OCZ Powerstream 520W Review

OCZ Powerstream 520W Intro
Anyone who is into high performance hardware and overclocking has become
familiar with the brand OCZ (unless you live under a rock or still run a
486). OCZ is well known for making some of the best DDR memory in the world.
Recently OCZ introduced the PowerStream series of power supplies for serious
enthusiasts and I wanted to check them out for myself.

I own an Antec True 550 and a PC Power and Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe PSU
and both have served me well. The TurboCool Deluxe is a great power supply,
but the retail price of $225.00 is a bit outrageous for most people. Well
here comes the OCZ PowerStream 520 watt PSU at only $125.00 retail that
offers the same performance and even more features. Sounds like a great
deal, but can it live up to the hype? We shall find out in my torture tests.

First let's go over what OCZ offers with this new PowerStream series.

OCZ Powerstram 520W Specs:
OCZ PowerWhisper™ Technology
OCZ PowerFlex™ individually adjustable power rails with LED indicators.
OCZ ConnectAll™ universal connector. (ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V)
OCZ PowerShield™ power leads.
5 year warranty backed by OCZ’s exclusive PowerSwap™ replacement program.*
No more endless return-for-repair loops!

Technical Specs:
175x150x86 mm
23 dBA @ 60% load
100-120Vac / 200-240Vac 10/6a
Overvoltage/Short-Circuit protection
Independent adjustable 3.3V/+5V/+12V rails.

OCZ Powerstream 520W Description
The OCZ PowerStream power supply family offers the quietest, most versatile
and adaptable PSU available today. The PowerStream PSU family comes in 420W,
470W and 520W configurations; they are the ideal solution to your computer
power needs.

With its universal ConnectAll™ connector, the PowerStream power supply
offers all-in-one connectivity. (ATX, BTX, Serial ATA, P4 and EPS12V) Every
OCZ power supply offers PowerShield™ power leads with enhanced EMI-control
technology to reduce RF interference, stabilize input current and filter out
“ripple noise”.

Each OCZ PowerStream family member includes the PowerFlex™ feature for
fine-tuning the three adjustable power rails. An LED sits below each of the
three adjustment dials; a green light indicates voltage is within ±5% of
optimal, a yellow light indicates undervoltage, and red indicates
overvoltage.

The OCZ PowerStream PSU box has an eye-catching nickel-plated chrome finish
and boasts green exhaust fan LED’s and colorfully wrapped wires.

Explanation OCZ Powerstream 520W Features
OCZ PowerWhisper technology. This is supposed to keep the noise levels
operating below 23dBA. OCZ claims that this is the quietest power supply on
the market. Now that's a big claim, since there are already fanless power
supplies on the market. Hmmm. They have 2 x 80mm fans inside this power
supply, one of which has green LEDs. This is definitely the quietest power
supply I have ever used. My videocard fan is louder.

OCZ PowerFlex technology. This power supply offers individual rail
adjustments on each voltage output. 3.3+v, 5+v and 12+v. It has 3 adjustable
potentiometers on the back that also have 3 corresponding LED lights that
let you know when you have too little or too much voltage on each rail. This
is very cool. Consider it "tweaking for dummies". What is also great about
this power supply is that it offers overvolt protection, so you can't
overvolt too much.

OCZ PowerShield technology. EMI control technology for optimal signal
integrity. There are 2 independant 12v lines for VGA/HDD. These two lines
are different than the rest. They are sleeved in some sort of plastic with
shielding. They also have resistors at the end of each line where the wires
connect to the 4 pin molex connectors. These are great for those of us with
power hungry videocards like the 6800 GT and Ultra series. These 2 lines
provide a clean and stable voltage to your equipment and reduce the ripple
effect created by power supplies under heavy loads. Many people have been
dedicating an entire 12v line to these types of hardware, but now OCZ makes
it easy for them by providing 2 of these lines seperately. How awesome is
that?

OCZ ConnectALL all-in-one universal connector supports Serial ATA, Pentium
4, EPS12V, and PCI Express/BTX. This power supply has connections for
everything covered. It comes with a 24 pin connection for the main power and
a 20 pin adapter. They have basically made this power supply future proof.
So it is a wise investment on OCZ's behalf to make this feature available
now. This power supply is ready for the new Grantsdale and Alderwood
chipsets, that use a 24 pin connection for the mainboard power. There are
also a bunch of other connectors as well. One thing I would have liked to
have seen was better wire management. With all of these great features you
would think they would have attempted to sleeve the wires better. This is
something I would like to see done in the future.

