After reviewing StealthXStream 400 W and becoming impressed by its performance, we decided to test the 500 W model from this series (OCZ500SXS) to see if it is also a good buy. To our surprise this power supply is manufactured by FSP and not by CWT like the 400 W model, so even though they are in the same series they use different internal designs, making a comparison between the two even more interesting.

The platform used by OCZ StealthXStream 500 W is the same one used by Zalman ZM-360-APS, Zalman ZM460B-APS and SilverStone Strider ST50F, so it will be interesting to compare the reviewed unit to this 460 W unit from Zalman and this 500 W unit from SilverStone to see what are the differences between the three of them. The 600 W model from both OCZ StealthXStream and Zalman ZM series are also manufactured by FSP, but they use a different platform from the reviewed power supply (but the same among them).

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Figure 1: OCZ StealthXStream 500 W power supply.

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Figure 2: OCZ StealthXStream 500 W power supply.

StealthXStream 500 W is 5 ½” (14 cm) deep, being smaller than the 400 W model, which is 6 19/64” (16 cm) deep. The difference in size is due to the difference on the size of the fan: the 500 W model uses a 120-mm fan while the 400 W model uses a 140-mm fan. Both models feature active PFC, of course.

All cables use nylon sleevings and they all come from inside the power supply, as you can see on Figure 2. The included cables are:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector.
• One ATX12V cable.
• One cable with one six-pin auxiliary power connector for video cards.
• One SATA power cable with three SATA power connectors.
• One peripheral power cable with two standard peripheral power plugs.
• One peripheral power cable with two standard peripheral power plugs and one floppy disk drive power connector.

Even though the number of cables is o.k. for an entry-level PC, it was a surprise to see the 500 W model carrying less connectors than the 400 W model, which has one more SATA power connector, two more peripheral power plugs and  one more floppy disk drive power plug. Also the video card auxiliary power connector on the 400 W version uses a six/eight-pin plug, while on the 500 W model uses a six-pin plug.

All cables are short, having 15” (38 cm) between the power supply housing and the first connector on the cable. The 400 W version uses longer cables, with 20 7/8” (53 cm) between the power supply housing and the first connector from the cable. On the peripheral power cables there is 5 7/8” (15 cm) between connectors. Most of the wires are 18 AWG, which is the correct gauge to be used, but the video card auxiliary power cable uses 20 AWG wires, which are thinner. Here the 400 W model has the advantage of using wires from the correct gauge.

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Figure 3: Cables.

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.