NeoHE 550Watt Power Supply Review

[Kougar]

Just wanted to say thanks for another great review Miles & Bjorn3d!

Despite my recent history with an Antec PSU the NeoHE line quickly managed to draw back my interest with the excellent results in reviews they have been receiving. Especially to see that kind of rail stability, considering the two SL400Watt Antec units I've owned were identical in the poor voltage stability offered.

The timing on this article couldn't have been better, and I still learned a few things from reading it, such as the feature set and customization varries per each size of power supply according to their wattage. Due to the difference Active PFC makes with the power efficiency I was previously eyeing the 500w model but now I think I'll grab the full enchilada, after I call up an Antec rep and ask a few questions first that I have.

To balance out my post a little though, I'll point out there is a typo in the second sentence of the article, "is" should be "I". :mrgreen: Thanks again for the great review, Miles! :paw:

[Miles]

I your appreciate your kind remarks, and thanks for catching the typo (fixed) sometimes you get so close to what you're writing you can't find a typo no matter what 8-)

Thanks Again!

[werty316]

I never really had any issues with Antec but the NeoHE 430W which came with the P150 really hurt Antec as that PSU was a big POS but its good see Antec has "fixed" the problem on that PSU.

[Miles]

I got a second or maybe third generation Neo HE 430 watt PSU in the P150 I reviewed I think the original issues were fixed by then. I agree the first generation of these PSU's really sucked.

[Kougar]

Yeah, it really hurt the Neo High Efficioncy brand with all the defective bundled PSUs they had in cases, ontop of issues with some Asus mainboards. That Antec did resdesign the PCB board layout to fix those Asus related issues and further enhance the acoustics of their supplies shows they're putting effort into them, even if they still have the occasional bad apples floating around. ;)

I guess I'll just ask: With all of the below quoted "safeguards", can I safely assume a NeoHE would switch itself off before blowing caps in the unlikely event of a short? Namely, if a molex plug had by pure happenstance landed just perfectly so only a single voltage pin was touching a single grounding pin on, say, a CDRW drive? ;)

Industrial grade protection circuitry prevents damage resulting from short circuits (SCP), under voltage protection (UVP), power overloads (OPP), excessive current (OCP) and excessive voltages (OVP).

[Victor]

I like antec's psu. It seems like antec has improved the efficiency. Man, this psu is awesome.

[Kougar]

I like antec's psu. It seems like antec has improved the efficiency. Man, this psu is awesome.

It's all in the "Active PFC" feature... if your system is on more often then it is off, then you should only be using a Active PFC equiped powersupply to drop that electric bill! Not to mention they run a fair bit cooler....

[tomato]

Wow! The Antec PFC feature is a GREAT idea that SHOULD be standard for all PSU's! Since most of us run our computers 24/7, saving a bit on our electric bills is a welcome thing ;) :)

[werty316]

It's all in the "Active PFC" feature... if your system is on more often then it is off, then you should only be using a Active PFC equiped powersupply to drop that electric bill! Not to mention they run a fair bit cooler....

Good detail here as I never really knew what an "Active PFC" did on a PSU.

[Victor]

Yeah, but older antec really does not have such high efficiency, it's nice to see antec finally got much needed efficiency.

[Kougar]

Well, "Active PFC" isn't anything new, some other brands have it. But most brands that offer Active PFC only have it on select model lines, such as Antec only offes it on the NeoHE line I believe. OCZ only offers it on the GamerXStream line, Silverstone offers it on some of their PSUs, and so forth.

Here's a link to a great review that illustrates why you should only buy a Active PFC powersupply, just check out the specs for the machine this PSUs are running, then eyeball those power figures and rail stability... Active PFC just about wins 'em all ;) http://www.legitreviews.com/article/348/11/ (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/348/11/) The only drawback to Active PFC is it is more expensive to produce, so the PSU's with it generally cost more then those without.

Okay, I'd like to bump my earlier what-if question, just to get some input on it. ;)

With all of the below quoted "safeguards", can I safely assume a NeoHE would switch itself off before blowing caps in the unlikely event of a short? Namely, if a molex plug had by pure happenstance landed just perfectly so only a single voltage pin was touching a single grounding pin on, say, a CDRW drive?

Industrial grade protection circuitry prevents damage resulting from short circuits (SCP), under voltage protection (UVP), power overloads (OPP), excessive current (OCP) and excessive voltages (OVP).