Antec Phantom 500 PSU - Thoughts?

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:48 pm

Was reading up a little on this PSU and it seems to get good reviews over at Newegg. I need a PSU to go into the Antec P180 case and Antec support says this one has cabling long enough to work.

From the perspective of having a quiet PSU, this design seems logical... fan not turning on unless temps get to a certain level. Not sure if the user-selectable temp pre-sets for fan activation (40, 47.5, or 55 degrees celcius) are high enough to keep the fan from turning on except in extreme conditions. Thoughts?

Of course it's not the cheapest 500W PSU out there... so there is that trade-off.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts or help you care to chime in with on selecting a proper PSU for quiet operation.

Regards.

Jason

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:57 pm

Here's my system: viewtopic.php?t=35329

I got a Phantom500 in a P180. PSU is not audible at all. See my pictures to see how cable management is a real pain. You'll also have to change the lower chamber fan for a 25mm deep fan and install it on the HDD bay side.

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:02 pm

Mari0-Br0s wrote:Here's my system: viewtopic.php?t=35329

I got a Phantom500 in a P180. PSU is not audible at all. See my pictures to see how cable management is a real pain. You'll also have to change the lower chamber fan for a 25mm deep fan and install it on the HDD bay side.

Thanks for your reply. Man, you're not kidding about the cabling issues...

Doesn't seem like a lot of air gets through all that cabling in the lower chamber to cool the PSU, but obviously it's not hurting your system.

Regards.

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:06 pm

Yeah you are right, but the airflow is good enough to cool down the PSU, if I put my hand on it, It feels cooler than my HDD. My HDDs temps is 38 Celcius, so don't worry about the PSU temperature.

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:07 pm

Mari0-Br0s wrote:Yeah you are right, but the airflow is good enough to cool down the PSU, if I put my hand on it, It feels cooler than my HDD. My HDDs temps is 38 Celcius, so don't worry about the PSU temperature.

Your linked thread mentions you have 5 case fans... I thought P180 only had 4 case fan spots... am I wrong?

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:09 pm

You're right, but the fifth one is mounted on my Thermalright Ultra-120 (CPU cooler)

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:22 pm

Mari0-Br0s wrote:You're right, but the fifth one is mounted on my Thermalright Ultra-120 (CPU cooler)

I thought that might be what you were referring to...

Do you think this PSU has enough juice for the following:

E6600 Core 2 Duo OC'd to 3.0GHz
Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi mobo
2GB Corsair XMS2 PC5400c4 RAM (DDR2 675)
Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT fanless GPU
Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU heatsink with 120mm fan
76GB Raptor for OS & Software
2 Seagate Barracuda 500GB drives for data - no RAID

Thanks in advance.

Jason

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:25 pm

yeah, as long as you don't add a second VGA card, I'm sure this is more than enough

Jason W · Post by **Jason W** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:26 pm

Mari0-Br0s wrote:yeah, as long as you don't add a second VGA card, I'm sure this is more than enough

No plans for a 2nd graphics card as this will be a photo-editing rig first. I'm not much of a gamer anymore...

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:40 pm

Jason W wrote:[
Thanks for your reply. Man, you're not kidding about the cabling issues... Doesn't seem like a lot of air gets through all that cabling in the lower chamber to cool the PSU, but obviously it's not hurting your system.

I use a 350w Phantom, and if you're careful, cabling isn't really that bad: http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=097bb.jpg - This is with the 38mm fan in it, no interference at all.

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:50 pm

Shadowknight wrote:
Jason W wrote:[
Thanks for your reply. Man, you're not kidding about the cabling issues... Doesn't seem like a lot of air gets through all that cabling in the lower chamber to cool the PSU, but obviously it's not hurting your system.
I use a 350w Phantom, and if you're careful, cabling isn't really that bad: http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=097bb.jpg - This is with the 38mm fan in it, no interference at all.

yeah, I could have made a better job with my cabling, but I was piss off lol. But you need to consider that the Phantom500 is longer than the Phantom350, so a 38mm fan won't work at all. Also, do not forget that a 500watts PSU has already more cables. Just count the connectors you have on your PSU.

