Stress Testing
To test the power supply’s ability to provide power to components under stressful situations (like when running a game), I opened up the NVIDIA control panel and ran a full system stability test for 30 minutes. The test, which stresses the CPU, RAM, GPU, PCI-E bus and hard disk by running a 3D graphics loop, is a pretty good analog of a gaming situation and also indirectly tests the stability of the power supply as it supplies power to the computer’s various components. To monitor the power supply’s reaction, I opened ASUS’s PC Probe II and watched the +3.3, +5.0 and +12.0 voltage monitors for any changes.

The specs of the testing rig:

• Processor: AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 65W
• Motherboard: ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless
• Memory: 2 GB of Crucial DDR2 PC2-8000 Ballistix Dual Channel RAM
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750 GB
• OS: Windows XP SP2
• Testing Software:
• NVIDIA System Stability Test
• ASUS PC Probe II

This setup also includes two optical drives and a few USB-powered devices and probably represents a good-sized load for the level of wattage this power supply provides.

The results of the stress test were very encouraging. The +3.3 rails fluctuated .02 volts, between 3.23v and 3.25v and the +5.0 rail fluctuated .02 volts, between 4.87v and 4.89v. The +12.0 rail stayed rock solid through the test at 11.97v. With less than a four percent differential from the specification and the computer passing through the stress test without any issues, the Ultra X-Pro looks as solid as they come.

Conclusions
Besides the temporary problem during installation, my experience with the Ultra X-Pro 600W has been a positive one: it gives me the power my computer needs and does it in a stable, no-fuss fashion. Future expansion might be a concern; 600 watts seems to be the minimum these days when you’re looking for power supplies and I have no doubt that amount will go up in the future as technology advances, so the X-Pro might not be your best bet if you’re looking to keep the same parts for more than a couple of years. However, if you’re looking for a basic reliable power supply to keep your rig running, you can’t go wrong with the Ultra X-Pro 600W.