Introduction

We would like to thank OCZ for supplying the review sample.

Recently a new addition was made to OCZ's Fatal1ty Gamer series. The new flagship was co-developed with twelve-time world champion Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel with just one purpose in mind, to meet the specific needs of all gamers. But what do gamers need? In our opinion they need good performance, high reliability, excellent looks and most of all a nice, low price. We think that the new Fatal1ty 1000W or FTY1000W easily covers the first three requirements but unfortunately it isn't that affordable, at least to every gamer out there.

Another highly interesting feature of this PSU is that all of its cables are individually sleeved (or braided), something that up to now wasn't an option for any retail PSU and was only possible through special custom made cables. Lately Corsair and NZXT started to sell kits of indy-sleeved cables at not so affordable prices though. Of course not anyone is able or has the patience to individually sleeve the cables of his PSU so it is nice to see this feature available in the new Fatal1ty unit and maybe some other companies will follow the same tactic, despite the impact this will have on total cost. Nevertheless, for most modders, ready indy-sleeved cables will be a dream come true since they will save them from lots of trouble and work. Personally we think that these cables add unnecessary bulkiness compared to normal sleeved ones but we will discuss this later on in the review.

Briefly, the FTY1000W features Gold efficiency, has a single +12V rail, is backed by a five year warranty that ensures the future buyer's peace of mind and besides the indy-sleeved cables its LED lighted fan completes a modder's needs. Also the exclusive use of Japanese caps, which tend to last longer than Chinese ones promises high reliability and longer lifespan.

Specifications

Efficiency is Gold but not yet verified by 80 Plus organization (at the time of the review at least). According to its manufacturer the PSU can deliver its full power even at 50°C and regarding its protections it is equipped only with the basic ones including OCP which is pretty much useless in single +12V rail units. The cooling fan has ball bearings, so it will last longer than a sleeve bearings one but it adds some extra bucks to the final price. As you can see from the respective row on the table above, the PSU has a large footprint with 180mm length and its weight is not small. Finally the warranty is set at five years and the price is stiff, since the individually sleeved cables don't come cheap.

There is only one +12V rail which can deliver almost the full unit's power, something that will come in handy in a contemporary power hungry system with two or three high-end VGAs installed. The minor rails are quite strong, for today's needs and thankfully the same applies to the 5VSB rail, too, which can deliver up to 20W.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

As we already mentioned, all cables in this unit, fixed and modular, have individually-sleeved wires. This alone makes this PSU unique since up to date no other manufacturer has released something similar (only extra kits of indy-sleeved cables are available from Corsair and NZXT). The number of connectors is adequate for the capacity of the unit since it includes two EPS and six PCIe connectors with all being available at the same time. Also twelve SATA, eight peripheral and two FDD connectors complete the picture. The length of all cables is sufficient for most cases, however we would like to see a little longer EPS cables since these ones tend to cause compatibility problems in very large cases. Thankfully the distance between connectors is the recommended one at 150mm. Finally, all connectors use 18AWG wires, which are the correct ones according to ATX spec.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.

Packaging

The packaging is quite large, even for a high capacity PSU and features a gaming-vivid design with the figure of Wendel along with a photo of the unit taking over the front real estate. On the front bottom side, with large white fonts there is a description of the unit's capacity and the indy-sleeved cables; while in the front, bottom, right corner there are two badges for the 80 Plus Gold efficiency and the five year warranty. On the rear side of the box we find more detailed info about its features and a description of its technical specifications. The most interesting info in this area is that the unit is equipped with Japanese caps, has a single +12V rail, can deliver its full power continuously even at 50°C ambient and that during the five year warranty, if a problem occurs the unit will be replaced before the old one arrives at OCZ's service center, something that significantly reduces RMA waiting time.