Installation:

Installing the Power Partner is fairly straight forward process. You simply slide the unit into a 5.25" drive bay, connect the 24-pin connector to the motherboard, and then connect the 24-pin motherboard cable from your existing power supply to the 24-pin pass through cable. Now you have 5 extra cable to play with for power other devices. Unfortunately the Power Partner's cables are not modular cables that can be disconnected. Therefore if you are not using all these extra cables they will have to be neatly bundled and stashed away inside your computer case.

The last step is to rout the 110v power cable through the back of your computer case using the modified expansion card cover (left), which is included in the box. Routing one more power cable through a computer case isn't pretty so those with window mods beware.

Testing:

Now this is where things got a little interesting. The first thing I tested was the 5 and 12 volt power lines with a digital voltage meter. Both voltage lines were a little weak reading only 4.9v for the 5v line and 11.9v for the 12v line. Although a little off, this is within ATX spec of +/- 5%. Unfortunately the low voltages didn't stop here because with a load things continued to go down hill... With just one CD ROM and one hard drive the voltage lines started to dip and fluctuate rapidly. The 5v line would dip as low as 4.79 volts and the 12v line down to 11.7 volts. This is still within the +/- 5% range, but just barely. As for the fluctuation, I'm terribly disappointed. I recorded a .15v fluctuation on the 5v line and .25v on the 12v line. I know this is only a 325w power supply but I expected better from Ultra.

Conclusion:

Of course any power supply who's voltage lines are weak right out of the box with zero power load is disappointing, but when voltages dip even further and rapidly fluctuate under a light load I get a little worried. This is not what I expected to see, even out of a small 325 watt power supply. I've seen $20 power supplies with better voltage lines holding right at 5 and 12 volts with far less power fluctuation and under heavier loads. Adding in the voltage issues with the touched up scratches and it spells DISAPPOINTMENT.

Extra power cables being routed through the computer case is another factor that bothers me, however most people will deal with it if their in need of extra power. Neatly routing internal cables is nuisance, but if done properly will look great.  Extra cables or not, if you have the need for extra power a device like this one would come in handy.

Ultra had a good idea with the Power Partner, but unfortunately the final product could use some work. I would start off by calling the factory to demand higher standards in handling the units so they don't get scratched coming off the assembly line. Next I would dump the 325 watt unit and up it to at least 400 or 450 watts. I'd also test these power supplies a little more thoroughly to work out any power fluctuations. After all, with 3 video card connectors the Power Partner is obviously targeted towards the gamer, but with power dips and fluctuations nearing ATX limits, this particular 325w unit simply will not get the job done. In my opinion you should wait for Ultra to work out the kinks and release a new version before you drop $90 on the Power Partner.

Note: Club Overclocker is now using a new rating system based on a score of 1 to 5.
Please go to our rating system page for more information.

Performance:	2 out of 5
Innovation:	4 out of 5
Quality:	2 out of 5
Stability:	2 out of 5
Aesthetics:	4 out of 5
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Overclocking:	N/A
Value:	2 out of 5
Project Skill Level (5 being most difficult)	2 out of 5