Antec Phantom, Elan Vital or ....

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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brigitte
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 27, 2005 1:18 am
Location: Netherlands

Antec Phantom, Elan Vital or ....

Post by brigitte » Fri May 27, 2005 1:30 am

Hi all,

I ordered an Antec Phantom 350W last Monday evening and stumbled across the very disturbing "how many Phantoms have died"-poll in this forum the following Tuesday morning.

As it turns out, my supplier has given me a used Phantom (manual is missing, scratches on the surface) so that would be the ideal opportunity to cancel the sale, reclaim my money and go for another PSU.

My current setup:
- AMD XP 3000+
- two Nexus casefans
- two S-ata drives
- passive Matrox G550
- DVD burner
- MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum, everything onboard except separate sound card
Case temps are normal.

That's not exactly a very power-hungry system and my main use is internet, office, etc. I'm not into games at all and converting the occasional avi to mpg is about all the stress I put my machine under. However, I would also like to use it for my next system, 2-3 years from now.

Silence is all-important; I've sold my Tagan PSU because the previous unit had died on me and I have two acquaintances who had blown up their units. I no longer have any faith in the brand. The unit has to be at least as silent as the Tagan, preferably even quieter.

What would you recommend? Stick with the Phantom despite the number of failed units? Go for Elan Vital, with the added bonus of a fan in case the units should overheat or perhaps an alternative? I should add I live in Holland, Phantom 500 units are as yet unavailable, as is the case with Seasonics.

Thanks!

madman2003
Posts: 182
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Location: Planet earth

Post by madman2003 » Fri May 27, 2005 1:53 am

What's the production date of the psu? (give the serial if you don't know what to look for)

Aleksi
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Location: Finland -- Folding For SPCR

Post by Aleksi » Fri May 27, 2005 1:55 am

I would definately return the PSU, even if you end up getting a Phantom. I personally wouldn't accept a used PSU if I paid for a new one.

brigitte
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 27, 2005 1:18 am
Location: Netherlands

Post by brigitte » Fri May 27, 2005 2:04 am

I believe it's the dreaded 04 series: D04125432705

Of course there's no question of my keeping this particular unit. I didn't pay 157 euro (over 200 USD) to get someone else's hand-me-down.

frankgehry
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Location: New York, NY

Post by frankgehry » Fri May 27, 2005 2:21 am

Here is a link to the recommended psu list. As far as fanless psu's the silverstone received an excellent review. It is made by etasis if that's more readily available in europe.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page6.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article185-page1.html
You should also follow the forum discussion that follows.

The enermax noisetakers are quite good and are reviewed here. There have been some upgrades since the reviews here. I'm not sure if they are available in holland.

I have an antec smartpower 2.0 that has detachable cables and very quiet fans. It hasn't been tested as it has been redesigned from last years model but I think it is great.

I have a feeling there is a way to get a seasonic as that would really be best. You can look through the forum vendors and good deals, or maybe some of the european readers can help, but there must be away that doesn't cost more than a phantom - FG

brigitte
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 27, 2005 1:18 am
Location: Netherlands

Post by brigitte » Fri May 27, 2005 9:05 am

Thanks Frank, that's really helpful. I've just informed the supplier I'm cancelling the sale and over the weekend I'll consider my options. Luckily, I've still got an Antec lying around (unfortunately a bit too noisy for my taste) so there shouldn't be too much of a rush for me to make up my mind.

Keep up the good work guys, this really is a great site and forum.

brigitte
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 27, 2005 1:18 am
Location: Netherlands

Post by brigitte » Fri May 27, 2005 11:33 pm

With temperatures soaring in Holland right now (we've got some sort of mini heatwave on our hands) casetemps are rising and suddenly a fanless PSU doesn't seem such a great idea after all. I've just ordered a S12-430 from a German retailer and I hope it will be able to live up to its reputation here on SPCR! Thanks again for your input, it's really appreciated.

teejay
Patron of SPCR
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Post by teejay » Mon May 30, 2005 11:23 am

That retailer that sold you the used Phantom, is it an on-line vendor? If so, could you possibly PM me their name? I order stuff from webshops all over the country so I'm very interested in who would sell you something like that.

Also, where did you order the S12 from? Is it the retail or OEM version?

mongobilly
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:54 pm

Post by mongobilly » Mon May 30, 2005 11:52 am

With 28° room temperature yesterday, my Etasis got only very slightly warm. Seems like it is a really decent product (but only had it for a week). Comes with 3 year warranty for all I know. Price is well below the one for the Phantom and the whole design with the cooler out the back plate seems quite sensible to me.

brigitte
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 27, 2005 1:18 am
Location: Netherlands

Post by brigitte » Tue May 31, 2005 9:22 pm

teejay, I sent you a PM. For the benefit of other Europeans looking for a shop that sells Seasonic PSUs:
http://www.sh-edv-vertrieb.de/shop/index.php

I got an interesting reply from Antec when I inquired about the failure rate of Phantoms (I referred to the Antec Phantom user poll on this forum):

Thank you for your inquiry.

That forum is already 3 months old. In fact, only seven people posted with
bad units.

You can always contact me directly in case of any questions regarding this !

You can buy this Phantom without any hesitation as it's a good product !


I leave it up to everyone to draw their own conclusions, I don't want to turn this into an Antec-bashing.

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