Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

Owen1978 · Post by **Owen1978** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:36 pm

So how quiet is the thing? im really not bothered about its triple rails!

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:39 pm

Well, i want to revise my first post way back on the first few pages of this thread. I said before my system was rock solid with no problems. I have a MSI K8NGM2 FID board with A64 X2 3800+ and P150/NeoHe430 and raptor.

I replaced the original Zalman 7000 with a Ninja and everything went to hell. I thought I had really busted something because the Ninja was kinda hard to install but it turns out the Zalman 7000 at bootup pulled enough load at startup to put me over the 1A limit. Removing this fan kept me under the 1A limit. I now have the tricool fan back in the P150 and hung the switch out the back of the case. Switching to High fan speed allows me to turn on the system and then i just switch it back to low. Not ideal but it keeps people out of my computer i guess.

Rory Buszka · Post by **Rory Buszka** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:37 pm

Autoboy, what's the serial number on your NeoHE power supply?

jespdj · Post by **jespdj** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:16 am

OK, I'm worried!

I read about the problems with the Antec Neo HE 430 in the P150, but nevertheless I decided to buy a P150, since it's now August 2006 and the problems with the power supply seem to have been solved somewhere about March or April with a new revision of the power supply.

So today I bought a P150. I've just opened up the case, and I was surprised to see a stamp in the case that indicates this one was made in November 2005:

The serial number on the power supply starts with "S0511..." which seems to indicate November 2005, and there is no "A3" or "A4" revision indication on the sticker:

So it looks like the shop sold me an old one, isn't it?!

I'm planning to use this with the following components (I don't have them all yet so I've not assembled and tested it yet):

Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP (Intel P965 chipset)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2 GB DDR2, PC2-6400, CL5
Asus EAX1600XT SILENT/TVD/256M video card
Seagate 320 GB SATA/300 harddisk
Sony double layer DVD writer

Is there a big chance that the old power supply is going to be a problem?
Should I go and complain to the shop before assembling and testing my computer?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:28 am

jespdj wrote:
1) So it looks like the shop sold me an old one, isn't it?!

2) Is there a big chance that the old power supply is going to be a problem?

3) Should I go and complain to the shop before assembling and testing my computer?

1) Your PSU was made in Nov 2005.

2) There's a chance.

3) I'd think about taking it back to try and get a later build. Since you don't have all your hardware yet, you're not wasting any time by trying to exchange it.

jespdj · Post by **jespdj** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:17 pm

Well, I received the rest of the parts unexpectedly early. I decided to take a chance and assemble the system.

I left it running a memory testing program all night. So far, it is running without any problems. The specs:

Antec P150 with Antec Neo HE 430, serial # S05110052766 (so, it's an old one)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP (revision 1.03g), BIOS version 0507
Geil 2 x 1 GB DDR2, PC2-6400 (800 MHz), CL5 (GX22GB6400DC)
Asus EAX1600XT SILENT graphics card (256 MB DDR3)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 harddisk, 320 GB, SATA-2
Sony DRU-700A dual layer DVD writer

aqm consultant · Post by **aqm consultant** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:57 pm

Mine worked fine too, but I was concerned about failure under heavy load (AMD x2 4800+) running old-school DOS exectuables. I ran into some ntermittent problems there (random shutdown) running two instances of my test code (i.e., load up both cores so Task Mgr shows 100% CPU continuous. A better test proved to be CPUburn (again, multiple instances if necessary to fully load up both cores). Crashes were typically in the 5-20 minute range, but sometimes longt.

No hastle at all from Antec on the RMA, but sounds like you can go back to your dealer for the real fix.

jespdj · Post by **jespdj** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:28 pm

I let it run a CPU burn-in test for a few hours, keeping both cores busy the whole time without crashes or other problems. So until now it looks like there are no problems with it. The Asus P5B Deluxe is a quite new motherboard and I'm using the latest BIOS - it looks like it has no problems with the Antec PSU.

The Core 2 Duo stays amazingly cool, when it's idle it doesn't get hotter than about 30-32 C / 86-89 F, and even while putting full load on both cores it didn't get hotter than 42 C / 108 F.

(I'm not overclocking anything, just running the E6600 on its default speed of 2,4 GHz).