OCZ Powerstream 520W Exterior
The box was nice looking. Graphics printed on the box give a nice idea of
what it inside and what the power supply offers in features. The packing is
a simple bubble wrap. No Styrofoam or heavy duty packaging here, but
everything seemed nice and snug in the box. I wouldn't expect to see any
damage through shipping unless the guys at UPS decided to play soccer with
your box.

The finish on the PSU is gorgeous. A very nice charcoal/gray sheen, almost
mirror-like finish that has a gunmetal look to it. I was almost afraid to
touch it with my hands. Very sexy!

OCZ Powerstream 520W Connections
This power supply should have enough connections for the most demanding
enthusiast.

24 pin main board connector and 20 pin adapter
2 x dedicated lines each with one 4 pin Molex connector and PowerShield
Technology
6 x 4 pin connectors on 2 separate lines
2 x floppy connectors on 2 separate lines
2 x Serial ATA connectors
4 x pin Pentium 4 power connector
6 x pin power adapter (for newer video cards possibly NV45)

OCZ Powerstram 520W Testing
The test machine-

CPU: Pentium 4 3.2E
Main board: DFI LANPartyPro 875P
RAM: 1024 Mb OCZ PC4200 DDR
GPU: nVidia GeForce 6800 GT
Soundcard: Audigy 2 ZS
HDD: 2 x Western Digital 120Gb Caviar drives 8Mb cache in RAID 0
SONY DRU 510-A DVD-RW

First I put all options at stock settings. I usually overclock my system
because I have a custom water cooling system installed. To get a good result
of what this PSU can do I wanted to start out at my stock settings and
adjust the voltages to as close to their nominal settings as they could get.
So I adjusted my rails accordingly and took measurements using my trusty
Craftsman Multimeter.

Voltages set and taken at stock settings.
12v = 12.05
5v = 5.05
3.3v = 3.34

Now here is where we have some fun. I wanted to really stress this thing. So
I started up my Real Time Lighting Demo to stress my video card. Then I
opened up Folding@Home. Next I started burning a 4 Gb file to DVD and I
started up Prime 95, also began Kazaa and eDonkey2000 and WinAmp playing my
entire mp3 collection. I would say most machines would buckle under this
kind of pressure. I let this go for about 3 hours straight.

I came back with my multimeter and check the rails.
12v = 12.02
5v = 5.02
3.3v = 3.30

Wow. Amazing. Breathtaking. I have never seen a power supply hold up like
this under this much load. Even my PC Power and Cooling 510 couldn't do
this. It's almost unbelievable.

I figured this was too good to be true so I decided to go even further this
time. I left the rails set where they were and overclocked my computer. This
would be my final test and if the OCZ could shine again like it did at stock
settings I would be sold and proclaim this the best PSU ever.

3.2E was overclocked up to 3.933 stable. My voltage was set at 1.55 vcore.
RAM was set at 245Mhz with 2.8v. Video card was overclocked to 425Mhz GPU and
1.13Ghz DDR.

Now we see what this puppy can do. I ran the same test as before and left
for 4 hours with everything running.

When I came back these were my readings.
12v = 11.98
5v = 5.01
3.3v = 3.29

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! OCZ must have some kind of voltage
control inside this PSU that changes the rails under heavy loads. I even
checked my software voltmeter readings and they were all on par with my
multimeter readings. I am sold on this power supply. It is an overclockers
dream come true.

Some more tests I did. These were the max voltages I could get by adjusting
the potentiometers.
12v = 13.04
5v = 5.7
3.3v = 3.8

Well it looks to me like OCZ has crushed the competition. This power supply
means business and then some. I would recommend this power supply to anyone
with a highly modded, overclocked and tweaked system. There is nothing else
like it out there.

Pick up the OCZ Computer Power Supply at Xoxide.com!

Pros:
$125 = Affordable.
Mirror finish looks great.
Tons off connectors and future proof.
5 year warranty.
Quiet and cool.
Excellent performance, possibly the best ever seen.
Adjustable voltage rails with LEDs.