Antec Smart Power 500W - Testing and Results

Testing

Testing out the Antec PSU, I ended up running as many components in the system as I could. In order to get my results, I ran the system overclocked quite a bit. I loaded up every available power cord and filled them up with hard drives, DVD burners, and a high end graphics card, an X850. For a torture test, I ran the system running Super Pi to 32M to get full CPU usage, I also loaded up Need For Speed Most Wanted to get a full load on the Graphics Card, for the media I burned a full 4.7GB DVD. And I had a full set of components, my modified Xbox controller I use for gaming, and my Logitech USB headset. I made sure every possible power source was being utilized to put maximum draw on the power supply and would show any decrease in performance.

Test Bed

• Intel Pentium 4 520 overclocked to 3.5 GHz
• 2x512MB Patriot DDR2 3225
• PC Partner Motherboard
• 256MB ATI X850
• ASUS WIFI TV
• 2x120GB Samsung Spin-point HDDs
• 16X Lite-On DVD+RW drive
• 8x DVD+RW playing Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Microsoft wireless USB keyboard and mouse
• Logitech USB Headset
• Microsoft Xbox Controller

Results

Before I get to the voltage readings from all of the read points, the first thing I had noticed with the power supply is that it is very silent. At idle, the fans sometimes don’t even rotate. As power requirements increase the fans start rotating considerably faster and increase in noise, with the fans running at peak I could not hear it over the sound of all the hard drives rotating.

The 12v rail takes a significant hit running all these components, although the drop at load is not that extreme it certainly shows that the power supply has the ability to power high powered systems with ease.

Next: Conclusion >>
 

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