CaseGears Acrylic X-Plug Modular 450W PSU Review Options

[PhatSOB]

Reviewed by: Jason "PhatSOB" Hambly
Date: October 17, 2005
Manufacturer: CaseGears
MRSP: $50US


Introduction:

CaseGears is an innovator of high-quality computer accessories, power supplies, and cases for gaming PC systems. Combining unique styling and the latest advances in technology. CaseGears products enable consumers to add performance and personality to their PC systems. CaseGears products incorporate stylish designs, advanced functionality and most importantly, reliability.

CaseGears is not a name we have come across before. They have just released a line of modular power supplies to the market. The company is so new that the website that is marked on the side of the box is not even active yet. Today I am looking at the CaseGears Acrylic X-Plug Modular 450W power supply.

The Package and Specifications:

Package

The X-Plug comes in a black cardboard box with pictures of the unit and many of its features covering all sides. Inside you find the X-Plug unit in a bubble wrap bag and all of the cables bundled together in the remaining space. There is no manual or other documentation included in the package.

Features / Specifications

Features

- General Features:
- UV Blue Acrylic casing
- Sleeved ATX power cable
- 20 + 4 motherboard power connector
- Blue molex connectors
- Dual Blue LED Fans
- X-Plug modular cable management
- Low Noise & Ripple
- Built-in EMI Filter and anti-interference electronic resistor

Specifications

- Total Output 450 watt
- Support Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon systems
- One (1) 20 + 4-pin ATX connector
- Six (6) 4-pin standard molex connectors
- Two (2) 4-Pin 3.5-inch drive connectors
- Two (2) SATA power connectors
- One (1) 4-pin +12V Power connector
- Two (2) blue 80mm LED fans (one intake and the other output)

AC Input
100V~200V/200V`240V
10A/5A
50/60Hz

DC
+3.3V ? 28A
+5V ? 34A
+12V ? 14A

Package and Specifications: 3.5/5

Appearance:

At first glance the CaseGears X-Plug looks pretty cool. Most people have never seen inside of a power supply before so for those, this is a first glimpse into unknown territory. Wires, capacitors, and heatsinks are generally all you see. Two blue LED fans light the UV reactive acrylic that the casing is made of. The 20+4 pin connector is the only wire that is hard wired into the PSU. All other wires are modular and can be added and removed as needed. The modular connectors are hidden under easily removed covers to keep dust out of these connectors when not needed. There is one SATA, four molex, and two 4 pin 12V connectors. The other end of the unit has the power input and switch. There is also a switch to change between 115V and 230V.

The unit is held together by screws that are inserted into pre-drilled holes in the acrylic. There is one screw that looks like it was over tightened during assembly. This caused a very small crack in the acrylic but does not appear to weaken the casing. Inside parts that could work themselves loose, such as fan connectors are held together with hot glue. This can be seen in a few spots and strings across to a few other nearby components. This is nothing major; we all know what it is like working with hot glue. One downside to acrylic is that it is easily scratched. This can be a problem for anyone that has to wrestle with a PSU to get it installed in the case.

All cables come sleeved in a blue plastic mesh and sealed at the ends with blue shrink wrap. The molex wires also come with blue connectors to add to the overall look of the entire unit. The X-Plug did not come with a PCI-E connector or converter, leaving any PCI-E users needing the molex to PCI-E converter that came with their video cards.

Appearance: 4/5

Installation:

Installing this power supply into my test case (Antec Titan) was a dream. The case has a completely open area across the top of the case and made for very quick installation without removing any other components. The power supply sits on a small rail and is held in place by the same four screws used in all cases. Running the necessary cables was very easy. The two molex wires were very long and easily reached to the far end of the case. The SATA wire was also plenty long and had no problem reaching the drives. The 20+4 pin connector was more than long enough to reach, same with the 4 pin 12V connector. All wires were easily connected to the unit but could easily be pulled out if a wire was bumped too hard. There is no type of mechanism to hold the wires securely in place.

