| Ultra Products 2nd Generation X-Finity 600W PSU
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The Cables:
The images below take a look at the large bundle of silver cables and black connectors supplied on the X-Finity 00W power supply. The design of the cables is referred to as "FlexForce", and besides being stylishly colored, they aren't your typical arrangement of wires. Each cable is somewhat flat, and each wire has a clear flexible insulation over a braided silver underlayer. The bundles of wire in each cable are thicker than your typical power supply, and they all have a high quality feel to them. The connectors are all well integrated onto the cables too, giving a highly finished look to the whole design.
 
One of the greatest features of these cables is just how easy they are to work with... You can bend the cables easily and they stay put since there isn't that spring force you may get from working with typical cables that don't want to stay bent or tucked out of the way.
Considering the great attention to detail that went into the design of these cables, the interface with the power supply housing itself leaves a bit to be desired. As shown below, there is simply a hole cut into the housing with a bit of plastic tucked in around the edges to keep the metal from abrading the insulation on the cables. Other than plastic ties on either side of the housing wall there is no real strain relief on these cables, and the design of this interface just seems to be a bit crude.
The below left image shows off the motherboard power connector, which features a detachable section to convert it easily from 24-pin to 20-pin. The below right image shows the two cables for providing power to your drives. You have a total of eight hard drive / optical drive style connectors and two floppy drive style connectors evenly distributed over two cables. The lengths of these cables are quite generous, and you should have no problem reaching any portion of even the largest cases with these.
 
The below left image shows off the handful of 4-pin and 6-pin connections for powering today's processors and graphics cards. The below right images shows the two cables sporting a total of four SATA power connections. It is nice to see power supplies coming with more SATA connectors, and it disappoints me when a nice unit has a mere one or two of these at this point. Ultra Products did it right, giving you a good number of connections on cables with more than ample lengths.
 
The cables on this unit are great. Although I am convinced that modular cables are the way to go, the "FlexForce" design makes cable management easier, and they look sharp, too. A major improvement would be achieved on the X-Finity series by combining the FlexForce design with modular connections.
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