Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

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

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar

Post Reply
KorruptioN
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 6:41 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

Post by KorruptioN » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:14 pm

http://www.antec.com/us/pro_p_NeoHE.html

- Up to 85% claimed efficiency
- Single 80mm fan exhaust, claimed 18dBA (har har... we shall see). We can safely assume large internal heatsinks
- Modular like the Neopower
- APFC for all models
- Three +12V outputs, very lean +5V and +3.3V outputs
- Typical Antec 3% voltage regulation
- Rated at 50°C continuous

I am most interested. This PSU looks like it's begging for an SPCR review!

The NeoHE 430 has been reviewed by SPCR, with postscripts and addendums included.

______________________________________________________________________________

edit: I figured that this thread has grown long enough to warrant some summary or at least a direct link to any significant posts, especially those by AntecRep.

18/11/2005: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 630#224630
20/03/2006: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 179#253179
08/05/2006: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 368#264368

For the most part, Antec seems to have fixed most of the NeoHE problems ("incompatibilities") that we saw in late-2005. It is now September 2006 (almost a year later), and I think it is safe to assume that the NeoHEs at a high-turnover retailer should be of a good revision. It's still a great PSU on paper, it just had some teething issues. Antec has also increased their warranty period to a full five years, which is quite nice.
Last edited by KorruptioN on Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:41 am, edited 3 times in total.

frostedflakes
Posts: 1608
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:02 pm
Location: United States

Post by frostedflakes » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:27 pm

*picks jaw up off floor*

Looks amazing on paper. Nice to see three +12V (CPU, motherboard/peripherals, and VGA, I'd assume?). And I can't think of any other manufacturers off the top of my head that rate a power supply at 50*C other than PCP&C. I don't think even OCZ can claim that (IIRC they rate at 40*C).

Can't wait to see SPCR's review of this with the updated PSU review system. ;)

PositiveSpin
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2004 5:03 am

Post by PositiveSpin » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:36 pm

Looks like it would work nicely in a P180 case - can't see if it has vents on the bottom, but it has a nice open grille on the front/back (the face that the wires come out of!), and a single low-speed fan on the back/front (the face that the AC power goes into).

Modular cables could be a bonus in the P180 (assuming that they are long enough).

Interesting. Hope it gets run through the SPCR mill soon :-)

mathias
Posts: 2057
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2004 3:58 pm
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Post by mathias » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:50 pm

I suspect it's heavily based on the phantom. If it is and if it's not too expensive, then it should go together great with a P180.

frankgehry
Posts: 1424
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:00 am
Location: New York, NY

Post by frankgehry » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:27 pm

Froogle antec neo HE turns up some prices.

380w - $67.95
430w - $73.95
500w - $88.95
550w - $102.95

Ralf Hutter
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 8636
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 6:33 am
Location: Sunny SoCal

Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Oct 04, 2005 5:26 am

PositiveSpin wrote:Looks like it would work nicely in a P180 case - can't see if it has vents on the bottom
No vents in the bottom, only five 1/8" x 1" slots on the side.

PositiveSpin wrote:Modular cables could be a bonus in the P180 (assuming that they are long enough).
The modular cables are very cool. The ATX cable is a tad over 21" long.

The fan is quite nice, although my calibrated ears would put it closer to the low 20dBA range than 18dBA. It's real smooth sounding, no rattles, chattering or anything else like bearing noise. It's sound is quite easy to live with.

That's all I can tell you though. I don't do the PSU testing around here, and don't know if/when the guys up in the Frozen North might be doing this one. I suppose you'll just have to be patient. :)

KorruptioN
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 6:41 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by KorruptioN » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:28 am

Wait, so you guys have had your hands on it at one point?

Are you referring to the ATX12V cable? I'd like to route that under the motherboard in a P180 if I could.

rpsgc
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1630
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:59 am
Location: Portugal

Post by rpsgc » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:29 am

Keep 'em coming! :D

/me anxiously waits for SPCR review.

Live
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:09 pm
Location: Uppsala, Sweden

Post by Live » Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:30 pm

Review them all!!

PSUs for the P180 seems to be a problem for many. I know it is for me.

Krazy Kommando
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:12 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Krazy Kommando » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:28 pm

cant wait for the review for this and the truepower 2.0 (which im assuming will happen eventually?)

Devonavar
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 1850
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 11:23 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Post by Devonavar » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:45 pm

Krazy Kommando wrote:cant wait for the review for this and the truepower 2.0 (which im assuming will happen eventually?)
We have no plans to review the TruePower 2.0 (contrary to what everyone seems to assume). Seems that Ralf has already revealed that there's Neo HE in the works though ... keep your eyes open.

