Introduction

Lately more and more things in computers have started to be changed to be more appealing to the eye, to perform better, or to be more user friendly. The case mod community in a sense has been a catalyst to the movement away from typical beige. So, naturally once one has a kickass rig, pre modded or not (I'm becoming more tolerant, but it still don't make it right!), they can sit back in the neon glow of their creation and just smile. But wait! What's that big gray ugly box in the back top of their case? The typical PSU, well unless they had done a good mod job on it of course. However, PSU enclosures made from new materials and colors are starting to show up at retailers and we've been asked to take a look at one of these... The black aluminum 520W "Power Maxx" PSU from PCToys. Sounds nice. :)

The Package & Specs

Is this really necessary?

Voltage Specs Table

520 *Drool*

Before receiving this puppy, all I knew is that it was a PSU from PC Toys... Had my fingers crossed for the 520W and sure enough, that's just what I got! A list of features was on back of the box as well as on the PCToys website, they are as follows:

• 3 Speed Thermal Fan Control Switch
  
• 3 Temperature Controlled Dual Ball Bearing Fans
  
• Universal Connector Fits Most of Branded Mainboards
  
• Additional AC Output For Peripheral
  
• Lightweight Black Aluminum Casing
  
• Electric-Shock-Free Protection
  
• Over Voltage Protection
  
• Over Current Protection
  
• Short Circuit Protection
  
• ATX 12 V
  
• Low Noise Level

The complete package

Zip Ties?

Impressive package indeed, PSU, Power Cord, 24-20 Pin adapter (explained later), and some documentation... Something I like to see is products that come with extra things that aren't really needed but help out, it shows that the company wants to please the consumer and actually cares. This is shown here by throwing in a few extra zip ties to avoid a huge wire mess, along with a power cord... I have really grown to appreciate this, especially after a disaster with a new camera and a company that had the exact opposite opinion. They decided to leave out a few of the smaller things that are needed.

Sleeved Mobo Power Cable

IT'S THE GIANT SQUID!

Well, as we've been seeing more and more, the motherboard power cable is sleeved, always nice to have. However right after unpacked this bad boy, I soon realized these cables were probably longer than any other PSU cables I've ever worked with. The motherboard power cable was approximately 2 feet long, and the regular molex connector cables extended up to about 3 1/2 feet long!! o_0

The PSU comes with 10 4-Pin Molex connectors, 2 4-Pin floppy drive power connectors, and the following...

SSI 8 Pin Connector

SSI 4 Pin Connector

Auxiliary Mobo Connector

The PSU is equipped with both the 8 and 4 Pin SSI 12V connector, which are usually used on Intel server boards. It also comes with the more common more common Auxiliary motherboard connector.

SSI 24 Pin Mobo Connector

24 to 20 Pin Adapter

If you haven't guessed it already, this PSU is intended primarily for servers rather than PC's. SSI stands for "Server System Infrastructure," whom have a bunch of their own connectors used in the server world... unfortunately worlds collided and I was extremely confused while trying to figure out what all of these extra connectors were for. :p

Most PC motherboards use 20 Pin connectors, luckily PCToys provides us with the 24 Pin to 20 Pin adapter so it's not a problem for us PC users.

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