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

hulubei
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Post by hulubei » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:38 pm

After 3 weeks, the NeoHE failed again. Both 0603 A3.1.
The first one, never worked (no video signal at all but the fans were moving fine). After I received the second one everything went fine until today. I pushed the power button and nothing. Looked inside my case and the LED on the mobo had no light. Another RMA.

C2D 6400 @2800Mhz + 2GB RAM+3WD 80GB SATA + 1Maxtor 80GB PATA + X800GTO@X850XT PE + DFI Infinity 975X/G + other PCI cards + DVD-RW and some low speed fans. None of the problems described here on mine.

Don't know if I should try the next NeoHE I receive from RMA or just to try to change it with a Trio.

And thinking at all the wire management wich pulled me almost 2 weeks of work.

acolyte
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Post by acolyte » Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:22 am

I've had a NeoHE psu (EC model) for almost a year now. Came with the P150 case I purchased last autumn. My first PC configuration (P4 2.6GHz Northwood, 1GB DDR 400, Radeon 9800Pro) I had no problems with.

Now when I updated my computer to a C2D e6300 with 2GB RAM DDR800 and a 7900GS, I've ran into a strange problem. After installing the latest BIOS and overclocking the CPU just a bit, the computer started to behave strangely during POST. When I press the power button the computer powers up for maybe a second. Spinning up the HDDs and the fans. Then it falls dead for a second or more before finally returning to life. Could this also be caused by the NeoHE?

fyleow
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Post by fyleow » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:13 am

acolyte wrote:I've had a NeoHE psu (EC model) for almost a year now. Came with the P150 case I purchased last autumn. My first PC configuration (P4 2.6GHz Northwood, 1GB DDR 400, Radeon 9800Pro) I had no problems with.

Now when I updated my computer to a C2D e6300 with 2GB RAM DDR800 and a 7900GS, I've ran into a strange problem. After installing the latest BIOS and overclocking the CPU just a bit, the computer started to behave strangely during POST. When I press the power button the computer powers up for maybe a second. Spinning up the HDDs and the fans. Then it falls dead for a second or more before finally returning to life. Could this also be caused by the NeoHE?
Nothing to worry about, that's normal behavior for most C2D motherboards. My Gigabyte DS3 does this and it has done it with both my CoolerMaster and Antec PSU.

Sgt_Strider
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Post by Sgt_Strider » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:05 am

ozdoc wrote:
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 :roll: ).
Yes, I will be buying the power supply separately with an Antec Solo. What is the serial code range that I should look out for to ensure that I get a A4?

koitsu
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Post by koitsu » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:11 am

I have two NeoHE 550 units, both bought at different times, and one of which was sent back to Antec for repair (to work with Asus A8N motherboards). Neither PSU work with my new Intel DP965LT. Both work fine with my Gigabyte GA-P965-DS3.

Now, about the Intel board...

If hooked up to a NeoHE PSU, the motherboard green LED comes on, and both the CPU and the PSU fan attempt to spin up for about half a second, then stop. Then they attempt to start up again, and stop. This lasts indefinitely.

However -- and this is the interesting part -- if you shut the PSU off (via the switch on the back) right as the fans are starting to kick on, then quickly switch the PSU back on, you can get the system to boot (with no RAM, the system simply beeps).

The only cables/devices hooked up to the board are the ATX power connector and the 12V 4-pin for the CPU. No other devices are plugged in. No RAM or video card either (no RAM is a good way to see if the system is even POSTing, since the on-board speaker will beep).

This seems to indicate some kind-of capacitor problem, or initial voltage problem -- like the PSU isn't providing the board with enough initial power.

I pulled my old Antec Phantom 350W PSU out of the closet and plugged that in. Lo and behold, every time I powered it on, the system would boot.

