came as a complete surprise to us considering we’d never heard of Ultra before that point. Since then we’ve looked at a few other Ultra components, such as MP3 players and Cases and each time we’ve come away impressed. Today we have an updated model of the X-Connect in for testing. Essentially it’s the same internal components and performance as the older model so we will only be summarising the new PSU design here. We recommend that you read the full Ultra X-Connect review for detailed information on the unit.

Packaging

The box design has changed slightly from the original unit we reviewed, this helps illustrate the new features of the PSU. The new design box is actually a lot nicer/more professional than the original and further enhances the feeling of quality.

On the rear of the box you can find detailed information on what’s included on the cable front as well as the specifications of the PSU.
As before there is a smaller box within the main box, this keeps hold of the PSU cables and manual, it also shows the contents should you ever need to check what you have.

The PSU

The new design Ultra Xconnect focuses on two features. The first is the windowed casing and the second is UV capability.

In the previous model we had a solid titanium finish and if you wanted your UV cables to work you had to buy a UV kit. With the new model the fan which sits under the ultra grill is UV sensitive and has a UV light attached to it. The exhaust fan is also UV sensitive and picks up the light from the 1st fan. So even if you don’t have the UV kit you get some UV light leaving the PSU and being picked up on your Xconnect cables.

As for the internal layout other than the addition of the UV light the PSU is exactly the same as the previous model, which is no bad thing!

As you can see from the above picture the PSU has heatsinks where required and there is plenty of room for air to circulate around the components. With the lid on the Fan sits within a few millimetres of the components which is beneficial to cooling, you can see how close the components are, and how tidy the unit is in the following picture…

As we mentioned earlier in the article there is an added UV light in the PSU, for you case modders out there this PSU is an essential purchase, the effect it has on the system is gorgeous, here’s how our unit looks with the lights off…

Conclusion:
We have shown the titanium PSU with blue UV in this article, ultra also offer a wide range of configurations such as Blue case with orange lighting and you can see the full range on Ultras site at www.ultraproducts.com Whilst you are there you will also notice an advert for their up to $50 rebate. Any customer who buys an Ultra PSU and sends in their old Antec PSU can receive a rebate… seems like a good selling point to me. Check out the site for details.

When we reviewed the original model we noted that there was no SATA power cable in the bundle, we also noted that Ultra intended to send out a free SATA cable to customers who required one. This has taken place – some great customer service there, additionally the new model includes the SATA cable (with connectors for 2 drives) in the bundle as standard. What’s not included yet is a PCI express 6-pin power connector. Ultra have let us know that the 6-pin connector will be available soon and we wouldn’t be surprised if its free for existing customers, just like the SATA cable was.

As we mentioned in the introduction of this update the new model Xconnect performs exactly the same as the older design. For those of you that didn’t read the original article we noted that our Ultra PSU matched the Antec 550p and in some areas exceeded it. The test system has changed since the last review, we are now using components such as the new Radeon X850 XTPE and Geforce 6800 Series, but even so this supply has been flawless in its performance. Voltages remained stable at all times and we never once suffered a crash related to power (or lack of it). Of all the Ultra Xconnect samples we have had on our test bench build quality has been first class. The unit is very solid and really feels like it will last.

The Ultra Xconnect 500w PSU is a truly great product which has been further enhanced by the new design.

 

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