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View Full Version : OCZ ProXStream 1000W

W1zzard
01-23-2007, 07:26 PM
[PAGE=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
I would like to thank OCZ Technology (http://www.ocztechnology.com) for supplying me with the unit for review.

Specifications from manufacturer


1000W Configuration
3 year warranty backed by OCZ’s exclusive PowerSwap™ replacement program. No more endless return-for-repair loops!
Internal 80mm fan
4 Channel 12V Output provides stable electric power to computer components
4 Channel PCI-E connectors
Dual CPU support: provides 8-pin 12V dual CPU support with stable voltage
20+4 pin: compatible with all motherboards available on the market
4pin & 8pin: accords with the requirements of CPU in ATX or EPS 12V V2.91 systems
Active PFC: enhances utilization of energy
Over Voltage and current protection: A complete protection circuit is implemented, protecting every component in your system.
Environmental protection specifications: accords with WEEE & RoHS by Europe
115Vac 60Hz / 230Vac 50Hz
+3.3V(28A), +5V(30A), +12V1(20A), +12V2(20A), +12V3(20A), +12V4(20A)


Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/package2.jpg)
The package is about the typical size of a PSU package and does not immediately reveal the beast within. On the back you find the usual product information, provided by your friendly OCZ marketing department.

Box contents:

Power supply unit
Power Cord
Screw package
Instruction Manual


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/contents.jpg)

<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Connectors</th>
<th align="center">Main Power</th>
<th align="center">5.25&quot;</th>
<th align="center">Floppy</th>
<th align="center">4 Pin CPU</th>
<th align="center">SerialATA</th>
<th align="center">PCI-E Aux Power</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">ATX 20 + 4 Pin</td>
<td align="center">6</td>
<td align="center">2</td>
<td align="center">1 + 2</td>
<td align="center">6</td>
<td align="center">4</td>
</tr>
</table>

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/cablelength.gif

[page=The PSU]
The PSU
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu1.jpg)
If you look at the back of the PSU you see neither an input voltage switch, nor a power off switch. An autosensed unit that can detect if 110V or 220V are supplied is a good thing. Having no power off switch is a bad thing. First, some people may want to completely turn off their computer if they leave for longer periods of time to save power. Also it gives people a better feeling if they can use the PSU switch to turn off their PC when they are worried about lightning strike.
But what is most important, especially if you consider that this PSU is targeted at overclockers, is that you often want cut power quick (e.g. water leak/overheating/oh teh noes my CPU cooler fell off). Also some motherboards do not react to the power switch anymore in case of a system crash. However, what you can still do is pull the power cord.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psu4.jpg)
The rest of the PSU is looking good. There is one fan in place, which unfortunately has no variable speed control. With its mirror finish on a black/grey metallic color the PSU looks really good, but does take fingerprint fairly easy, which can be wiped away as easily with the bare hand.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/cables_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/cables.jpg)
All cables are sleeved using high quality sleeving. The four PCI-E power cables are sleeved red which would definitely give a nice touch to an ATI rig.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/atx3.jpg)
For the ATX power 20+4 pin connector OCZ uses my favourite method. The additional four pin connector can be locked into the 20 pin connector forming a solid connector that is very easy to use. Other clip-on systems can often be a pain to work with because the connectors do not stay together when you try to plug them info the motherboard.

[pagE=PSU Inside & Test Equipment]
PSU Inside
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/warranty_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/warranty.jpg)
This little plastic sticker covers one side of the PSU and can not be peeled off as I found out (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/EvoStream600W/3) in a previous OCZ review. If you open your PSU, your wonderful 36 month PowerSwap warranty is gone, so think twice before doing it.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/inside5.jpg)
Wow! I think I've never seen a PSU inside that is so packed with components. There is almost no space left anywhere. The internal fan is 80 mm sized, a 120 mm fan would certainly help reduce the fan noise.

Test Equipment

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/setup.jpg


The PSU is connected to an APC SmartUPS which supplies clean 220V input.
AC current is measured using a Peaktech 4010 desktop RS232 multimeter with 0.02A accuracy.
To measure DC output voltages of the PSU we use a Keithley 2700 6.5 digit data acquisition system. All three input voltages are measured at the same time using a solid state switching system.
Power Factor is measured using a generic Power Efficiency Meter.
Measurements for Ripple Voltage were obtained using a 100 MHz Tektronix TDS224 Digital Storage Oscilloscope.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/noisetest_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/noisetest.jpg)

Fan noise measurements are performed with an IEC Type 2 Sound level meter and this setup.
It consists of three high-power resistors and a Socket A motherboard. The motherboard creates a small load which makes sure the PSU turns on (some PSUs require a minimum load). Since there is no hardware installed in the motherboard, its power draw is negligible. The three resistors create a static load of 320W (120W @ 12V + 50W @ 5V + 150W @ 12V) - a typical high-performance system. This setup is also used to determine the power conversion efficiency of the PSU.

