Published: February 25, 2009 | Source: OCZ | Author: James Napier

OCZ Fatal1ty 700w ATX PSU

Cables & Looking Inside

Starting with the cables, the most obvious feature of the Fatal1ty is the red sleeving designed to fit in with the overall theme of the unit. While OCZ’s efforts are certainly appreciated, it would have been better if they’d chosen some sleeving that doesn’t share the level of transparency of fishnet stockings, allowing all the gory bits beneath to be fully on show.

Much like stockings, the sleeving also falls short of going the entire length of the cables, instead stopping once it reaches the first connector. Although this has probably been done to give a better bend radius for when you’re trying to stretch out the cables between your hard disks and DVD drive, it doesn’t do much for aesthetics.

Both the ATX 24-Pin and EPS 8-Pin connectors are capable of downgrading themselves to older 20-Pin and 4-Pin standards by means of a removable 4-Pin connector; likewise, the PCI-E connectors can also be changed between 6-Pin and 8-Pin standards to suit the graphics card.

The insides of the Fatal1ty are fairly cramped, with most components sitting underneath the two black aluminium heatsinks that span the length of the unit. The layout is quite different to most of the other OCZ PSU’s we’ve seen in the past such as the GameXStream and ModXStream and therefore it’s quite possible that OCZ has picked a new OEM this time around.

Do my eyes deceive me…Is that three adjustable pots sitting around looking sexy on that daughterboard there? Yes, yes it is. I’m not 100% sure if these are for fine tuning rail voltages, or just for making adjustment to the fan speed – as the board does actually double-up as the fan controller, but if you’re into poking around inside PSU’s with a screwdriver only milimetres away from the mains EMI filter, why not let me know!

Rather than putting all their eggs in one basket and going for a single huge capacitor, OCZ have spread the workload over three smaller caps from the Nippon-Chemicon KMR range. These caps are rated at 105c / 430v / 180uF, which to an extent indicates that they are pretty high quality.

A single large transformer deals with all the main rails with the exception of the 5VSB rail that needs its own smaller transformer for providing stand-by voltages. Interestingly, it does look like the PCB is kitted out ready for a higher output model – as sitting next to the main transformer is the solder points for another transformer of a similar size. 1kw Fatal1ty anyone?

Ello, ello, ello what do we have here? It would appear that the PCB is marked up as an OCZ Technology EliteXstream. Looking back to our review of that very unit last year we can indeed see that, with the exception of a missing transformer and a change in the capacitors, we are indeed looking at a lower wattage version of the EliteXStream blinged out with some red lighting. Could it be that Mr. Wendel only picked the colour of the lights he wanted inside this PSU?

Last but not least (as the PSU would probably go POP without it) we arrive at the 120mm fan. This particular model is manufactured by Power Logic and carries a model number of PLA12025S12H-4. A quick search on Google and Power Logic’s website didn’t turn up any specs for this model, but a very similar model (PLA12025B12H-4) is rated at 32dbA / 107CFM.