OCZ GameXStream 850W

When people think about building their ultimate gaming machine, they worry about the high profile components like the motherboard, CPU and graphics card but often forget about one of the most important parts. The PSU is the unsung hero of your computer.

Without a rock solid PSU your computer could quickly turn into an unstable beast of burden that at best restarts the computer in the middle of your frag fest and at its worst, dies completely damaging your motherboard and CPU with it.

The OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU provides your system with clean solid power helping you to achieve those massive overclocks or simply to keep your gear working for many years.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the GameXStream 850W PSU:

• Street price: $179.99 approx.
• SLI ready
• Over 80% efficiency
• 160GB hard drive (x2)
• Connectors: 1x 20+4Pin ATX, 1x 4-pin/8-pin CPU, 2x PCI-E, 6x 4-pin peripheral, 2x 4-pin floppy, 6x S-ATA
• Overvoltage/Overcurrent/Short-Circuit protection

Things I like
I have been using this PSU for the past couple of weeks and I absolutely love it. I don’t know what I like most about it because there are too many things to like. This PSU is very quiet. Even when it was performing at load it was barely noticeable. If you have any case fans running they’ll drown out the noise made by the GameXStream.

I also like how efficient this power supply is. Running at over 80% efficiency means you’ll save a few extra dollars a month on your electricity bill. The OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU also runs fairly cool. While the exhaust does reach temperatures of around 33 degrees Celsius this is much cooler than a lot of other PSU’s.

Things I don’t like
The cables that come out of the GameXStream are very long! The longest cable reaches 44″ so if you have a small case, make sure you route the cables efficiently so you don’t cut off air flow. While this is a negative for smaller cases (and the Antec 900) its great for a full-tower case where you need to reach something far away.

The included blue LED can also be annoying if you’re case has a different color scheme. While this isn’t a technical thing I would have liked if you could choose between different colors.

If you’re wanting to run two Nvidia 8800GTX cards in SLI you’ll have to find a work around. The 2 6pin PCI-e connectors will not natively support the dual graphics cards. Anything less however, won’t be a problem.

Pros:

• Very Quiet and cool
• Efficient
• Fully sleeved cables

Cons:

• Very long cables (could cut off air flow)
• Doesn’t natively support two 8800GTX cards running in SLI

Final Thoughts
If you’re running a gaming rig or just a computer that needs a lot of power than this PSU is for you. The OCZ GameXStream 850W power supply features a number of connectors, quiet operation and is very efficient. Ranking: 4.5/5