[page=Performance]
Performance
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/sticker_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/sticker.jpg)

<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th colspan="11">OCZ ProXStream 1000W OCZ1000PXS </th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>AC Input</th>
<td colspan="10">100V-240V, 15A-7A, 50-60 Hz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>DC Voltage</th>
<td align="center">+3.3V</td>
<td align="center">+5V</td>
<td align="center">+12V1</td>
<td align="center">+12V2</td>
<td align="center">+12V3</td>
<td align="center">+12V4</td>
<td align="center">-12V</td>
<td align="center">+5VSB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="3">Max. Output</th>
<td align="center">28A</td>
<td align="center">30A</td>
<td align="center">20A</td>
<td align="center">20A</td>
<td align="center">20A</td>
<td align="center">20A</td>
<td align="center">0.5A</td>
<td align="center">3.5A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">150 W </td>
<td colspan="4" align="center">840 W </td>
<td colspan="2" align="center">25 W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8" align="center">1000 W </td>
</tr>
</table>

Wow! That's some massive power delivery capability. 20 Amps on each of the four rails should be enough for any video card that will come out in the near future. It is definitely enough for G80 and R600.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/psugraph.gif
Tested on: AMD Athlon64 FX-62 @ 2800 MHz, Sapphire PC-A9RD580, 2x 512 MB DDR400, WD Raptor 36 GB, Radeon X1900 XTX + Radeon X1900 XTX Crossfire

All voltages are very stable, especially the 12V line, which goes to almost exactly 12.0V under load. The 3.3V line seems to be fluctuating a bit, but since no vital components need that voltage it does not matter at all. Nowadays all components draw most of their supply voltage from the 12V line.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/ripple1.jpg
When trying to measure ripple voltage I saw those strange spikes all over the 12V line. Since they reappear in regular intervals of 66 kHz (15 microseconds) I have reason to believe that they are caused by some digital circuit inside the PSU which is running at that clock frequency.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/ripple2.jpg
Here's a close up of one of the spikes. Their amplitude varies between 200 mV and 1100 mV. The spike is a pretty nice sinus curve. Please realize that those spikes are extremely short, only 100 nanoseconds, that's 100 billionth of a second. The light travels about one foot (30 cm) in one nanosecond.

I did notify OCZ about this and they verified that the spikes are showing on all their ProXStream units. After investigating, they came to the conclusion that this will have no effect on the power quality, longevity or stability of the PSU: "because of the extremely short duration, they should not have any adverse effect on reliability of system components".

My own testing confirms this, the unit has worked completely stable in all tests.

<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 12V</th>

<td align="right">2.57</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 5V</th>
<td align="right">1.14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Standard deviation 3.3V</th>
<td align="right">1.85</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Power Factor</th>
<td align="right">0.98</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ripple Voltage 12V</th>
<td align="right">-- mV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Power Efficiency @ 320 W</th>
<td align="right">77% (320W:416W)</td>
</tr>
</table>

Standard deviation is a statistical term, which tells how far away from the average the measurements are. In other words it's the average of the average.
A large standard deviation indicates that the data points are far from the average and a small standard deviation indicates that they are close within the average.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/efficiency.gif
The OCZ ProXStream has a very high efficiency of about 77%.

[PAGE=Fan Noise, Value & Conclusion]
Fan Noise
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ProXStream1000W/images/fannoise.gif
Unfortunately the fan of the OCZ ProXStream is not nearly as "whisper" quiet as the package promises. Also the fan does not seem to be controlled by temperature, or it changes only so slightly that I couldn't hear nor measure it. Part of the fairly high fan noise can be attributed to the 80 mm fan which has to run faster than if OCZ had used a 120 mm fan.

Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a price of $299 the OCZ ProXStream is competitively priced compared to other 1000W power supplies, but still, 300 dollars are 300 dollars to pay.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
1000 Watts
Standard sized
Very efficient
Four PCI-E video card connectors
Four 12V rails with massive 20 A each
Good voltage stability
All cables are sleeved
36 months warranty
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
High Price
Noisy
No power switch
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>If you are looking for an extremely powerful power supply that can power anything you throw at it, the OCZ ProXStream 1000W might be a good choice. 1000 Watts are a multiple of what even the most demanding rigs require in power. This will leave you a large headroom that improves voltage stability.<br />
However, since no system I could think of really needs that amount of power, the big question is: Do you really need a 1 kW power supply? Most 1kW power supplies on the market are bigger than the standard, which means you have to make sure that it fits into your case. OCZ's unit is the same size like any other PSU, so it fits all cases. The cables are sleeved nicely, allowing for a clean look of your case inside.<br />
The loud fan is a bit annoying and definitely not for a quiet rig, but if you (think you) need a 1kW PSU you are not worried about silence but want performance and overclocking.<br />
With an efficiency of 75%, the unit is not only extremely powerful, it also helps you save energy.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/recommended.gif</td></tr>
</table>
newtekie1
02-21-2007, 08:17 PM
(e.g. water leak/overheating/oh teh noes my CPU cooler fell off)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Great review as always W1zzard.
pt
02-21-2007, 08:49 PM
a power switch would be usefull, i turn off my spu everynight and i don't wan't to pull the cable:ohwell:
DRDNA
02-21-2007, 09:26 PM
a power switch would be usefull, i turn off my spu everynight and i don't wan't to pull the cable:ohwell:

I agree :D
PVTCaboose1337
02-21-2007, 11:36 PM
No power switch?

Also, needed this to review the 8800gtx :D ?
W1zzard
02-22-2007, 12:08 AM
No power switch?

Also, needed this to review the 8800gtx :D ?

nah check the 8800 gtx review under power consumption
i_am_mustang_man
02-22-2007, 12:30 AM
nice review. I love that you look at psu products with a more critical and quantitative eye than most reviewers. It is highly appreciated and respected by those of us who understand the need for such minute details. bravo
WarEagleAU
02-22-2007, 03:14 AM
Great review W1zz. that is a sexy PSU, but I still prefer the Power Switch. I love the auto voltage senser. Thanks man.
pt
02-22-2007, 03:27 AM
Also some motherboards do not react to the power switch anymore in case of a system crash. However, what you can still do is pull the power cord.


they don't??? :confused:
at least the power cord pull out still works :D

ps: if that don't work aswell get a shotgun
ex_reven
02-22-2007, 03:32 AM
ps: if that don't work aswell get a shotgun

or you could not damage expensive components by getting on your knees and turning the wall power point off :rolleyes: , lazy lazy pt :laugh:
pt
02-22-2007, 03:38 AM
or you could not damage expensive components by getting on your knees and turning the wall power point off :rolleyes: , lazy lazy pt :laugh:

what if that doesn't work?, like the putter being possesed for a energy spirit or something :laugh:

edit: let's stop spaming this thread ;)
newtekie1
02-22-2007, 03:54 AM
If I am turning my computer off for long periods of time, I just use the switch on the surge protector. That way my computer, LCD, speakers, and TV all go totally off. So a switch on the power supply doesn't really matter, IMO.
ex_reven
02-22-2007, 03:58 AM
doesnt keeping your comp off all night clear your overclock?
or is my dizzy, post gym state making me think funny...:roll:
newtekie1
02-22-2007, 04:00 AM
I've never had a problem, even with having the computer completely disconnected from power for days on end. That is why there is a CMOS battery on every motherboard.
tkpenalty
02-22-2007, 10:48 AM
doesnt keeping your comp off all night clear your overclock?
or is my dizzy, post gym state making me think funny...:roll:

Someones not thinking straight. This PSU looks quite value packed... I reckon it would have been 900% better if they used two fans and not one, look, the dual PCB design rules out any suggestions for one 120mm fan. However I sadly miss the power switch.. why did they exclude it? I just have one thing that I hate about it... (as well as mine).... ... wait for it...


Too many cables and no modular cables :shadedshu Try one of these in an antec 900!
ex_reven
02-22-2007, 12:21 PM
maybe they didnt want it to be bigger than it already was (hence only one fan)
ive heard that these 1kw units dont fit too well in quite a few cases
newtekie1
02-22-2007, 02:57 PM
maybe they didnt want it to be bigger than it already was (hence only one fan)
ive heard that these 1kw units dont fit too well in quite a few cases

This one, unlike most other 1kW PSUs, seems like it is normal sized. Most of them are longer and stick further out into the case, which is a problem for a lot of Thermaltake cases and others that place the front I/O ports on top of the case.