Antec Neo HE 550 Power Supply

INTRODUCTION

To own an enthusiast level system today means you have in your midst a Power Hungry Monster! Why do I say this? Well here's a perfect example of my rationale: A few days ago the best Extreme PSU Calculator that I have found to date over at Outervision eXtreme. This calculator takes everything and I do mean everything into consideration I ran my current system through it and determined that @ 100% PSU utilization I needed around a 500 Watt PSU. I then wondered at 100% utilization how much of a lifespan would my PSU have? Not to mention cooling. I have always been told that a good rule of thumb is even in those full load, overclocking sessions where you're testing the maximum your system will deliver you should not stress your PSU more than 90% for a prolonged period of time. I personally prefer to drop that percentage down to about 75% for periods greater than about 10 minutes and 90% to 100% for short term testing of less than 5 minutes in duration.

If I were to apply my standards that would suggest adding another 25% to the PSU I needed bringing me now up to 600 Watts. Ok then we have to remember that no PSU is 100% efficient. The very best power supplies are only 70% to a max of around 75% efficient at full load. That means add another 30% to my PSU needs bringing my requirements up to around 780 Watts. Throw in a 10% fudge factor for, there's nothing scientific about this but I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to PSU utilization, and that brings me up to around 850 Watts. This would allow me to have a silent powerful system with the PSU hardly ever being taxed more than around 60% of its capabilities ensuring a decent longevity and return on my investment.

I most certainly believe the above captioned calculations. There also usage patterns and surge current during start up compensation and literally another 4-5 factors like whether the PSU has PFC (Power Factor Correction capabilities) or not which I will not go into currently that would play a role in my decision on what size PSU to buy. Then we get into the quality of the product produced which is probably as big of an issue as all of the other factors that I have mentioned thus far. Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention my system is not what I would consider and extremely high level enthusiast grade system, that is by some peoples'standards who have really high level enthusiast grade rigs. All of this information is to get you in "thinking mode" so that you don't take your PSU for granted. Just think how many problems you read about today at forums and other computer related web sites that when the true cause is finally diagnosed are directly or indirectly related to the power supply.

Ok, I hope I've made my point that the days of determining your system's power needs using the SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) approach are most certainly over. All things being said, it's now review time; and the subject of today's review is? You guessed it, a power supply and a high high quality one at that: The Antec® Neo HE 550 power supply. Join us while we investigate this unit's performance and quality.