Closer Look:

What we have here is a jet black 650 Watt power supply with a high efficiency rating of 86 percent. This is a pretty hefty efficiency spec to follow even for quite a few other manufacturers. There isn't any fancy paint jobs here, but there is a nicely finished chassis enclosing the hear of the 650 Watt b-Tarantula. Inside the vents you can see large, matching black heat sinks that stretch throughout the casing. The power supply isn't very light due to the amount of components packed inside. It's also quite sturdy and doesn't have any odd noises as the power supply was handled.

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Cheaper power supplies won't be able to offer anything anywhere near 86 percent. And by cheaper, I mean power supplies around $45 or less and excludes good power supplies with rebates. In my experiences, anything under that amount tend to just barely get the job done and won't be able to offer a 100% its rated wattage. Out of the generic PSUs to come through in other systems during the last 4 years, not one has been able to live up to its specs, nor are they still functional. If your system regularly performs some heavy duty operations, a cheap power supply is not what you want and will eventually cause some head aches.

b-Tarantula 650 Watt

The external PSU chassis is pretty well painted. The chassis is thoroughly painted outside and inside. Even the vents are fully painted which is great. It doesn't sport a clear coat of any sort, but it still looks finished inside and out. One of the cool thing about the chassis is the placement of a very cool aluminum, Tarantula badge right over the center of the fan grill. Nothing too crazy, but it's got a nice machine cut to really make it stand out. When making a presentation with an 86 percent efficiency rating, this is almost exactly the kind of first impressions you want the PSU to make.

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Something unique to the power supply are the use of longer modular cables coming out of its case instead of using the commonly inset modular ports. b-Gears, says that this is for helping fit cables in to tighter spaces in regular and small form factor cases. This means, it should be good for regular mid-tower or full tower ATX and Micro ATX or Home Theater, Shuttle style cases. I'll be first to say that common modular PSUs can be a bit difficult trying to get the right angle to connect a modular cable. In the b-Tarantula design, the cables can be moved in the direction you need to access the cable connection. This concept might actually prove beneficial after all.

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Modular Cables

The main power cabling that carries the most important current to the motherboard and processor are not modular. This follows suit without about half today's current modular power supplies mainly because the voltage provided via these cables can't afford any anomalies due a questionable connection. A poor modular connection can greatly effect your system in the worst ways possible. This can include random reboots, system shut down, and worst of call, component damage.

Modular Close Up

Hardwired Main Power Cables

The rest of the cabling is full modular since current can carry over the wiring and connectors with a bit more tolerance. The included SLI power cable is some what unique in that it has dual PCI Express power connectors on the one cable. The power rail coming off this one cable can keep your dual graphics cards powered without the need of an extra connector. This is kind of a nice just having the one wire doing the job of one. The cabling should be just long enough for common computer enclosures. Fortunately, there are two of each SATA and Molex cabling which should just about be the correct amount of components to draw up to 650 watts.

Molex - 19 inches

SATA - 19 inches

PCI Express - 18 inches

And you've no doubt already noticed the larger 130mm cooling fan rather than the typical 120mm fans found in many a PSU. Larger fans definitely mean more air flow at less RPMs. Smaller fans get quite noisy when moving any air volume anywhere close to a 120 or 130mm fan. And given the power rated efficiency, the internal circuitry is going to be working quite hard and would most likely get very warm without proper air flow. If using a larger fan is possible and proves to be a good thing, then why not? It's nice to see a manufacturer use the space fully.

Bundled Cables

Another thing I thought was worth mentioning was the Specifications table. The 3.3 volt rail provides up to 28 amps, while the 5 volt rail provides 30 amps. Realistically, this is basically just about the perfect amount of amperage needed by each of these rails. Anything over would just be wasted amperage. Cheaper power supplies will do this to justify their rated wattage since it's easier and cheaper than adding more to the 12 volt rails. The b-Tarantula sticks with the 30 amp limit which is very much appreciated. The two 12 volt rails offer a decent 20 amps a piece. This is enough to power your 8800 GTX despite what ever hype you may have read. This PSU would do perfectly for the average users with any graphics card, assuming there aren't 12 hard drives to connect as well.

Power Specs Table

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