If you need 600W of power, you won't go wrong with this PSU. With quiet cooling, and innovative cable design, it's a sure-fire winner.

If you're like me (a hardcore gamer) getting the most life out of your PC is an important issue and the best way to address it is by upgrading components. A useful but many times overlooked component is the power supply unit (PSU), which can do more than you might expect to increase your computers speed and efficiency. A golden or rather sleek titanium example of this would be the new X-finity 2G 600 Watt PSU from Ultra Products.



I recently installed this PSU to my computer and I have been thoroughly impressed by not only the level of increased power capacity but the drop in the temperature output from my PC. Even better my wireless PCI Express card rated for 56mbps, which was only running at 11mbps is finally up to spec. These connections are also what make the X-finity gamer friendly, allowing for a direct line of power to PCI Express graphics cards.

Tests for the power management capabilities of the 2G 600 yielded fairly positive results. The efficiency rating of the unit has seen a significant increase from the previous generation of the X-finity module. At a nominal charge of 300 watts the unit performed with an average of 79% efficiency and held at 73% efficiency at the maximum 600 watt capacity. These ratings aren't spectacularly high but do hold consistently and the heat which is generated is easily countered by the AST fan system. More on that over the page.