Comments from owners of the Antec Phantom 500W?

virtualrain · Post by **virtualrain** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:42 am

Hi, for those of you with Antec Phantom 500W, can you comment on how well it's working for you in terms of staying silent. Also, what kinds of conditions are you running it under (case, other ventilation, loads, ambient temps, etc.).

Thanks!

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:32 pm

I've been running mine for a year in the bottom of a P180 with a Nexus midfan at 5V (550 RPM). This keeps the disks fairly cool (<40*C) and the power supply cool enough that its fan never turns on.

The Phantom's fan only comes on if the top heat sink gets over 52*C.

virtualrain · Post by **virtualrain** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:44 pm

cmthomson wrote:I've been running mine for a year in the bottom of a P180 with a Nexus midfan at 5V (550 RPM). This keeps the disks fairly cool (<40*C) and the power supply cool enough that its fan never turns on.

The Phantom's fan only comes on if the top heat sink gets over 52*C.

I gather your system doesn't see enormous loads very often (i.e. running recent 3D games for hours at a time)?

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:39 pm

virtualrain wrote:I gather your system doesn't see enormous loads very often (i.e. running recent 3D games for hours at a time)?

My typical load is about 250W (measured at the AC plug) while folding day and night. Max load is 325W running CPUBurn and ATITool. The power supply fan never comes on. The only way I could ever get it to come on was to completely block all airflow over the power supply heat sinks and run benchmarks for 20 minutes or so.

marvin-miller · Post by **marvin-miller** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:32 pm

Hi guys;

Don't mean to butt-in but I have a question for cmthomson

I have a P180 and tried a Phantom 350 but it kept shutting off (I'm pretty sure my workstation drew too much power for it and it kept 'protecting' itself).

I ended up returning it and can get the Phantom 500 but I thought it would not fit. Am I wrong? I have the stock fan installed in the lower plenum chamber. Also, I really wanted a fanless power supply.

So the question now is whether the 500 watt model would fit and if it would stay fanless. I have (4) 15K SCSI drives in the lower drive cage but they are actually very efficient and typically run around 30c.

What are your experiences?

Thanks!
Marvin

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:16 am

marvin-miller wrote:Hi guys;

Don't mean to butt-in but I have a question for cmthomson

I have a P180 and tried a Phantom 350 but it kept shutting off (I'm pretty sure my workstation drew too much power for it and it kept 'protecting' itself).

I ended up returning it and can get the Phantom 500 but I thought it would not fit. Am I wrong? I have the stock fan installed in the lower plenum chamber. Also, I really wanted a fanless power supply.

So the question now is whether the 500 watt model would fit and if it would stay fanless. I have (4) 15K SCSI drives in the lower drive cage but they are actually very efficient and typically run around 30c.

What are your experiences?

Thanks!
Marvin

You will need to replace the 38mm bottom fan with a 25mm fan to have room for the P500 cables. You can either swap that fan with one of the top case fans or just replace it outright. I found the stock fans (especially in the lower chamber) to be way too loud. Also until I seriously undervolted the lower chamber fan, the whole chamber resonated.

As long as there is any airflow across the top of the P500, its fan will not turn on. Shove the extra cables under the supply to maximize airflow across the top fins.

marvin-miller · Post by **marvin-miller** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:26 am

Thanks cmthomson - I'll order the 500 now

Can you recommend replacement fans for the P180? If I'm replacing the bottom one is it worth replacing the other two at the same time?

I'd really like quiet ones and am trying to get this thing silenced but don't know what to buy

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:51 am

marvin-miller wrote:Thanks cmthomson - I'll order the 500 now

Can you recommend replacement fans for the P180? If I'm replacing the bottom one is it worth replacing the other two at the same time?

I'd really like quiet ones and am trying to get this thing silenced but don't know what to buy

I'm very happy with my Nexus 120mm orange fans (except for the color). Others like Yate Loons, which are cheaper but spin a bit faster. Either of these will need some kind of voltage control to be really quiet, as they spin >1000 RPM at 12V. There are lots of fan controllers out there that will go down to 7V, and there are also inline resistor adaptors that work well (get 80-100 ohms to spin a Nexus at ~800 RPM). Or you can build your own...

marvin-miller · Post by **marvin-miller** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:52 am

Hi cmthomson;

Thanks for the reply!

I'm trying to get my order together for the 500 watt supply and the same supplier has (3) of the Nexus 120mm fans too. Basically what I'm trying to do is get the parts coming and buy them once (ie not find out later that I should have bought different fans)

It sounds like that's the way to go - or are there better/quieter fans?
Also, for a fan control unit what would you recommend?

If possible I'd like to case the power supply/fans issue all in one shot and be done with it

Thanks for your continued help - I appreciate it

marvin-miller · Post by **marvin-miller** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:08 pm

Just an update - I saw reviews of the fans you recommended and everyone had nothing but praise for them so I ordered (3) to replace the stock Antec ones

So I should be set. I don't have a fan controller but my mainboard (Asus) does have jacks for controlling the fans. Maybe that will work?

Best!
Marvin

marvin-miller · Post by **marvin-miller** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:25 pm

Hi cmthomson;

Thanks for the info - I replaced the Antec fans with the (3) Nexus 120 mm fans and also picked up a Sunbeam Theta TP-101 controller. I can slow the fans down to 50% or anywhere in between

When I installed my new Antec Phantom 500 I just took the entire fan assembly off the front of the supply (so its the same size as the 350) and then tested it out.

I mounted a temperature probe on the heat sink on top of the supply and I seem to get steady temps of 45-48 degrees celcius so there's no issue there. The power supply is thermally protected - it shuts itself off at a whopping 100c but as it stands so far it's been running for several days without incident.

I realize people might think it's crazy to remove the stock fan assembly but once it's out of the way there's a really nice sized whole going through the center of the power supply so air from the center plenum fan is pushed right through the center of the unit as well as all around it.

It actually seems to me to be superior to the stock fan arrangement. There's a lot of plastic in front of the power supply to impede airflow. With it removed the entire heat sink is exposed to the air from the center fan.

I don't know if you've checked this thread lately but I just wanted to say thanks - I can't believe how much quieter the system is now. I can now hear my keyboard and also my optical drives - I never could before. I can also leave the TV at the stock volume setting. It's amazing how much noise the system used to make!

Best & Thanks;
Marvin

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:56 am

Thanks for the update.

Yes, simply removing the fan assembly from a P500 turns it into a P350, and makes cable management a lot simpler, but it also voids the warranty...