Page 1:
"I have always said, if you are going to buy a new PSU - at minimum, make sure it's from a company you have at least heard of. Today I may have to eat those words." - C. T. Adcock
If you haven't heard of Ikonik, you are not alone. The Taiwanese based company is barely a few years old and their presence in the US market is in its infancy. That isn't to say the folks behind Ikonik are new. They are part of a story seen time and time again at the movie theater. A few folks working at a well known company decide it's time to stop working for "the man" and strike out on their own to form a formidable competitor to said well known company. That's Ikonik's birth in a nutshell. Their path? Well, maybe they can say it best..
"With the current economic recession and market decline, many businesses and individuals are taking strain as disposable income grows increasingly hard to come by. To this end, real value, durability and quality are what people need above all else..."
I think that's a deliverable we could all use. Let's see if the Vulcan 850 fits the bill.
Contents and Features
The Ikonik Vulcan 850 watt package is not a spartan one. It includes the PSU, modular cable harnesses (yes, this is a modular unit), power cord, a nice denim soft storage for your cables (perfect for redeploying), mounting thumb screws (we likely) and an installation “poster”. No little case badges for you to "represent", and no zip ties (bummer) for your cable routing pleasure. Of course, if you are in a pinch, there are plenty of re-usable twist ties in the package. Ikonik would probably point out that a modular PSU doesn't need as much in the way of cable management. Still, we are rather fond of zip ties, Velcro straps and the occasional badge (Ed. Note: keep mind on computers please). We shed a tear that some were not included.
Moving on to the unit itself, the Ikonik Vulcan is no slouch on looks or specs. Dressed in matte black, the Vulcan sports a 140mm bottom mount blue LED fan. The LEDs are switchable, although the switch will be inside the case when installed. So, you will have to pull a side panel if you wish to "get the party started". The rear exhaust vent is honeycomb mesh and Ikonik has stylishly adorned the housing with a back-lit logo. The fan grill hub is adorned with Ikonik's Vulcan logo and Ikonik prides itself on it's multi-language support - right down to the specification panel. You get to read the specs and learn a new language!
The specification panel tells us this is a 4x12V rail unit not atypical of modern PSUs. The 5V and 3.3V rails can handle 180watts combined (the higher end of what we typically see). The 12V1 and 12V2 are rated for 18 amps each, or 430 watts total. The 12V3 and 12V4 are each rated at 30 amps – or 720 watts total. Of course, the 12V rails are restricted to a combined simultaneous wattage of 745 watts. That's enough wattage to power just about the hungriest of systems.
Cables, Connections, Dimensions
As we mentioned above, the Vulcan is a modular PSU. Most modular PSUs have a few fixed cables that a user nearly always uses, and then the rest of the wire harnesses are “Plug and Play” so to speak. In the case of the Vulcan 850, the 20/24 pin, P4/EPS 4/8 pin and two PCI-E 6/8 pin harnesses are hard wired. This tells us a bit about the philosophy behind this PSU. Ikonik didn't build the Vulcan to simply be multi-PCI-E capable; they expect it to be used that way. On the modular side, you have two more additional PCI-E harnesses available and then your choice of hooking up SATA or PATA peripherals (or both). We don't know exactly what kind of system Ikonik was envisioning the Vulcan 850 in, but we do know it was big – really big.
| Harness | Fixed Connectors and Lengths |
| 1 | Fixed ATX 20/24 Pin mainboard connector. 25" long. |
| 2 | Fixed EPS/12V 4/8 pin CPU power cable. 19" long. |
| 3 | Fixed PCI-E 6/8 pin connector. 19" long |
| 4 | Fixed PCI-E 6/8 pin connector. 19" long |
| 5 | Modular SATA power cable with connectors at 25”, 31”, and 37". |
| 6 | Modular SATA power cable with connectors at 25”, 31”, and 37". |
| 7 | Modular SATA power cable with connectors at 25”, 31”, and 37". |
| 8 | Modular Peripheral power cable (PATA) with 4 pin molex connectors at 25”, 31”, and 37". |
| 9 | Modular Peripheral power cable (PATA) with 4 pin molex connectors at 25”, 31”, and 37" + FDD connector at 42". |
| 10 | Modular PCI-E 6/8 pin connector. 24" long |
| 11 | Modular PCI-E 6/8 pin connector. 24" long |
Cables lengths are more than adequate and all are sleeved from tips to tails. There are enough modular cables to make about any configuration possible. In addition, in what is a first for us we believe, all of the PCI-E harnesses (fixed and modular) are choked. The choke's purpose here is to clean up the DC signal right before it goes into the video card. Less noise in the signal means more stable voltages – Schweet!
While there is no wiring diagram, Ikonik stuck with traditional wiring…erm..traditions, and striped the different 12V rail yellow wires in different colors. Combine this with color coded PCI-E connectors, and it's pretty easy to determine which rail is on which harness. That's becoming more and more important. Having a multi rail PSU doesn't do an end user much good if all of the 12V devices are hooked to a single rail.
Dimensionally, the Ikonik 850 is surprisingly small. It's a bit long at 6.25 inches (about 0.75" over the ATX guide), so you will have to measure your case for fit, but for an 850 watt supply, that's still a pretty small housing.