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Introduction Aluminum Pc Cases have been around for seemingly forever now, and with their incredible popularity, more aluminum products and peripherals are sure to capitalize on the success. Today I'm gonna take a look at the iCute 420w All Aluminum Power Supply provided by FrozenCpu.com. If you take a glance at the iCute homepage, you'll notice that they've got some very interesting products are by no means newcomers to the market. You may also notice the iCute comes in silver and a champagne anodized version. Only the silver brushed aluminum model is offered by FrozenCpu. The brushed model is 10 to 1 more popular than the champagne version which is the reason only the brushed one is carried. Not to mention that this is one is much sexsier ( i think ) over the "gold" one. Aluminum's biggest benefit would have to be the sheer weight reduction versus a steel counterpart. Coming in at a close second might be the stunning good looks of a brushed aluminum component versus a plain dull steel model. The drawbacks ( and there's always drawbacks right ;p ) to the aluminum is it's softer and therefore will dent and scratch much more easily. Let's take a closer look ..... Features These stylish power supplies feature two 80mm clear fans for maximum airflow. The casing is also 100% aluminum so they should be a little lighter in weight than other comparable power supplies.
The unit was shipped in its retail box and packaged in a styrofoam "brick".
I received the item in perfect condition telling me the packaging was "safe enough". Let me say this, I had to "break the code" to get this thing outta that styrofoam...hehe....It was seriously packed in there with no room to spare. That's a good thing btw, Just thought I'd mention it. =) **Shiney aluminum can be such a pain in da` arse to take pics of so I gave you the "light" and "dark" versions =)**
The exterior is a very nice "ribbed" all aluminum shell and , although it may scratch easily, the "brushing" will cover it nicely. You can see the rear fan adds a little more length to this psu.
Rear 80mm clear fan. First fan I've seen that's had a clear casing AND clear fan blades. Very sharp indeed. No fan in the underbelly? Nope, iCute decided to go with the rear fan instead of the underbelly fan. Why? Who knows. Probably to be "different". The one advantage I can immediately think of with a rear mounted fan over the underbelly fan is that the rear fan, being "inline" with the exhaust fan should increase overall cooling of the power supplies interior. One very important factor of cooling is how the air flows. Can't get any better than straight thru. The immediate dis-advantage would be the added length will make it much tighter in the smaller cases out there.However, in a case like the Lian Li PC-70, the rear fan would be perfect. If you'll remember my review of the PC-70, I had to "flip" the Enermax psu because the fan would've been pressed against the solid psu cage. This iCute wouldn't have that issue. I'll show you what I mean in a minute. =)
The front of the iCute. Pretty basic besides the sweet appearance of the aluminum. You can see this 80mm fan is also clear. A white power cable is included with the iCute, therefore they make the attachment on the psu white also. Just a small, but noteable, nice touch.
Hmmm, only four 12v molex connections. One 5v molex, a P4 connection, and a 12v ATX MB connector. Rambling I get alot of emails from people out there building systems and they wanna know what size and brand power supply I would recommend to them. Well, I've always recomended at least the 350w ( Brand Name) models. A huge misconception among newcomers is the fact that when they bought their generic mid, or full tower case at their local computer show for $30, they think that , because it came with a 300w ( generic) psu, that their trouble-free in putting in that 2.0Ghz P4 or that 1.6Ghz AthlonXP. WRONG! You know how we say that a computer case is the most overlooked component of a computer system? A quality power supply would have to rank up their as well! Power supply issues are the leading cause of downtime. Not to mention bleeding ulsers and abused pets!...oh come on, don't look at me that way! You've never been having serious issues with your PC and your pet walks up and starts rubbing your leg and you're like *PUNT!* "GET THE $@!! AWAY FROM ME YOU $!%#$!" ? ....Hmmm, no? Must be just me then ....hehe. Ermm, anyway, nothing more aggravating then computer "issues" like random rebooting, random lockups, lockups during bootups, corrupted software installations, etc. The list goes on and on! All can be attributed to a faulty or insufficeint power source. In my book, anything over a 1ghz cpu system should have at least a 350w psu. AMD recommends at least a 350w for anything from a 1 ghz to the new 1800+ XP cpu. So I'd go 400w just to be safe. See what I'm getting at?..hehe. ( go here to check for AMD recommended psu wattage ) So, bottom line , this 420w iCute will do just fine for just about anything you can throw at it short of pelt's and Xtreme stuff. If you have an aluminum case already, like the Lian Li or the Coolermaster, this iCute might very well be the finishing touch. You can't argue the great looks of the brushed aluminum shell on this unit. I have a PC-60 here and I figured the iCute would be a perfect compliment to it. Well, there was some issues. I tried and tried to get the iCute into the PC-60 to no avail. I couldn't simply slid it in from the back, nor could I manuever it in from the inside. Not easily anyway. I didn't want to force it for fear that it wouldn't come out without me breaking out the torch....lol. I contacted mark about it and he assured me that the iCute WILL fit in the PC-60. He said it just "takes a good push, but it'll go".....heh. So like I thought, I just didn't push it quite enough ;p He did tell me too that it will be alot tighter in the pc-60 anyway due to the compactness of the psu housing . Not a big deal, as long as I know it will fit, It's going in there soon! ....hehe. Well, due to time constraints and the fact that I had a PC-7X ( not a typo, I could tell you exactly what PC-70 version I have, but I'd have to "erase" you ) , I decided to surpass the PC-60 and move it straight to the big guy. Take a look at both below.
