I was able to hook all the components up to the OCZ with only two of the cables.  One being the ATX cable and the other being one of the daisy-chained Molex power leads. A fan controller, DVD-ROM, Hard drive and floppy are all that are installed as of this writing.  I feel confident that as I add components, the extra leads will show their worth.  I am also excited about the prospect of upgrading to a more modern mainboard knowing that the power supply will not be an issue.  

   Installation of a power supply in a custom case can be a time consuming prospect if you want the results to look professional.  Wire management is probably the most onerous task of completing a project case that is destined to have people looking at it, and I have to tell you that once you have used a power supply that has modular connectors (use only what you need, etc), it's hard to go back. 

   This is not a knock on the OCZ unit, which by rights should reside in a server tower with scads of drives, but modularity is a feature that should become standard over time. When I ordered the OCZ, I also ordered a Molex Sleeving Kit to complement it.  Look for a detailed review on these pages in the near future to see what is involved with the installation of the kit. 

   Even with the kit, I wasn't able to match the look of a commercial sleeving job (like the one done by FrozenCPU for my Antec p/s), but it did hide the wire and give it a bit of style.  I spent a lot of time organizing the excess wiring for the OCZ unit and tucking it out of the way in an unused drive bay.  When doing this, ensure that you are keeping the wires somewhat neat. I added a bit of  corrugated automobile wiring harness cover to hide the bundle. 

   The only aggravating thing about the OCZ package (and it will only affect some people) was that the ATX connector would not fit my mainboard without the supplied adaptor.  Some mainboards will accept the new style ATX connector with it's extra 4 pins without modification (the added wires are for additional power and are not needed on mainboards that do not support the socket specification).

   Both of my mainboards had components near the ATX socket that interfered with the native EPS12V connector, so I was forced to use the supplied adaptor, and it is a behemoth.  There just isn't any good way to collect 20 18G wires into a neat bundle when the wires are so short.  I tried a couple of different methods to hide it, but short of carving off the extra wires (not an option, IMO) I had to stick it on.  Those of you who are more concerned with operation rather than looks probably won't mind.

Testing

   After getting the case up and running (with its home-brew watercooling setup), I set the machine to run some burn-in tests using both my multi-meter and the mainboard BIOS.  I realize that the mainboard BIOS is not a calibrated instrument.  I tested the +5 Volt rail with my meter and found the default output to be 5.21 Volts. Within the 5% specified, but a little high. I used the adjustment on the back of the power supply to adjust it to 5.0 volts.  The meter was jumping between 5.01 and 5.00.  A 5% difference on 5 volts is 0.25 Volts, so I was satisfied with this adjustment. The BIOS reported the 5 Volt line at 4.97 after the adjustment.

   The 12 Volt line test went the same as the 5.  It was at 12.2 before the adjustment, and I managed to get it down to 12.0 with the adjustment knobs. The BIOS reported 12.18V after the adjustment.

   The 3.3 Volt line was reported to the BIOS at 3.49 Volts.  I adjusted the 3.3Volt line to as close to 3.3Volts as I could.  The BIOS apparently could not notice the adjustments, or it manages the 3.3 Volts with an internal regulator.

Conclusion

   The OCZ Powerstream 470 gets the nod for excellent looks, inclusion of all possible connector styles and solid engineering.  If you are building a no-compromise gaming rig or mid-range server box, I recommend that you consider this unit.  Although not designed for maximum "Bling", it has an elegant, classy look to it that just screams competency and instills confidence.  Thanks again to Directron for supplying this unit for review.

Pros

• Solid electrical engineering

• Excellent connector compatibility, including very new standards such as EPS12V, BTX, SATA

• Black chrome mirror finish is outstanding

• High power capabilities

• Dedicated Video Card/HDD cables with distinctive sleeving

Cons

• Lack of modular power connectors

• Standard cables lack sleeving

• Slightly larger form factor than other similar-output power supplies