Mine has:

2x PCI-Express
1x 24 pins
1x 4/8 pins AUX
6x 4 pins Molex
2x Floppy
4x SATA

Poodle · Post by **Poodle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:23 am

I've had two. Both failed in a P180 with good cooling (YL @1350rpm).

Better to buy a normal fan cooled psu with high efficiency. Many of them are really quiet. Seasonic, Corsair, Ocz or some FSP based one. My M12 is a dream when it comes to cable management. Modular cables and they are long enough. The ATX cable and P4 aren't modular as they are always used and for keeping low resistance. I will probably never buy a fanless one ever again except for low power systems (like the picu psu).

Well, you've been warned...

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:16 am

Personally I would suggest that you get a Seasonic S12 series PSU, the cabling is easier, the PSU is smaller, and if you only have 1 or 2 HDD's you dont even need a fan in the bottom compartment.

And this is all coming from a happy P180 + Phantom500 owner.

You will ask why I am happy, but suggesting that you get a Seasonic PSU. Well the above is pretty obvious, but I will add a little more, unless you are going for a hardcore SLI setup you dont need anywhere near that power.

My PC, in my Sig below consumes 206W while maxxed out at 1280x1024 in BF2, Half Life 2 only seems to eat 185W.!!!

The seasonic 380W will be fine for that system, but if you want more headroom the 430 is a sensible option, 500W is overkill, and I guess that as you are buying a 7600 you are not a hardcore gamer.

Likewise, if you push the power too much then you need a faster running 120mm fan in the PSU section so that the horrible/loud fan in the Phantom500 does not start. Many people have used SS PSU's in the P180, and have found that taping over the holes around the PSU back vent you dont need the 120mm fan, therfore replacing a 120mm case fan, with a very quiet 120mm PSU fan.

Knowing what I know now, I would have bought a Seasonic.

Andy

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:37 am

I am a phantom 500 proud user. I have nothing to complain about this PSU. I use it in an "old" Antec Sonata with the switch of the phantom in the second position. I have a 12cm fan (papst @ 600RPM) as exhaust completily inaudible at 1m. I have ninja with another 12cm fan usually off, it turns only when gaming at low RPMs (automatically controlled with speedfan). My system consists of athlon X2 4600+ and geforce 6600 passive.

Well, with this configuration I've never seen the fan of the phantom turning on. My system doesn't need 500W of course, but I thought when I bought it that it would be better for future upgrades of my system.

If you don't care about spending a bit more, this is a very very good power supply. You need to take care of the airflow of your system though because temps seem to raise a bit. Nothing to worry about if you are using a P180 case. I think that the phantom matches perfectly with that case (I don't know about cable management but I know many people use the Phantom and P180 configuration so at least it should be possible). Even you can add a fan in the lower chamber for extra airflow, but personally I don't think you will need it unless your system is very power hungry.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:24 am

Jason W wrote:
Mari0-Br0s wrote:You're right, but the fifth one is mounted on my Thermalright Ultra-120 (CPU cooler)
I thought that might be what you were referring to...

Do you think this PSU has enough juice for the following:

E6600 Core 2 Duo OC'd to 3.0GHz
Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi mobo
2GB Corsair XMS2 PC5400c4 RAM (DDR2 675)
Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT fanless GPU
Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU heatsink with 120mm fan
76GB Raptor for OS & Software
2 Seagate Barracuda 500GB drives for data - no RAID

Thanks in advance.

Jason

You should be fine, my PSU can handle that easily.

Sunfox · Post by **Sunfox** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:05 pm

Yes, the Phantom 500 can fit into a P180 *with* the 38mm fan installed. I've been running that way for over a year now. You just have to be smart about how you position items and route cabling (and no, it's not particularly easy).