The unit
When we took the X3 1.6kW unit out of the box we realized how deceiving the packaging was. While the box was of identical size to the 600W-1kW X3 units, the 1.6kW unit is much larger and considerably heavier. This monster is nearly 25cm (10 inches) long, so you will need to check the space in the chassis and you may even need to relocate your optical drives or remove top exhaust fans. The steel chassis of the unit is painted with a dark grey highly reflective paint. The paint is prone to fingertip marks but it is quite resilient to scratches.
The X3 1.6kW unit is cooled by two fans, a large 135mm fan placed at the bottom of the unit and a smaller 80mm fan placed at the rear. At the rear you will also find a simple on/off rocker switch. The sides of the X3 1.6kW unit are perforated to aid the cooling of the unit, allowing some of the air that the 135mm fan intakes to escape from the sides of the unit. The front of the unit has plugs for the modular cables. Not a single cable is native, not even the 24pin ATX cable. The sticker with the specifications of the unit is attached at its top and although it is the same size found on every Ultra PSU, it appears tiny at the top of this behemoth.
Moving to the inside of the unit, we find the interior quite tidy and well organized. Despite its large size and single line circuit, there is little room between the many components. And despite the extreme power output, we feel that ultra have skimped on the heatsinks. However, due to the inclusion of two fans and the unit’s good efficency, the cooling should be sufficient but we suspect that the fans will be get loud as the power output increases. Much like the rest of the X3 series units, most of the capacitors in our unit come from Teapo, a popular capacitor manufacturer among PC PSU makers.