Matches a Lian Li PC-60 perfectly. And it WILL fit in it =)
Tons of room in the PC-7x for it. And looks sweet!
Only 4 molex's a downfall. Cable length plenty long enough. As you can see in the above pics, a few things to note. First lets talk about that rear fan. In a very tight small to mid-tower, it may cause a problem by taking up precious room and crowding the area between the psu and the back of the 5.25" drives. However, in the average workstation ( sx1030-ish) to full tower ( PC-70-ish) it will not cause any issues and you won't even notice the added length of the iCute. In certain instances, like the PC-7x series of case, this iCute is actually a perfect solution for the fact that you can have a dual fan power supply and NOT have to flip it upside down or do any kinda modifications to install and use it like it's intended. Again , refer to my PC-70 review for exactly what I'm talking about. Now, as far as the lack of molex's, well that's not really a big issue. I don't know about you, but even though my other enermax 431w has a ton of molex connections, I certainly do not use them all anyway. It's more I have to hide and tuck away. Only having 4 molex's is good in a way that it'll keep the inside neater by having fewer useless cables around. It's not a big deal to add a molex splitter here and there to accomodate your particular needs. There's really no use to whine about only 4 molex's. I mean, it's a 420w psu for god sake....heh...I think it can handle it! I'm sure they could've added more. For some reason they didn't oh well. If you look at it like I do, it's not a bad thing =) In all honesty, I'm thinking I'd have to add maybe one splitter at the most. Big F'n deal! =) I'm lookin at it as less sh*t to wrap and hide....hehe. It still has all your P4 compliant connectors and the floppy, etc. So you'll live ;p I'm tellin ya, this iCute in a PC-7x is really turning me on. I really like the way it looks. Even from the back it looks very nice. Clear fans kick butt!
Testing and Conclusion To test this unit I threw it in my current setup consisting of:
It powered everything up first time and never skipped a beat. The iCute was no louder than the old Enermax 351w and seemed to push about the same amount of air thru it. The price for the iCute 420w aluminum psu is about $10 more ($99) than the comparable 431w Enermax ( $89) listed at FrozenCpu but, for the features of the iCute like the all aluminum contruction, lighter weight, and the rear fan for you pc-70 owners, I'd say it's worth it. If you're running a LAN case and weight is everything, then the little bit saved here is alittle bit earned ;p It can be just one more conversation piece in your pc. So bottom line, If you've got a PC-70 and looking for a new power supply, I'd highly recommend the iCute 420w. Its powerful, all aluminum, and the rear mounted fan is perfect for that particular psu cage. If you've got any other aluminum case, it's worth taking a serious look at. And if you have just a plain heavy steel case and are looking to save alittle added weight, it's good there too...heh. The addition of only 4 molex connections is actually kinda a plus in my book. That way you can add one or two splitters at most if you need them. Most of us will only use probably one splitter. I don't know about you, but i've had a ton of power supplies and it's totally frustrating to try to hide 4732198132" of unused psu cable cuz you've only got 5 devices and your enermax 431w came with like 11 molex connections!......11!....I mean really now, that's alot! I had that stuff wrapped around the inside of my case like 3 times....LMAO. The cables on this iCute are "just right" I think. Well, "just right" may be 5 for some, or 10 for others...heh. Whatever! ./me stops I'd like to thank mark from FrozenCpu for allowing me to give you guys a closer look at the iCute 420w All Aluminum PSU. You'll be seeing more of this psu in my next review where it'll make a cameo, and also an article or two I have planned after that =) Stay tuned to VHTV (channel 69 on your local pay-per-dr00l network) Over and Out! << Back to Reviews Page | Back to VH FrontPage >>
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