Verdict:

Fully modular, quiet and reasonably efficient.

This is the first time that we've seen a power supply with 100 per cent modular cables. This means that if you wanted to link two PSUs together to power a monster PC, the second spare ATX motherboard connector wouldn't flap around uselessly like a fish freshly pulled from the depths of the Atlantic.

With two 12V rails, the NorthQ appears to be steering a middle course between the single 12V rail and multirail extremists currently battling for control of the PSU industry. Each rail is rated as capable of outputting 35A, but they have a combined maximum of 56.7A. The rails are configured so that 12V1 powers the motherboard, half the CPU, the Molex, FDD and one of the PCI-E sockets, while 12V2 powers the other half of the CPU, the S-ATA sockets plus the other PCI-E sockets. This is a sensible arrangement, as it separates the power-hungry components (the CPU and graphics card), but it means that each rail can still deliver a lot of power on demand. The rather spartan interior provides plenty of room for a quiet, temperature-controlled 135mm fan.

The NorthQ proved to be reasonably efficient in our tests, averaging 83 per cent at full load. Unfortunately, the 3.3V rail failed two stability tests, with the output dropping to 3.13V when the rail was loaded at 15A. However, to be fair to NorthQ, since few PCs are likely to draw that much from the 3.3V rail, we wouldn't consider these two failures a show-stopping problem.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

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