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Ultra is a company that has taken the US market by storm, although it is not that well known on this side of the pond. The X-Connect builds on a trend that Antec started, which we have to say is something that all of us in the office thought was very clever. It is really very simple, as the cables on the PSU itself can be attached as needed. This in turn means that your PC will be much tidier internally and there will be better airflow inside the case.

The X-Connect comes with a 20-pin ATX cable, a 12V and an AUX cable. There are also two single connector Molex cables, two Y-cables – one slightly shorter than the other – and finally a third cable with two Molex connectors and a floppy connector. A SATA power splitter with two connectors also comes as standard, although this has to be attached to one of the Molex plugs. Ultra also offers optional cables with 24-pin EPS and six pin PCI Express graphics card connectors.

All of the cables are well constructed and the wires are covered by a silver braiding with a protective outer rubber layer, similar to that of some of the Tagan cables. Ultra has also fitted a hard plastic casing around the Molex connectors to further enhance the look and feel of the cables. The rubber material on the cables glows under UV light, which is an added bonus if case customisation is your thing.

Our review sample was finished in a shiny blue coating, which looks stylish but has a habit of picking up finger prints like any shiny surface does. There are two fans, one at the rear and one at the bottom, both measuring 80mm. The one at the bottom is covered by a very fancy looking Ultra fan grill, although it is likely that something like this will add wind noise due to its design.

The back of the PSU has five connectors for the Molex cables as well as one each for the 20-pin ATX, 12V and AUX cables. The connectors are covered by little rubber covers, but these fall of quite easily and don’t really have any practical purpose. This is also the only PSU on test that lacks a PFC which shows clearly in our test results and as such this PSU can not be sold inside the EU. You can purchase this PSU from the US, but bear in mind that the shipping costs will be more than the PSU itself.

Looking at the test results the X-Connect was about average in terms of efficiency. It was however not a smooth run and the X-Connect dropped down to 3.14V on the 3.3V at 75 per cent load, which is the cut-off line for the 3.3V rail. Technically it was within spec, but this is not a good result. Much more worrying is the 12V results at 100 per cent load, as it dropped well outside spec here.

Even more disappointingly, after about one minute at full load the X-Connect blew up. Although it didn’t do so as spectacular as the Silentmaxx, there was clearly a major malfunction. We didn’t make it a habit to open the PSUs on test, as to be honest, this is not meant to be done, but we decided to open the two units that exploded to try and determine why.

Although we couldn’t pinpoint the problem with the X-Connect this gave us an insight to its internal workings, which are far from ideal. Ultra has used too many internal connectors, which would result in a gradual loss of power as the load increased.

We had high hopes for the Ultra X-Connect but all were shattered during our testing. Hopefully, Ultra will bring out a better version of this PSU with European approval and if so, we’ll try to get one in to have a look at.

Update
Ultra Products contated us after having read the review. We have been promised a new sample for the next test with active PFC and the broken unit will be returned for Ultra for examination. The SATA cable is now standard so the review has been updated to reflect this.

Manufacturer	Ultra
Model	X-Connect 500W
URL	http://www.ultraproducts.com/
Supplier	Geeks.com
URL	http://www.geeks.com
Price	$81 (£43.33)
Molex connectors	8
Floppy connectors	1
SATA connectors	0
20-pin ATX / 24-pin EPS	Y/N
12V connector	Y
AUX connector	Y
Six pin PCI Express connector	N
Deditacted Molex for graphics	N/A
Fan speed header	N
Other connectors	N
Fans and size	2x 80mm
Extras included	N/A
Max power output (manufacturers rating)
3.3V	28A
5V	30A
12V	34A
Total power	500W

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