So, this is really looking like a major flaw with the NeoHE units. I guess it's time to go find some other vendor who makes a unit exactly like the NeoHE...

koitsu
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Post by koitsu » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:15 am

acolyte wrote:I've had a NeoHE psu (EC model) for almost a year now. Came with the P150 case I purchased last autumn. My first PC configuration (P4 2.6GHz Northwood, 1GB DDR 400, Radeon 9800Pro) I had no problems with.

Now when I updated my computer to a C2D e6300 with 2GB RAM DDR800 and a 7900GS, I've ran into a strange problem. After installing the latest BIOS and overclocking the CPU just a bit, the computer started to behave strangely during POST. When I press the power button the computer powers up for maybe a second. Spinning up the HDDs and the fans. Then it falls dead for a second or more before finally returning to life. Could this also be caused by the NeoHE?
This is usually caused by hardware monitoring changes. The Gigabyte DS3 boards addressed this "problem" in BIOS revision F6 (it used to happen every time the system would power on or a BIOS change was applied).

If you change the thermal monitoring method in the DS3 BIOS from "Auto" to "Intel QST" or "Legacy", when you save the settings, the system will shut off, then power back on again.

So as another poster said, this is generally normal for present-day boards. Though I must argue about it being a good idea: this probably has some VERY bad effects on hard disks.

koitsu
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Post by koitsu » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:30 am

fyleow wrote: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.
I can confirm this problem with some NeoHE PSUs. One of the two I have makes a high-pitch electrical noise when doing power-intensive things, such as moving windows around the desktop, heavy CPU load (benchmarks, etc.), or even simple 3D. I can hear the noise from literally 6 feet away.

The other NeoHE I have doesn't do this.

This is probably the result of just some noisy components inside of the PSU. Do I consider it a problem? Yes. Antec should hire some better QA folks with better ears.

hulubei
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Post by hulubei » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:08 pm

You will never get a computer to POST with no RAM inside. The BEEP it's an error mesage that the computer could not POST. :wink:

tempoct
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Post by tempoct » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:24 pm

Just got P150 yesterday but have no mobo & CPU yet.
Tried to test the NeoHE 430 comes with the case. It has serial S0604XXXXX and Rev A4.

Replaced Smart Power SP-400 with this one on my office rig. Running good so far since morning.

Asus A8N32-SLI-Deluxe
Athlon 64 x2 4800+ @ 2.58GHz
2 x 1GB DDR400 Kingston Value Select
GeForce 6600 256MB
Seagate 7200.9 300GB SATA
LiteON SHW-160P6S
Antec case fans (1x120, 2x92 or 80, comes with the case)

Sgt_Strider
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Post by Sgt_Strider » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:53 pm

Sgt_Strider wrote:
ozdoc wrote:
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 :roll: ).
Yes, I will be buying the power supply separately with an Antec Solo. What is the serial code range that I should look out for to ensure that I get a A4?
Can someone answer my questions above? I need to know what serial number to look for to ensure that I get the latest version of the PS.

Devonavar
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Post by Devonavar » Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:28 pm

A4 Neo HEs were released at the beginning of the year. You should be safe with anything past January 2006 (S0601...) IIRC.

Sgt_Strider
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Post by Sgt_Strider » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:47 pm

Devonavar wrote:A4 Neo HEs were released at the beginning of the year. You should be safe with anything past January 2006 (S0601...) IIRC.
The serial code won't mention January 2006, but if the number is greater than S0601, like S0602, then I should be ok?

kater
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Post by kater » Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:05 am

i guess 0601 stands for 2006 january, 0602 is 2006 february and so on

i have just recently received my p150 and will be posting as soon as i find more time + spend some time playing with the system (so far so good tho!)

roadie
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Post by roadie » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:12 am

My NeoHe is still providing flawless performance. I could not be happier with spending only £55 on it (ever so slightly second hand).

kater
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Post by kater » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:58 am

(sth just ate my post so will be brief this time, grr)

ordered p150 month ago, had it for 3 weeks, played with it, the psu and my old (not so) s12 430

supplied to poland from france (polish shops promised to get but never did, bstrds!)

