PC Modding Xtreme with OCZ ModXStream

When you want to build yourself the ultimate gaming platform, there is always the thought of making the PC more attractive, usually regular users tend to add a LED-lit cooler, to give them a different look'n'feel from the standard ATX PC case. But daredevils are willing to go that extra mile in order to achieve their goal, and their cases look like veritable works of art.

And it's also a case of having the best of the best when it comes to personal computing, so a system for an enthusiast includes having either the latest CPU available on the market, with more memory than the system would normally require, with a couple of hard drives linked into some flavor of an RAID array, two video graphics cards, not one, but two, this is one got-to-have item. The system also needs an optical drive, some even have the floppy disk drive installed, for old times sake, and a potent power supply.

But most of the times, the system also needs to look good, not just work fine, so that it includes some water cooling, LEDs, UV neons, and UV reactive cable sleeving. Everything’s OK, up until the point where you realize that the power supply has more cables attached to it than you would require for your setup. So you tuck the remaining cables away wherever you find an empty spot, and try to make as much room as possible (in case you use air cooling it's even more urgent that you find an appropriate route for the cables so that the air flow isn't disturbed).

All of these trial and error attempts of having the system as “attractive” as possible hit a dead end when it comes to all of those cables running down (or up) from the power supply. The alternative: modular power supplies. These have specially fitted mounting spots which allow the user to choose only the necessary cables for powering the components, without having to use all of the cables included in the pack. Modular power supplies are the best choice for a system worthy of an enthusiast user, and OCZ Technology has gone to the lengths of actually creating a new line of products designed especially for this need.

The ModXStream series of power supplies are based on OCZ's PSU architecture and combine high energy output with modular cable management system. There are only two available products in this series, the 780W and the 900W models. They come with four +12V rails with 20A on each rail, dual PCI-Express cables and six Serial ATA connectors; also the series provides support for Universal Input and Active Power Factory Correction (PFC). They also have Overvoltage/Overcurrent/Short-circuit protection, ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V compatibility and an 80% high efficiency.

Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology said in a statement: “The new series of 780W/900W ModXStream PSUs extends the range of high-end modular power supplies to new performance dimensions. Whereas most modular PSUs hit the ceiling at 600W, the new OCZ ModXStreams are specked to comfortably support even the most demanding graphics processors along with multi-core CPUs.“