Cables:
As you can see here, ArrowMax only wrapped the 20/24 pin power cable, which for me, is currently the biggest issue of this power supply. The cables are a mess, they are not neatly tied or even separated. As you get closer to the power supply they get into a tangled mess. However, the cables are pretty long, and I had no issues routing them, and reaching any location within my Thermaltake Tai-Chi full tower case, but not long enough to do any fancy cable routing. This power supply provides the following power connections: 2x SATA, 1x PCI-Express, 1x 20/24 Pin Power, 1x 4 Pin ATX Power, and 2 leads with 3 4-pin Molex power. One of these leads also has a floppy connector. Unfortunately, I feel it's missing an important power connector, an 8-pin ATX power. On my main system, I have a DFI NF4 Expert board which uses this 8-pin power connector, instead of the 4-pin power. I was impressed at the location where the cables come out of the power supply. Instead of being bare metal, ArrowMax has installed a hefty plastic guard to keep the cables from being cut.
 
The power connectors are probably the best item on the power supply. The four-pin Molex cables has gripers on it that give you something to get a hold of while removing them. I really like these, even though they do not increase or decrease the performance of your case. In addition to the Molex plugs, one of the SATA power connectors is rotated 90% so it can plug right into your SATA device, the end SATA connector though is in the standard orientation. The end one should be in the rotated orientation, as it would make it easier to plug into devices.
 
Here you can see the previously mentioned jumble of cables, coming out of the power supply. It is impossible to separate the cables without removing the connectors.
Power Supply Internals:
Opening the unit (which will void any warranty) by removing four screws; you can see the internal components of the power supply. The layout of the components of the ArrowMax is not a surprise. Most power supplies are layed out in similar fashion. I was expecting a little nicer heat sink, as the heat sinks look like they were taken off the mill and installed. There is no high gloss finish, and they are not smooth like you would find in higher end power supplies. Most users will never see the inside of their power supply, so the quality of the heat sinks really do not matter much, providing they perform well.
In the below left view of the components, you can see the large heat sink, as well as the fan controller board. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary. I do like the location of the fan power connection. It is a standard three pin fan connection, and is located in a spot that makes it extremely easy to change.
 
Finally, in the above right image we have the standard crystal 120mm fan that has a little piece of plastic to divert the airflow. This should allow the airflow to be concentrated in the area where it's needed the most. The fan has a slight hum to it, but it is not overly loud. I was able to pinpoint the power supply fan over my cpu and video fans.
|
|