neohe serial number is S0605....,

revision A4

qc stamp reads 2006-6-16

see pics here

http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/59f ... 994fb.html

http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/c67 ... f86f0.html

neohe works fine, the *ONLY* time it didn't want to start was when i tried it with no load. it started when connected a dvd. stays on w/o problems, doesn't reboot, doesn't hang up, stays on forever, is very stable, never had any problems (never means ca 3 weeks)

my system
a64 3200 @ 2200
asus a8n-e (april bios, fresh)
gainward 7600gt @ 630/830
1 gb ram
1 hdd
1 odd
3 fans

i like the psu but will keep s12 430 as neohe ramps up much more quickly and stays up. even ducted is considerably louder than s12. cables are fine, but with p150 cablegami is no brainer

frankgehry
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Post by frankgehry » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:27 pm

Image
This is the spcr photo of the original NeoHE 430W.

Image
This is a photo of the the NeoHE 550W rev 3.1 from the recent x-bit labs review.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/ ... su5_5.html
You can see the addition of a new component attached to the lower right corner of the right heatsink. What could this be? Anyone have a photo of rev 4?

hulubei
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Post by hulubei » Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:27 pm

I think it's a transistor. It has 3 pins and it needs to be cooled. It has also a hole that looks like the back plate made of metal.

cpd
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Post by cpd » Sat Nov 25, 2006 5:18 pm

I purchased a NeoHE 550 watt PSU to use with my Antec P180. It worked well, and still would if I didn't need to replace it with something more powerful.

The fan inside the NeoHE never made even a whisper. :)

Buddabing
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Post by Buddabing » Sat Nov 25, 2006 7:16 pm

I bought a P150 case, prepared to swap out the PSU if necessary. It wasn't.

From the very first powerup, the PSU performed flawlessly. I have only the PCI-Express modular cable and one molex modular cable connected. Originally, I had one IDE hard disk and a DVD drive on the cable, I now have two SATA hard disks in addition to that, all on one modular cable.

The NeoHE is as quiet as my Seasonic S12 power supplies. Hopefully it will be as reliable. Time will tell.

ajemm
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Post by ajemm » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:16 am

I just swapped out the SmartPower 450W unit that came with my Sonata II with a new Neo HE 550 (S0609 A4). I had been in the market for a new PSU and actually was going to get a Seasonic S12-500 when I saw the Neo for $70 shipped at Fry's. Being oblivious to any issues, I jumped at that deal. So far I have to say I'm quite pleased with it. The voltages are very stable and with the Panaflo on my XP-90C, a Tricool on low and a 120mm Scythe @~1000 rpm, I can't hear it at all. My system is not quiet by SPCR standards but I'm working on it. We'll see how reliable this Neo turns out to be. Then again there's always that 5 year warranty.

BrianF
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Post by BrianF » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:32 am

Devonavar wrote:A4 Neo HEs were released at the beginning of the year. You should be safe with anything past January 2006 (S0601...) IIRC.
"Safe" is a little relative since the so called incompatibilities apparently persist: Just tried a brand new S06080xxxx on an Intel brand P965LT mainboard and got the same old start up problem..... I believe someone a few posts back had found the very same.

geobrick
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Post by geobrick » Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:43 pm

BrianF wrote: "Safe" is a little relative since the so called incompatibilities apparently persist: Just tried a brand new S06080xxxx on an Intel brand P965LT mainboard and got the same old start up problem..... I believe someone a few posts back had found the very same.
I have had the NeoHE 430 from a P150 case running on a P965LT since early September 06. It's powering an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 GB RAM, 2 Samsung HDs and a Samsung optical drive. I have never had a problem starting and runing it since the first boot up. The P965LT did have early BIOS versions that were flakey but it only effected the shutdown process when the LAN was disabled. That problem was fixed with one of the many BIOS updates.

Two weeks ago I bought a NeoHE 500 at Frys for $40 (after $45 rebate) and I'm using it with an A8N-SLI Premium Motherboard (with an Opteron 165, 2GB RAM, 3 Samsung SP1614C SATA hard drives and 2 Plextor optical drives). Not one problem yet.

