It is amazing how quickly the once boring power supply has evolved over the past few years. They have evolved from 350watt steel boxes featuring a jumbled mess of cables hanging out of them, to something more like the Ultra X-Connect 2 550W power supply unit. In fact this relatively young company has done a lot to change the way power supplies look and function. After all, it was Ultra who designed the very first modular power supply; a design that has allowed the company to become so successful.

The X-Connect series became hugely popular over night as these power supplies allowed users to only install the cables they required. This kind of feature has become far more important with the introduction of 500watt+ power supplies. For example, the majority of todays 500watt power supplies feature over 12 unique cables hanging out of them, with at least half of these cables supporting more than one connector. While all high-end gaming rigs (for example) require 500watt power supplies, most do not require such a vast range of connectors. This means the majority of connectors have to be tucked away, which can become a problem.

Therefore, the Ultra designed the very first modular power supply series known as the X-Connect. This design allows users to only connect the power cables that they require. Furthermore, the X-Connect power cables where shielded in a high-quality sleeve. These sleeves looked impressive, were tidy and did not require a great deal of room. The only real down side was because the cables inside the sleeves were bound tightly together, making tight bends quite difficult.

This was not an issue as the X-Connect was only Ultras first crack at making a high-end power supply and in all it was a very successful attempt. With room for improvement Ultra announced the X-Finity series, designed to offer a highly flexible cable system. The X-Finity power supplies did so, though surprisingly they did not feature a modular design. This left Ultra with two extremely impressive power supply designs, though neither had it all. What they really needed to do was take the flexible cables from the X-Finity series and give them the modular feature of the X-Connect series.

Finally Ultra did just that, creating the X-Connect 2 series sharing both a modular design with Flex-Force technology. Currently, the series consists of just a single power supply rated at 550watts. This 550w power supply comes with a titanium or chrome like finish with an option of a UV model. Ultra has provided us with a UV sample which costs $20 US more than the plain titanium version. Despite the price premium, serious case modders will easily justify the added cost of the UV version.