OCZ GameXstream 700 W Power Supply

Conclusions

This seems to be a good power supply for its price range. If you are looking for a high-end 700 W power supply with active PFC, 80% efficiency and 120 mm low noise fan, consider OCZ GameXstream 700 W. It also carries a three-year warranty, which is great.

Internally we found out that this power supply uses three transistors on its active PFC circuit, which is great – power supplies with active PFC usually have only two transistors. We also liked the idea of using a bigger L-shaped heatsink on the secondary connected to the power supply housing.

However we found out that this power supply doesn’t have a MOV (surge suppressor), which is a sin on a high-end power supply.

This power supply also misses two protections compared to competing products: over power (OPP) and under voltage (UVP). However, it has short-circuit (SCP), over current (OCP) and over voltage (OVP) protections, which is enough for the average user. We should also note that power supplies carrying all these five protections are more expensive than OCZ GameXstream 700 W.

Compared to competing products, GameXstream 700 W also does not provide a modular cabling system. If you are looking for this feature, you should consider other product. However, we must note again that this power supply from OCZ is cheaper than competing products with this feature (just to put things into perspective, HX620W from Corsair is between USD 30 and USD 60 more expensive than this power supply and is a 620 W unit).

As for the temperature, OCZ does not state under which temperature they labeled their power supply. Why this is important? The higher the internal power supply temperature, the lower power it can deliver. Usually when no temperature is mentioned, the manufacturer assumes 25° C. You will never get 25° C inside a power supply; typical real-world values are found between 35° C and 40° C. So a power supply labeled at 25° C may not deliver its labeled power when running in the real world.

Unfortunately we do not have a load tester to pull 700 W from this power supply, so we cannot say if this power supply can really deliver its labeled 700 W or not (an equipment like this costs around USD 10,000 in the US and we hope to buy one someday).

It seems that OCZ also saved some bucks on the electrolytic capacitors: they are all Taiwanese and not Japanese like some competing products.

We are not saying this is a bad product, on the contrary. For its price range it is a really good option if you are looking for a good 700 W power supply and want to save some bucks.