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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Monday, 18 June 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3
Thanks to Xoxide for the product sample.
It's not uncommon for cases to arrive with power supplies pre-installed. Even Antec is going this route. But just as with any component, there's no single rating in Mhz or MB that'll dictate what to get. With competition constantly on the rise more and more PSUs with high wattage ratings (400-500+) are appearing on the market and even more are dropping in price. Unfortunately a lot of these same ones skimp on quality. I recently reviewed Xoxide's X-Turbine which just so happened to ship with a 400watt PSU from the same manufacturer: iCute.
Since the power supply was already installed in the case there's no box or formal packaging, though it can be purchased separately. At first glance there's absolutely nothing that distinguishes it from the score of other competing products. Dual fans are standard these days so it comes as no surprise that an 80mm intake is used in addition to the 80mm exhaust. The frame is steel with chrome guards and matching screws. Nothing new with the plug, the voltage selector or the on/off switch either. Although somewhat bias, generally speaking the heavier a PSU is the higher quality it tends to be. That said, iCute's offering was a bit on the lighter side of things when compared to, say an Antec.
This is no enthusiast's model so don't expect scores of cables. There's the ATX, a couple floppies, a P4 connector, an AUX connector (used on some server boards), and four molex plugs. Length is average with possible issues if dealing with full towers. The vent holes are pretty restrictive but given the fact that a secondary 80mm intake fan is present this is really of no concern. Coming in at $36 alone, the 400watt model from iCute is a budget PSU and we're here to see how stringent the rails are and how reliable the model is in general.
With that in mind we move on to the specs listed on the side sticker. A total combined rating of 185watts for the 3.3v and 5v rails is somewhat disappointing considering some 300watt models provide well over 200watts. Furthermore, 216watts on the 12v rail alone is a bit of an overkill if you ask me. Since this is a vanilla PSU, that about covers all the basics.
Voiding the warranty, we get a glimpse of the insides. As expected by initial weight estimations, the interior pretty empty, which usually paints a pretty good picture of things to come. Similar 400watt models from Antec, Enermax and the like have larger capacitors, larger heatsinks, larger transformers, and more components in general. Both fans are wired directly to the PCB with no thermal sensors of any sort meaning they always spin at full capacity.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 June 2007 )
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