Sgt_Strider · Post by **Sgt_Strider** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:24 pm

I'm confused guys. When I go to buy this power supply, how can I ensure that I get a A4 without opening the box and check the serial number?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:47 am

how can I ensure that I get an A4 without opening the box and check the serial number?

You can't. If the PSU is defective you can RMA it. Buy from a shop with high turnover, this means their stock is likely to be the newest revision (but still no guarantee).

gustafg · Post by **gustafg** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:16 pm

I bought a new P150 case yesterday. The case is the old model and the PSU is labeled 0511xx with no revision indication (A3 etc).

I am unable getting the PSU to work and its going back tomorrow. I've tried with multiple disks + cdroms attached two two different motherboards -- VIA ME6000 and MS8173C.

While I was aware of the problems I really didnt expect them to ship known problematic PSU's almost a year after the problems was discovered.

jacorob · Post by **jacorob** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:37 pm

gustafg wrote:I bought a new P150 case yesterday. The case is the old model and the PSU is labeled 0511xx with no revision indication (A3 etc).

I am unable getting the PSU to work and its going back tomorrow. I've tried with multiple disks + cdroms attached two two different motherboards -- VIA ME6000 and MS8173C.

While I was aware of the problems I really didnt expect them to ship known problematic PSU's almost a year after the problems was discovered.

Wish I would have saw this post before ordering...

Ditto everything said here. I purchased my P150 from newegg last week after they told me they just received a new shipment of P150 cases on Aug. 14. I gambled, and lost. Case made in Feb, '06 and has the rubber band suspension (rather than straps found in SOLO). Power supply is an A3 (S0512...) and doesn't work with my motherboard. I wish I would have just purchased from Fry's now. At least then it'd just cost me a few bucks in gas to take the whole thing back. Too expensive to return the case to Newegg. No knock against newegg cause I order from them all the time, and I don't expect them to eat shipping costs over my gamble. Just think it sucks that Antec ships known problematic power supplies nearly a year later.

Bob

cambecc · Post by **cambecc** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:17 pm

I've just had an annoying experience trying to get the Neo HE 430 running on a Foxconn motherboard.

The PSU is relatively new: A4 revision, serial no. S0604xx.
The motherboard was a Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H. This is a brand-new 965 board.

The rest of my setup:
- Core 2 Duo E6600
- WD5000KS hard disk
- Aopen 7900GT
- Scythe Ninja Plus
- Zalman VF-900Cu

Assembled the whole deal, plugged it in and turned it on. Nothing... Dead. Pressing the power switch a few more times would, randomly, breathe a little life into the machine. Fans would start turning, LED would come on, but then within 1 second, complete shutdown.

Talked to Foxconn customer service. He said to take everything apart, attach only the PSU and one fan, and see if the machine boots. No dice. (This guy was actually very helpful. He was trying out PSU/Motherboard combinations on his end.)

Talked to Antec customer service. They replied with instructions on how to fill out an RMA and closed the support ticket. Screw that, I want to get my machine running ASAP.

Took both components into the retailer's service center and sure enough, the PSU and motherboard did not work together. Attached to different components, both worked fine, just not together. The service center guy chalked it up as an incompatibility and gave me my money back on the motherboard. He said in his experience that such incompatibilites are rare. Yeah, ok.

I went down the street, picked up a DFI Infinity 975X, went home, plugged it in, works great.

Running Prime95 + CPUBurn right now. Will see how that goes.

Reading spcr today and saw the post about efficient PSUs that don't start. http://www.silentpcreview.com/news652.html. Wish I knew if this was the case with the Foxconn...

Rory Buszka · Post by **Rory Buszka** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:36 am

I still don't understand why these are called "incompatibilities". The very point of specifications like ATX12V 2.2 is to make sure that everything conforming to that spec will WORK TOGETHER, as specified. If not, somebody screwed up, and somebody is at fault. Since these supposed incompatibilities are between Antec NeoHE units and many different motherboards, it leads me to think that it is Antec who is to blame for selling faulty product.

Kimpsu · Post by **Kimpsu** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:45 pm

I have Antec Neo HE 550W

Revision A3, serial number S0512...

