Twizted has a new review up of the ULTRA X3 1000watt Power Supply. This slick shinny power supply features not only the modular plug-in system that made ULTRA famous among modders but can boast high efficiency with watts to burn!

Check it out here.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gizmo Twizted has a new review up of the ULTRA X3 1000watt Power Supply. This slick shinny power supply features not only the modular plug-in system that made ULTRA famous among modders but can boast high efficiency with watts to burn! Check it out here.

I saw these PSU's and wondered how good they were.
I know the 1600 was a hefty price tag...and has the power capability of a small nuclear power plant...as well as the ability to make my electric meter look like a damn frisbee in the glass...lol
Its good to see Ultra listening to the people and picking up on the quality of their product.

I was glad to see that someone actually puts one of these through a real stress test....
So many of the reviews on these were done with computers that barely were capable of testing the limits of the psu to see how it handles...
Although I dont think that the test system you used was a quad core 6800 overclocked with two 8800 ultras in sli....

You did take the time to hook up several systems and run two at the same time from the same PSU...which really puts the load on the system.
More so then anyone has done to date.

This is the standard for all the reviews out there.

Way to go Twizted on setting the bar higher for everyone else. + rep to ya

Peace
Digi

Both reviews have the same title on the front page! Just thought someone might like to know.

Yeah... I was almost ready to pass out when I was preparing that image, tired from a long day, so I missed that.. Its fixed now.. Bet that made ppl say WTF..

Thanks Digi.. I knew I would have to do something to stress this PSU... Just one system was not going to cut it... Thus the reason for the harness and the setups.. I actually would have liked to have gotten some bigger systems on it to really put a hurt on this unit but alas I had to go with what I had available at the time... In hind sight I probably could have done more, and if the opportunity presents itself again I will... I am already preemptively preparing some things for Lokie and I to use in the future...

Quote: Originally Posted by Twizted Yeah... I was almost ready to pass out when I was preparing that image, tired from a long day, so I missed that.. Its fixed now.. Bet that made ppl say WTF.. Thanks Digi.. I knew I would have to do something to stress this PSU... Just one system was not going to cut it... Thus the reason for the harness and the setups.. I actually would have liked to have gotten some bigger systems on it to really put a hurt on this unit but alas I had to go with what I had available at the time... In hind sight I probably could have done more, and if the opportunity presents itself again I will... I am already preemptively preparing some things for Lokie and I to use in the future...

Well, hate to say it but you must have been tired when you wrote the review. Not to be too critical, but your math skills need some polishing.

You wrote:

"...I also had the multi-meter running on the 12V rail and you can see with the added fans it caused even more of a ripple on the 12V rail bringing it down as much 0.3 from the base voltage originally measured at 12.15V, not very stable in the eyes of some power users but 5% +/- is generally considered stable."


First, since the original +12V voltage was 12.15V, and the stressed +12V voltage is shown to be 12.12V .... 12/15 - 12.12 = 0.03V, NOT 0.3V as you state in your review. The fact that at a tad over half its rated output it only lost 0.03V on the +12V rail means it is VERY stable indeed....stable in almost any enthusiast's eyes.

You also got the first power losses wrong, also. You said:
"... once both systems had came down to idle they were drawing a combined 308watts with a seemingly random 0.1 power fluctuation on the 12, 5 and 3volt rails."

Yet the photos plainly show a 0.01V drop on the +12V, +3.3V and +5V rails. Nothing very significant. If they were 0.1V drops, then there would be something there to worry about.....but dropping from 12.15 to 12.14V on the +12V rail, or 5.04 to 5.03, or dropping from 3.31 to 3.30V.....those are all 0.01V drops, NOT 0.1V drops.

Please rewrite the derogatory statements as these voltage drops under loads are quite good....and fix the math errors.



Second, you said in the first quoted piece above that what you were seeing was ripple. Sorry, but you cannot see ripple with a multimeter. You were seeing voltage drops as load was applied....typical for a power supply as the transformer, capacitors, et al, are stressed. It's not unusual to have voltage drops when loading a power supply, but the real key is how much do they drop......0.01-0.03V is almost nothing.

Ripple is what you call the small fluctuations in voltage that happens every ms or so. Ripple is closely associated with noise that's created within the power supply as it works to create the needed power. It looks like a waveform....and is best seen with an oscilloscope. ATX specs have max ripple allowed on the +12V rail as 120mV, and the +3.3V and +5V rails can have 50mV ripple........the 5% allowance you mention is the voltage drop......NOT ripple allowance.

Fair review......work a bit on your terminology and testing procedures, and your math computation......and you may one day approach Jonny Guru's quality of power supply testing.

Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by C'DaleRider Well, hate to say it but you must have been tired when you wrote the review. Not to be too critical, but your math skills need some polishing. You wrote: "...I also had the multi-meter running on the 12V rail and you can see with the added fans it caused even more of a ripple on the 12V rail bringing it down as much 0.3 from the base voltage originally measured at 12.15V, not very stable in the eyes of some power users but 5% +/- is generally considered stable." First, since the original +12V voltage was 12.15V, and the stressed +12V voltage is shown to be 12.12V .... 12/15 - 12.12 = 0.03V, NOT 0.3V as you state in your review. The fact that at a tad over half its rated output it only lost 0.03V on the +12V rail means it is VERY stable indeed....stable in almost any enthusiast's eyes. You also got the first power losses wrong, also. You said: "... once both systems had came down to idle they were drawing a combined 308watts with a seemingly random 0.1 power fluctuation on the 12, 5 and 3volt rails." Yet the photos plainly show a 0.01V drop on the +12V, +3.3V and +5V rails. Nothing very significant. If they were 0.1V drops, then there would be something there to worry about.....but dropping from 12.15 to 12.14V on the +12V rail, or 5.04 to 5.03, or dropping from 3.31 to 3.30V.....those are all 0.01V drops, NOT 0.1V drops. Please rewrite the derogatory statements as these voltage drops under loads are quite good....and fix the math errors. Second, you said in the first quoted piece above that what you were seeing was ripple. Sorry, but you cannot see ripple with a multimeter. You were seeing voltage drops as load was applied....typical for a power supply as the transformer, capacitors, et al, are stressed. It's not unusual to have voltage drops when loading a power supply, but the real key is how much do they drop......0.01-0.03V is almost nothing. Ripple is what you call the small fluctuations in voltage that happens every ms or so. Ripple is closely associated with noise that's created within the power supply as it works to create the needed power. It looks like a waveform....and is best seen with an oscilloscope. ATX specs have max ripple allowed on the +12V rail as 120mV, and the +3.3V and +5V rails can have 50mV ripple........the 5% allowance you mention is the voltage drop......NOT ripple allowance. Fair review......work a bit on your terminology and testing procedures, and your math computation......and you may one day approach Jonny Guru's quality of power supply testing. Good luck!

Thanks for reading the review but its apparent that you've obviously just came here and registered to pick a bitch about it and btw.. nice little plug for your buddy at the end... You are right that I did actually "typo" the values when I was typing this up.. Not a failure in math calculations I assure you....

And while I call it a ripple you call it a drop.. big woop.. If I was trying to refer to the actual voltage "ripple" that you note above I would have made it CLEAR (since you like using over emphasized words I think I will to).. All be it I understand and you have a semi valid point and maybe I could have chosen a better word to discribe it but ripple as defined can be "any oscillation of small amplitude imposed on top of a steady value"

Steady Value = Base Line Voltage
Ripple = Change in steady voltage

So... Kindly take your all knowing attitude elsewhere as it will not get you anywhere here...

[q] And while I call it a ripple you call it a drop.. big woop..[/q]


Well, perhaps I'm nitpicking a bit, but since the current ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide, ver. 2.2, has two vastly different specifications for the voltage regulation and ripple/noise, ripple and voltage drop are NOT the same thing and blending the two together is just wrong.

You first gave the spec of 5%....you said the voltage drop was within the ATX spec of 5%...and that's NOT the ripple spec. So calling it ripple is mixing two different specifications....which, to me, shows a bit of a lack of understanding in what you are seeing or referring to.

From the aforementioned specification guide:

3.2.1. DC Voltage Regulation (Found on page 11 of the guide...link below)

The DC output voltages shall remain within the regulation ranges shown in Table 2 when
measured at the load end of the output connectors under all line, load, and environmental
conditions. The voltage regulation limits shall be maintained under continuous operation
for any steady state temperature and operating conditions specified in Section 5.

DC Output Voltage Regulation
Output Range Min. Nom. Max.


+12V1DC
±5%
+11.40
+12.00
+12.60
Volts


+12V2DC
±5%
+11.40
+12.00
+12.60
Volts


+5VDC
±5%
+4.75
+5.00
+5.25
Volts


+3.3VDC
±5%
+3.14
+3.30
+3.47



3.2.6. Output Ripple/Noise

The output ripple/noise requirements listed in Table 11. should be met throughout the load
ranges specified in Section 3.2.3 and under all input voltage conditions as specified in
Section 3.1.
Ripple and noise are defined as periodic or random signals over a frequency band of 10 Hz
to 20 MHz. Measurements shall be made with an oscilloscope with 20 MHz bandwidth.
Outputs should be bypassed at the connector with a 0.1 µF ceramic disk capacitor and a
10 µF electrolytic capacitor to simulate system loading. See Figure.


Table 12. DC Output Noise/Ripple
Output

Max. Ripple & Noise
(mV)

+12 V1DC 120

+12 V2DC 120

+5 VDC 50

+3.3 VDC 50

-12 VDC 120

+5 VSB 50





Please note the REQUIREMENT for measuring ripple.....you HAVE to use an oscilloscope to measure it.....a DMM will NOT measure ripple.

Because of this, I wonder if you truly understand the difference between the two measurements, and wonder, too, if your power supply tests are valid. If you do not understand the basic design specifications, but instead banter about specs and attribute one spec for another, what else are you not understanding in your testing?

This may fall on deaf ears but here it goes anyways. Please dont pick apart reviews just for the sake of bein a dick, if you have a legit problem with the review pm the person that wrote it and see if you can help out. Your methods are pretty tactless, thats why you are here by dubbed "GuruPoleRider".

you know... I tried to be nice... but now your being a real tool!

If you would have bothered to quote the whole paragraph...

Quote: And while I call it a ripple you call it a drop.. big woop.. If I was trying to refer to the actual voltage "ripple" that you note above I would have made it CLEAR (since you like using over emphasized words I think I will to).. All be it I understand and you have a semi valid point and maybe I could have chosen a better word to describe it but ripple as defined can be "any oscillation of small amplitude imposed on top of a steady value"

You sir are trying to make something out of nothing for the sake of what?...

Now I am not going to go off into some multi paragraph rant on what I think of you and your posts... but I will say keep it up and I will personally rid this site of your pressence...

I gave you a chance and I explained my words even though I don't have to explain anything to someone so daft and in love with their own posts to actually read, but mark my words, your on thin ice...

Oh, and I know this is not your first forum to stir up a stink.. You do this on a regular basis from what I have seen which makes be believe you have a fetish for being a keyboard bandit... So I will say again, walk on and drop it....