Introduction
Contents
GameXstream 700 W (also known as OCZGXS700) is a high-end power supply belonging to OCZ’s latest series, GameXstream. This model features a big 120 mm fan and is EPS12V-compatible, being targeted to high-end SLI and CrossFire systems. Let’s take an in-depth look at this power supply.
Figure 1: OCZ GameXstream 700 W.
Being a high-end power supply, GameXstream 700 W features high-efficiency and active PFC. According to OCZ this power supply has an efficiency up to 80% (or 83% under 230 V; compare to 50% to 60% on regular power supplies), meaning less power loss – an 80% efficiency means that 80% of the power pulled from the power grid will be converted in power on the power supply outputs and only 20% will be wasted. This translates into less consumption from the power grid (as less power needs to be pulled in order to generate the same amount of power on its outputs), meaning lower electricity bills.
Active PFC (Power Factor Correction), on the other hand, provides a better usage of the power grid and allows this power supply to be comply with the European law, making OCZ able to sell it in that continent (you can read more about PFC on our Power Supply Tutorial). In Figure 1, you can see that this power supply doesn’t have an 110V/220V switch, feature available on power supplies with active PFC.
This power supply uses a very good cooling solution. Instead of having a fan on its back, its fan is located at the bottom of the unit, as you can see in Figure 1 (the power supply is upside down). A mesh replaced the back fan, as you can see. Since the fan used is bigger than fans usually used on power supply units, this unit is not only quieter than traditional power supplies, but also provides a better airflow.
In Figure 2, you can see the cables used by this power supply. As you can see, the cables use a plastic sleeving that improves the PC internal airflow and helps cables to be more organized. Another detail that shows the high finishing quality of this power supply is that the plastic sleeving come from inside the power supply housing, so no wire is exposed in their way out of the PSU housing.
Figure 2: Cables.
This power supply comes with six peripheral power cables: two PCI Express auxiliary power cables; two peripheral power cables containing three standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector each and two Serial ATA power cables containing three SATA power connectors each.
The main motherboard cable comes with a 20/24-pin connector, however this connector isn’t a single 24-pin connector with the option for removing the extra four pins for you to have a 20-pin connector; instead, this power supply has a 20-pin power connector with a loose 4-pin power connector on the same cable, as you can see in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Main motherboard power connector.
This power supply doesn’t have a separated EPS12V connector; instead it provides two ATX12V connectors that can be put together for form one EPS12V connector.
Figure 4: ATX12V/EPS12V connectors.
The gauge of all main wires is 18 AWG but the +12 V (yellow) wires on the motherboard cables are 16 AWG, which is great.
Even though OCZ paid to have its own UL number, this power supply is really manufactured by FSP.
We decided to fully disassemble this power supply to take a look inside.