Has worked fine so far with the following motherboards:

Asus K8V-MX (Sempron 3000+)
Asus P5P800-VM (Pentium D805)
ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 (Pentium D805)
Abit KN9-S (Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE)

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:55 am

Rory Buszka wrote:I still don't understand why these are called "incompatibilities". The very point of specifications like ATX12V 2.0 is to make sure that everything conforming to that spec will WORK TOGETHER, as specified. If not, somebody screwed up, and somebody is at fault. Since these supposed incompatibilities are between Antec NeoHE units and many different motherboards, it leads me to think that it is Antec who is to blame for selling faulty product.

Surely it can't be the fault of motherboards that put an artificial delay on CPU start-up, can it?!

Plus, Antec doesn't claim the NeoHE is complaint with ATX12V 2.0. They specifically state that it's a ATX12V 2.2 power supply, which -- apparently -- allows them to specify the minimum load that they did.

Rory Buszka · Post by **Rory Buszka** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:10 pm

No, it can't. And shouldn't. Power supply manufacturers need to know what board manufacturers are doing, and design for that in their designs. Only the Seasonic S12 had a similar problem -- other power supplies were fine, since you aren't reading about them now.

2.0 vs. 2.2 in my post: A simple bookkeeping error. Fixed.

tomh · Post by **tomh** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:26 pm

Once I connected it up properly, my NeoHE 430W works perfectly, well at least all the way through an XP install.

Serial number S0601...
Motherboard: Gigabyte 965P-DS4

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:56 pm

Rory Buszka wrote:No, it can't. And shouldn't. Power supply manufacturers need to know what board manufacturers are doing, and design for that in their designs.

So you're saying that PSU designers have to mind ATX12V and motherboard designs, but motherboard designers don't have to mind either?

2.0 vs. 2.2 in my post: A simple bookkeeping error. Fixed.

That still doesn't change the fact that according to 2.2, NeoHE is allowed to require a minimum startup power draw.

ozdoc · Post by **ozdoc** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:25 am

Sgt_Strider wrote:I'm confused guys. When I go to buy this power supply, how can I ensure that I get a A4 without opening the box and check the serial number?

If you're just buying the power supply, then the serial number and revision code is on the back of the retail box. If you're buying it preinstalled in a P150 then I guess it's luck.

Picked one up today to replace a dead Phantom 350. Was offered a Phantom 500 (for extra cost) but was put off by previous experiences.
S06060287967 A4.
So far no problems, working OK with my Asus SLI Premium.
Certainly quiet (although not as quiet as the Phantom

).

geobrick · Post by **geobrick** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:24 pm

Perhaps I spoke too soon below. The current status is the NEO HE 430 is still working. I was able to bench test it and the power came on so I installed it in another system to power a new Intel P965 motherboard with an E6600 core 2 chip. Yes, it's a risk but so far it works. The Gigabyte motherboard is still dead and there is no real way to know if the PSU was the cause. Let's see what happens in the next week with the intel board.
************************************************************
Last week I reported, in the NEO HE 430 poll, that my PSU (included in a P150 case) was working fine. That was last week. Everything worked well during the week until today.

First, the system consists of:
Motherboard: A Gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 (now dead)
Processor: AMD Athlon 3700+
Video Card: Matrox P650
Memory: 1GB Corsair XMS
Hard drives: 3 Samsung SATA 160GB drives
CD/DVD: 2 Plextor drives
Nothing is overclocked.

The computer was working fine for hours today. I attempted to load some software that came with my canon camera. Just as the CD drive started to spin up, everything suddenly powered off. All the fans and hard drives spun down and the monitor displayed "No Signal".

I waited a bit and tried to power it up again but it would not power up. I tried resetting the bios (with the jumper) but it didn't help.

I then tried the NEO HE 430 PSU on an older system and it wouldn't power up either. I tried powering my system with an older Fortron 400 watt PSU and it wouldn't start (this was the PSU that used to power the system before I bought the P150).

Not good at all. It looks like the NEO HE 430 took itself out and took my motherboard with it. (I would suspect it could be the other way around if it weren't for all the other comments about the NEO HE 430).

Fortunately I have an identical MB in another system and I quickly confirmed that all my other components were still good. I checked out the memory, video card, hard drives and processor in the other system. It looks like only the motherboard was taken down by this seemingly horrendous power supply.

Can Antec be made responsible for the components their PSU fried?