Performance:

To test the performance of the X-Plug, voltages were recorded using a digital multi-meter at several different stages of computer use. Voltages were first checked while in the BIOS, Windows start up, Windows idle, gaming, Folding@Home, file transfer, and while burning a CD. These tests were all then repeated after overclocking the CPU from the stock speed of 1.8GHz to 2.5GHz. With this overclock the RAM speed was also increased form 200MHz to 227Mhz.

Test System

Antec Titan case
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
AMD Athlon64 3000+ Venice Core
1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC4300 DDR533
Leadtek PX7800GT TDH Extreme
2x Samsung SATA3G RAID 0
LG 16x DVD/RW

Overclock voltages are listed in ()

BIOS
12v ? 12.16v
5v ? 5.20v
3.3v ? 3.382v

Windows Boot
12v ? 12.16 to 12.23v (12.14 to 12.23v)
5v ? 5.19v (5.20v)
3.3v ? 3.383v (3.378v)

System Idle
12v ? 12.23v (12.22v)
5v ? 5.19v (5.19v)
3.3v ? 3.385v (3.386)

Gaming (Battlefield 2)
12v ? 12.08 to 12.12v (12.06 to 12.10v)
5v ? 5.20v (5.21v)
3.3v ? 3.378v (3.373v)

Folding@Home/File Transfer/Burning
12v - 12.18v (12.15v)
5v - 5.19v (5.19v)
3.3v ? 3.382v (3.379v)

For an inexpensive power supply the performance was quite impressive. All three voltage rails remained stable during each test. My test system resembles an average user, adding a dozen case fans and cold cathode lighting may have prevented this PSU from performing as well. The only noticeable drop was during gaming, this is primarily due to the video card kicking into overdrive and drawing its maximum power. The memory also took its biggest drop during gaming as well. Even with these drops there was never any concern that the system may crash due to a lack of power. This power supply is not certified for SLI and is aimed more towards the average user, I would not suggest it for anyone?s high end SLI rig.

Performance: 4.5/5

Price/Warranty:

When you can find a power supply that looks good and offers reliable power for only $50 you can?t complain. The X-Plug can be purchased at Xoxide.com for $48.99 and at several other online retailers.

Casegears offer a one year warranty on their power supplies.

Price/Warranty: 4/5

Conclusion:

After using the CaseGears X-Plug PSU, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I was expecting power issues to start from the beginning and especially after overclocking the computer. However I had no such issues during any of the tests. Even though this product won?t be recommended to the very high end users it will certainly be considered when building a budget machine. A slightly longer warranty period would be nice but for under $50 you can't ask for much longer. The X-Plug looks good, works well, and could easily make a great addition to your case.

Pros:
- Stable power
- Modular wires
- All wires sleeved
- Inexpensive

Cons:
- Easily scratched
- No PCI-E cables

Package and Specifications: 3.5/5
Appearance: 4/5
Performance: 4.5/5
Price/Warranty: 4/5
Overall: 16/20

We would like to thanks CaseGears for sending us this power supply for testing.

[nuelrosson]

another nice review Phats

[VoodooGuru]

I would like to have seen a photo of this PSU installed and all lit up...

This post has been edited by VoodooGuru: Oct 23 2005, 09:08 AM

[PhatSOB]

I will put up some pics of it lit up and installed after I get my camera back. At the moment the camera is on a different continent.

[D|cKspL@sh]

I will put up some pics of it lit up and installed after I get my camera back.  At the moment the camera is on a different continent.

Top review PS and a neat unit and it will be good to get some images up of that baby all lit up

[Aries]

A very good Review as always PhatSOB.
I think for that price, this is a real good PSU. He has even more than you would expekt.

Aries

[KitePlans]

great review man!!as always!!

[redfox21700]

That's a cool one. With clear PSUs, you can see the insides without risking frying yourself. ...and it has the nice colored sleeves. I have UV sleeves on my PSU, too. Cept mine are green. They look nice enough, just don't get the UV light unless you want eye cancer or cataracts.

Another well-written review, PhatSOB.

[Loader.]

Any chance of them building one just like this but with higher wattage? With dual video cards, 4GB RAM and 5 hard drives, I'd like to have closer to 600 watts for my new system.

What do you think?

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