Krazy Kommando
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:12 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Krazy Kommando » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:31 am

aw :(
yay!

Ralf Hutter
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 8636
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 6:33 am
Location: Sunny SoCal

Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:11 am

Devonavar wrote:
Krazy Kommando wrote:cant wait for the review for this and the truepower 2.0 (which im assuming will happen eventually?)
Seems that Ralf has already revealed that there's Neo HE in the works though ... keep your eyes open.
Nope, all I said was:
Ralfie wrote:and don't know if/when the guys up in the Frozen North might be doing this one. I suppose you'll just have to be patient.
...because I don't have any idea what's up, up there. :)

Kwiet
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 2:56 pm
Location: S. Central Turkey
Contact:

Post by Kwiet » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:23 am

Sold!
A Neo HE 500 with three 17A 12V rails sounds a bit like overkill but dual-cores, 4 hard drives, video cards, TV tuner cards, fans and whatever else I can think of will be easily fed.
Tried to get a Seasonic 430W refurb but they were sold out. Maybe this was an omen so I look forward to SPCR's world class review!

frostedflakes
Posts: 1608
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:02 pm
Location: United States

Post by frostedflakes » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:38 am

If the 500w sounds like overkill then pick up the 380w. It has three +12V rails at 15A, which should be more than enough for most systems out there.

Also keep in mind that these power supplies are rated at 50*C. Under less stressful conditions, actual output would probably be much higher (maybe as much as 450w if you used it in a P180, for example, where it is getting relatively cool air).

EDIT: Looking at the numbers more closely, and something just doesn't add up. The +12V ratings must be at a more standard ambient temperature (maybe 25*C?), or they're peak ratings at 50*C. Assuming +12V continuous is 15A per rail, that's 540w, which is not at all in line with 380w continuous at 50*C output rating.

Mr Flibble
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 10:37 am
Location: London, UK

Post by Mr Flibble » Thu Oct 06, 2005 7:27 am

Perhaps more like each 12V rail is rated at 15A continuous, but not simultaneously? I'm pretty sure I read (Dansdata?) that the seperate 12V rails tend to share components anyway... Probably a lower than 45A rating for the 12V rails in total therefore?

frostedflakes
Posts: 1608
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:02 pm
Location: United States

Post by frostedflakes » Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:02 am

Yes, I think you're right, that's probably the case. :)

Kwiet
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 2:56 pm
Location: S. Central Turkey
Contact:

Post by Kwiet » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:46 am

I looked at the specs of the Neo HE 500 with the three 17A 12V rails. Antec bracketed the three rails and put a rating of 456 watts across all the rails. That calculates to 38 amps instead of 51 so it must be the max draw per rail.
Still, 38 amps of 12V should feed my computer and I might be able to jump a car with it.

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by MikeC » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:20 pm

Kwiet wrote:I looked at the specs of the Neo HE 500 with the three 17A 12V rails. Antec bracketed the three rails and put a rating of 456 watts across all the rails. That calculates to 38 amps instead of 51 so it must be the max draw per rail.
Still, 38 amps of 12V should feed my computer and I might be able to jump a car with it.
Your've got 38A right, but it's actually less than that.

The combined ratings are the most important -- they tell you what the PSU can produce simultaneously.

The max rated output for the 500W model is 500W. But if you add up 456W to the other outputs on the same row in that table --- 75.9W + 85W + 456W + 9.6W + 12.5W -- you get 639W, which is too much. The unit is only rated to 500W max output.

So...

The 80 Plus and Intel power load testing scheme (which we use) assumes that the maximum +5VSB and -12V line rated power is needed. So subtract 9.6W + 12.5W from 500W, and you get 477.9W.

Now look at 639W, and subtract 9.6W + 12.5W from that as well. You get 616.9W.

This means the ratio of 456 / 616.9 is the same as X / 477.9. Solve for X, you get 353W or 29.44A on the 12V line.

This would be our target 12V load for full power output on the PSU tester.

FYI, the total 12V load we used to get 425W output on the HE 430 model was ~25.5A.

merlin
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 717
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:48 am
Location: San Francisco, CA

Post by merlin » Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:30 pm

Holy cow!!! I'm in shock that there's an Antec PSU I would actually want/recommend for once. I've been sad about how far behind Seasonic PSU's they were, but this totally makes up for everything. I'm really hoping the fan itself is very quiet because that combined with modular cabling, active pdf, high efficiency, and hopefully a decent price would make this an easy buy...especially since Antec is well distributed in stores. Looks like seasonic's finally got a challenger :)
I'm also hoping this means Antec will come out with some cases that include the psu someday so I have something I can recommend to people who are skittish about buying a case and psu seperately.

