Mach 1

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The Mach 1 is sent in a typically over the top computer component box, with lots of colourful pictures and logos each explaining a point about the PSU.

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Popping open the box and you’ll find a tray of the modular cables which allow you to connect a good number of devices; eight molex, a single FDD, four SATA, two 6 pin PCI-e and two 6+2 pin PCI-e. The SATA side of the connectivity seems a little limiting, but unless you are running more than 4 HDD’s this shouldn’t be an issue to most. Also provided are four screws, a technical manual and a kettle lead.

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The PCI-e connectors come on two separate cables, each having a 6 pin followed by a daisy-chained 6+2 pin. The 2 pin extra part looks a little flimsy and its not obvious which side that its meant to connect onto, however it becomes obvious when it doesn’t fit into your graphics card. As there are a total of four PCI connectors, you’ll be able to power a couple of 2900’s or a pair of 8800’s which is nice to see, especially now where multi-GPU machines are becoming more and more commonplace.

All of the molex connectors have the simple, yet incredibly useful quick-release tabs which when squeezed force the molex out of the device its plugged into, allowing for well… quick release.

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The power supply is completely modular, apart from the 4+4 pin (EPS) connector and the ATX 20+4 pin plug. These are hard wired into the PSU, and are braided in the same material used on all of the cables. The braiding completely hides the colour of the wires, and is black in colour stopping your PC looking a) cheap, and b) like an Early Learning Centre toy.

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To connect the modular cables to the Mach 1, you have to use connector reminiscent of BNC plugs, and something that looks VERY similar to the Hiper power supplies. These screw onto the back of the PSU which is a very secure solution, and connects to the chassis itself rather than connecting directly to the power supplies PCB like other solutions.

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Surrounding the sockets on the back of the unit are light rings, which if the box is anything to go by, light up when the Mach 1 is flying/turned on.

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On the topic of lights, both the large 120mm fan on the base of the supply and the rear 80mm fan are both equipped with some blue LED’s which should make for a nice sight, and crucial for anyone who wants to show off with their windowed case. If you want to go one step further, you can actually get this power supply model with a window in the side of it, allowing you to see the insides. Pointless but cool nonetheless.

The body of the Mach 1 is pretty good, and isn’t shiny, isn’t matt, but half way between and a dark silver colour. Internally, the PSU spits out two 12v rails with one rated as 17A and the other at 18A which is actually a little higher than other power supplies in the same wattage category. The use of multiple rails on a power supply has upsides and downsides, read about them in more detail in our glossary here.

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The power supply is rated as 70% minimum efficiency at full load, which means that it doesn’t qualify for any environmental awards, such as the 80+ which requires the PSU to be above 80% efficiency at different load levels. The power supply does conform to RoHS hence why it’s on sale in the UK, otherwise it wouldn’t be allowed anymore.