PSU Group Test: 500W, 600W, 700W, 850W

OCZ Fatal1ty 700W

Manufacturer: OCZ
UK Price (as reviewed): £88.08 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $123.98 (ex. Tax)

OCZ has expanded into numerous hardware markets in recent years and now sells PSUs as well as memory, waterblocks and a brilliant range of SSDs such as the bit-tech recommended OCZ Vertex. The Fatal1ty 700W, named after the pro-gamer Johnathan Wendel, features captive rather than modular cables and, unlike most of the other PSUs in this Labs test, has a single 12V rail rated at up to 56A.

Multiple rails are arguably safer in the unlikely event that the PSU fails, but a single rail is cheaper to make and more power efficient. With a single 12V-rail PSU you also don’t need to worry about overloading it by connecting the wires incorrectly. The PSU provides two 6+2-pin PCI-E, eight S-ATA and eight Molex connectors. The Fatal1ty 700W passed all our stability tests. However, while the 120mm fan was quiet at 50 per cent load, we noticed a high-pitched whine coming from one of the coils inside the PSU, which was quite distracting.


Its efficiency was 82 per cent at this load level, which is rather poor for a new PSU in mid 2009. It was slightly more efficient at full load with a score of 84 per cent, but this is still a little lower than average in today’s market. Stability is the primary consideration when buying a PSU, but low noise, efficiency and modular cables are also important. While the Fatal1ty 700W didn’t live up to its name and kill any members of staff, we are reluctant to recommend it due to the coil whine. At this price range the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W is a much better buy.

• Stability
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• 10/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 5/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

Score Guide