A shiny and ship-shape effort from Huntkey.
HuntKey manufacturers everything from the cheapest PSU in the land (most likely constructed from paperclips and that warm fuzzy feeling you get from a really good hug), computer cases and power supplies - the X7 900W is the latter, and it's definitely not too dodgy. Rocking in at a price of barely $200, it's amongst the cheapest power supply in the 900W power bracket on the entire market, so it has a lot to prove.
Encased in a surprisingly standard ATX-sized chrome casing, there's a huge 140mm fan that sucks in cool air, passing it through a plastic guard that covers half of the intake, a design that forces the air to pass over all the components within the unit. It's modular, with plenty of cables at a decent length, and they're all sleeved in a decent-but-not-amazing plastic sleeving that keeps them neat and manageable.
The PCIe power cables are odd, with two cables providing two connectors each; one with two 8/6-pin connectors, the other with a single 8/6-pin and a single 6-pin. This is enough to power three high-end cards, and the five 18A 12V rails should be able to handle it with relative ease. We don't leave these things to chance, however, so we threw together an i965, ASUS Maximus Extreme II, as well as a 5970 and a 5870 in Crossfire.
Running the tech gave an idle 12V reading of 12.034V, and a 5V reading of a slightly high 5.132V. We fired up OCCT as well as our Crysis test run, dipping the 12V rail a teensy amount to 12.021V and the 5V to 5.128V - though this dipped to 4.67V for a second or two during high loads. While the PSU heated up at the rear, it remained quiet, and didn't provide any hiccups. It's a nice budget choice, if you've a need for plenty of tech.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012