BrianF
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Post by BrianF » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:51 am

geobrick wrote:It's powering an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 GB RAM, 2 Samsung HDs and a Samsung optical drive.
That 2nd hard drive might be whats ~just~ enough to put you over. Our experiments here show that the P965LT (latest BIOS of couorse) with one HD/one optical/one fan/2 RAM sticks is "boarder line" in that from a cold discharged state a NEO430 stalls on start (kicks the fans over and quits). If you keep trying to power it up it eventually will catch and get going (and once going it stays going) but I cant let machines go out of here with the proviso to my customers that they must "keep trying the power button until it comes on". :)

TruePower2 430s in the same configuration work fine of course...

geobrick
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Post by geobrick » Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:00 pm

BrianF wrote:
geobrick wrote:It's powering an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 GB RAM, 2 Samsung HDs and a Samsung optical drive.
That 2nd hard drive might be whats ~just~ enough to put you over. .
It's possible. I can't say for sure. If you'd like, I can try to boot it with just the one HD and nothing else.

chirphappy
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Post by chirphappy » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:53 am

Luckily, I do not have a problem with the Neo HE not booting or failing. However, my problem is a strange one. I've read about these PSUs having coil buzz or scroll buzz or whatnot, but my Neo buzzes ONLY at night! I have no clue why. I'm fairly certain it is the PSU, and that it is not because the ambient noise level at night is considerably less than during the day. During the day, I put my ear right next to the unit and all I can hear is the "whoosh" of the fan. At night, the buzz appears, and it is quite intolerable. I have tried stopping the fan, but to no avail. Anyone have an idea as to why the buzz only appears at night? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Devonavar
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Post by Devonavar » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:31 pm

Either you have some piece of software that only runs at night, or your utility company is doing something funny at night. I'd say the first one is the more likely of the two, and it's the only one in your control, so I'd start there.

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:46 pm

Is the PC off or on when this buzz occurs?

chirphappy
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Post by chirphappy » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:11 pm

@Devonavar:
Thanks for the tip. I'll check out what if I have any software functions that only perform at night.

@jaganath:
The only time buzzing occurs is when the computer is on.

I've tried switching different outlet/plug/wall socket combinations, but all efforts have proved fruitless. I'm positive the buzzing comes from the PSU because I've had other PSUs in this system that have not buzzed like this (SU380 that came with the NSK2400 was just too loud; S12-500 seemed to not like my component parts and would emit a scroll/activity buzz). This NeoHE430 is the best I have experienced in terms of noise quality and I would really like it to work. I just came back to work from lunch at home, and the noise of my computer was below the ambient noise level. It was silent bliss. However, whenever I go home (around 8PM PST), the buzzing starts again, and it is quite annoying. I will post again once I check for any nightly software applications that I may be running.[/quote]

chirphappy
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Post by chirphappy » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:52 am

Well, I've checked any software I could be running only at night, and I haven't found anything. Besides, the buzzing starts as soon as I press the power button even before Windows loads. I turned on the computer this morning at 7AM and the buzz was gone, but at 11PM last night, the buzz was annoyingly loud. I also have doubts about the buzzing having to do with the utility company since other PSUs I have do not emit this type of buzz. On the other hand, it could just be the combination of this PSU and the power company.
I'm quite discouraged about this power supply since I have already been through one RMA with Antec before. This is the replacement power supply that I received. Their service was great, but I don't want to have to wait to receive another replacement. However, I guess I have no choice but to do so considering that this is the quietest PSU I've had (minus the buzzing, of course).

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:28 am

However, I guess I have no choice but to do so considering that this is the quietest PSU I've had (minus the buzzing, of course).
Hold on, before you RMA, it would interesting to find out at exactly what time the buzzing starts and stops. Could it be something to do with something else that switches on/off in your house at a certain time (ie heating)?

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