Speaking of fried, I bought the P150 at Fry's at the end of August 06 and it was still the old one with the rubber bands but the PSU was newer. It was an S0601 with an A4 revision code.

For anyone who is contemplating getting this PSU, donâ€™t. RUN AWAY. Not only is there the probability that it will fail, there is a real possibility that it will take part of your system with it. We can't all be wrong.

My plan is to try to get the rev A4 as a replacement. I also plan to ask Antec what they plan to do about my fried motherboard but I'm not optimistic about their response after I read a post by someone named shadowfire1 on the ocforums site. I won't repeat it here but if you're interested, you can look for it on that forum.

nodlive · Post by **nodlive** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:58 am

jespdj wrote:Well, I received the rest of the parts unexpectedly early. I decided to take a chance and assemble the system.

I left it running a memory testing program all night. So far, it is running without any problems. The specs:

Antec P150 with Antec Neo HE 430, serial # S05110052766 (so, it's an old one)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP (revision 1.03g), BIOS version 0507
Geil 2 x 1 GB DDR2, PC2-6400 (800 MHz), CL5 (GX22GB6400DC)
Asus EAX1600XT SILENT graphics card (256 MB DDR3)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 harddisk, 320 GB, SATA-2
Sony DRU-700A dual layer DVD writer

i dont mean to hijack this thread, but I have the same case and processor as you. I'm going to assemble my computer on sunday, and was wondering if you used the stock cooler on your processor?

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:55 am

I'm using this power supply with the following system:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ "Orleans" (Socket AM2)
Stock AMD cooler on 5V
Antec Tri-Cool on low
Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3 (Nforce 550)
2GB (2*1GB) Kingmax DDR2-667
GeForce 6500TC 64MB (basically identical to a 6200TC)
Soundblaster Audigy 4
Western Digital WD2500KS (250GB, 16MB cache)
Lite-On DVD
Logitech UltraX Flat
D-Link DWL-G122 (wireless G USB adapter)
Logitech USB reciever for MX1000 mouse

That's everything. With the CPU undervolted to 1.2V, the computer still fires up perfectly. It runs very cool and very quiet. Even after 24 hours of Prime95 torture test, the case is still only luke warm at most when I put my hand right above the PSU. The PSU also runs very quiet and the air oozing out the back is also luke warm at most. I'm definitely impressed.

The computer has been running Memtest86 and Prime95 for a few days and it has not shown any sign of instability whatsoever.

This is also an old version of the supply. The serial number starts with 0511. The sticker on the PSU was broken when I got it though...

KorruptioN · Post by **KorruptioN** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:40 am

Added some relevant post links into my original post of this thread. Should help those who don't want to weed through almost twenty pages of discussion. Anything else significant I should add to the original post?

jagalactic · Post by **jagalactic** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:27 am

Well, this looks like a long thread. I found it because I have, presumably, the same problem. I thought that my experience might add something useful to the online record.

Yesterday I put together a system as follows:

P150 case
Intel DG965WH mobo
Intel Core 2 E6300 cpu

This is just for a linux development system, on which I intent to run either VMware or XEN for virtual server support.

When I originally plugged everything in, the green "power present" led on the mobo lit. The power indicator on the front of the case flashed every 1-2 seconds, and the fans on the cpu and case do the same thing. When I hit the power button, nothing happens.

I tried a different power supply (which I had to take out of a working system, argh) and everything looked to be working fine. That was an Antec Smart Power 350 supply (but not HE).

So, I figured I had a bad NE430. In an attempt to save time, I went back to Fry's and bought another P150 case. I figured I would not likely get another bad PS, so I would swap them and then return the second case, saving the trouble of complete disassembly. The power supply from the second case is A4 level.

Well...the second one doesn't either. Exactly the same symptoms.

I also picked up a spare power supply, to have in future troubleshooting, and I got (guess what) an HE500.

The HE500 "spare" doesn't work either, with the exact same symptoms. Argh!!....

My plan now is as follows:

* return one P250 case
* return the HE500 power supply
* dump the 965 motherboard and get some other chipset, since 965's seem to be associated with this issue.
* Get a different spare power supply.
* Hope that three trips across town to fry's is the charm.

If I learn anything else useful, I'll post it here.