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by MikeC » Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:13 pm

merlin wrote:I'm also hoping this means Antec will come out with some cases that include the psu someday so I have something I can recommend to people who are skittish about buying a case and psu seperately.
The Antec P150 comes bundled with a Neo HE430. We're in the middle of preparing reviews of both.

Ackelind
Posts: 467
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:18 pm
Location: Umea, Sweden.

Post by Ackelind » Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:59 am

Even if the fan is not THE most silent fan out there, the great layout and high efficiency would make it a great candidate for a fan-swap.

hravn
Posts: 198
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:48 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Post by hravn » Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:57 am

So, does anyone know when it comes to europe? You can't find it on Antec's european site, which I guess is a bad sign...

merlin
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 717
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:48 am
Location: San Francisco, CA

Post by merlin » Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:03 am

The Antec P150 comes bundled with a Neo HE430. We're in the middle of preparing reviews of both.
I just found that press release a while ago too. I'm surprised the p series has a bundled psu for the first time, but the quality of psu will finally match the quality of the case. The only major issue is $179 is going to cause some sticker shock for people are used to paying under $100. Ah well, you get what you pay for. (now to convince others of that fact...)

AntecRep
-- Vendor --
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2003 7:15 am
Contact:

Post by AntecRep » Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:55 am

We'll post the European versions/pages up in a couple weeks.

rpsgc
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1630
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:59 am
Location: Portugal

Post by rpsgc » Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:41 am

MikeC wrote:The Antec P150 comes bundled with a Neo HE430. We're in the middle of preparing reviews of both.
AntecRep wrote:We'll post the European versions/pages up in a couple weeks.
Double sweetness :D

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:16 pm

holy crapola.

its the cheaper version of my phantom 350 with a constant fan.

i duno why they didnt make this before! just 2% less claim than my psu in efficiency.

This sounds like the ultimate linux box or new system solution.

i hated the 180. no offense mikeC!! it's just unreasonably large, complex and expensive (remember, the 180 has no psu for its price) for a community that hardly has anything more than 1 quiet hd, 1 combo silent dvd drive and a single gfx card build.

donmateo
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:37 am

Post by donmateo » Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:45 pm

does anyone know if this NeoHE 430, or 500 will work in a Antec P-180 case. I have a asus a8n-e mobo.

thanks.

MarvW
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Washington

P180

Post by MarvW » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:57 pm

Live wrote:Review them all!!

PSUs for the P180 seems to be a problem for many. I know it is for me.
I had a problem with my 4 pin connector TO SHORT :( fixed it by barrowing from a dead PSU :) the plug and wire I needed to lengthen the power cable about a foot this would have allowed me to run it behind the MOB. :D
AS for mounting the PSU mine has a 90mm on the bottom with is now the top and a 90mm in the back. It is an oddball PSU (Allied 450W) I like to pick up all my part locally.

Live
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:09 pm
Location: Uppsala, Sweden

Post by Live » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:08 am

MikeC wrote:The 80 Plus and Intel power load testing scheme (which we use) assumes that the maximum +5VSB and -12V line rated power is needed. So subtract 9.6W + 12.5W from 500W, and you get 477.9W.

Now look at 639W, and subtract 9.6W + 12.5W from that as well. You get 616.9W.

This means the ratio of 456 / 616.9 is the same as X / 477.9. Solve for X, you get 353W or 29.44A on the 12V line.

This would be our target 12V load for full power output on the PSU tester.

FYI, the total 12V load we used to get 425W output on the HE 430 model was ~25.5A.
So does this mean that none of these well be able to meet Nvidia SLI spec which I believe is 32 amps on the 12v lines for 7800 cards? I’m sad to admit that your calculations are way out of my league :(

But let’s say compared to the S12 600, which is certified for SLI, how many ampere does that have on the 12v line for comparisons sake?

I had a problem with my 4 pin connector TO SHORT Sad fixed it by barrowing from a dead PSU Smile the plug and wire I needed to lengthen the power cable about a foot this would have allowed me to run it behind the MOB.
As for modifying the PSU myself I would not know how to do it even if I wanted too. The PSU I am looking for is for a new setup and I value the contents high enough to not want to run them of a modified PSU. Especially considering I have close to zero knowledge about electronics or whatever you need to be knowledgeable about to do such a thing. See I don’t even know what exactly I am supposed to know :D

Post Reply