JG

geobrick · Post by **geobrick** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:52 pm

jagalactic,

I also bought a P150 at Fry's and while I had trouble with my Gigabyte K8NS ultra 939 motherboard, it now appears that it was not related to the NEO HE 430.

Before I ever bought the P150, my system was hit with a power outage. Days later a memory module failed. About a week later I put the system inside the new P150 and a short time (days) later, the motherboard failed. At first I suspected the NEO HE 430 because of all the initial complaints I read about it on various forums but now I think the motherboard was actually damaged from the power outage that resulted in a memory module failure and then probably the motherboard as well. I think the NEO HE 430 just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm pretty sure now it was not the cause.

I have since moved the NEO HE 430 to power my new Intel DP965LT motherboard with an E6600 core 2 Duo processor. This is very similar to what you have. It's also powering 3 Samsung SATA drives (the most quiet hard drives I have ever had) and one CDR/DVDR drive. I am having no problems at all with it.

Check the date code on your NEO. I think those with S/N starting with 0601 or have an A03 or A04 rev number have changes that fixed some issues.

jagalactic · Post by **jagalactic** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:53 pm

geobrick wrote:jagalactic,

I also bought a P150 at Fry's and while I had trouble with my Gigabyte K8NS ultra 939 motherboard, it now appears that it was not related to the NEO HE 430.

(snip)

Thanks for the info, GB. Well, I've been busy since midday when I posted previously.

The summary is that I'm inclined to blame the intel motherboard more than any other single component. It looks to me like there is something about the 12v supply on these power supplies that doesn't satisfy the intel mobo (see above for the exact model I had), so that when the issue occurs, they won't attempt to boot up. Perhaps my home office voltage is slightly low, etc. etc. Remember, I tried four power supplies with the offending mobo, and 3/4 didn't work (all were Antec, the oldest worked - see above for exact model).

I kept the P150 case, which I like (power supply level A04, though it didn't work with my intel mobo), and exchanged the intel mobo for an Asus P5NSLI mobo. It works flawlessly with the P150 / NEO PS (so far, anyway).

Interestingly, there was an Intel rep working the mobo area at Frys when I made the exchange. He indicated that they (the reps) were informed of previous problems with this PS/mobo combination, but he thought it had all been resolved. I conclude (with sufficient precision for current personal satisfaction) that the Intel mobo that I had was more sensitive to PS voltage (or something else) than most other boards.

I hope you dont' have any trouble with your board. If I were you I would keep a different kind of spare power supply onhand, just in case. Heck, even as me, I bought a non-Antec power supply as a spare.

One postscript - I had one other complaint about the intel mobo: it's builtin graphics are not yet supported by Fedora Core 5 (linus). That install went catatonic when it tried to go graphical. Having said that, the Asus board doesn't have graphics builtin, so either way I needed a $50 card wtih a Geforce chipset...

Good night and good luck,
JG

rana · Post by **rana** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:28 pm

I wanted a quiet modular power supply, so I recently bought an Antec NeoHE 430, while keeping in mind the warnings here. In case it helps anyone, NewEgg shipped me the recent A4 revision with a serial number like S0605xxx. So their TN warehouse, at least, is likely out of the old revisions. I find the power supply to be as quiet or quieter than my Antec SmartPower 450 which just died in a lightning storm. The NeoHE casing also stays cooler in my case, so it is probably more efficient venting heat or producing less of it in the first place.

I'm using the NeoHE with an Asus P5B Deluxe board with the latest BIOS and a Core 2 Duo E6600, and I've found it to be a stable combination so far. Note that a few days after I ordered my NeoHE, NewEgg started shipping the modular Seasonic M12, so that is another option for people to consider for a quiet modular power supply (assuming it is as quiet as the older S12).

BrianF · Post by **BrianF** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:14 am

Has anyone tried any of the HEs with the MSI P965-Neo mainbaord?

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:14 pm

I'm using a March 2006 430 watt Neo HE and I'm getting pretty bad electrical noise when running Folding @ Home. Is this a common issue or should I try an RMA?

Noise seems to depend on power draw. When I undervolted my Core 2 Duo from 1.325v (stock) to 1.2v the noise is not as loud.

Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

Is this going to be a problem?

Re: Is this going to be a problem?

Update Again: Spoke too soon?

P150 case / Neo HE power supply DOA with Intel 965 (DG965WH)