I remember one time about two years ago I was sitting at a my friend’s house. I had brought over my custom PC and we were right in the middle of some hardcore zombie killing. My friend was standing on a ledge on top of a small store, and I was in the street luring zombies out so that he could pick them off with a bolt action sniper rifle. There are scenarios as engrossing to a horror gamer like me as fighting off packs of zombies with Molotov Cocktails and twin 9MMs. I jumped on top of a car and my friend ran down some steps, splattering brains as he went to keep them from surrounding me. I was out of ammo, and had resorted to slashing at them with a knife. It seemed like the day might be won, we would be heroes in the online zombie killing world. And then my screen went black. Everything shut down. I frantically pushed the button… to no avail. I watched on my friend’s screen as he was torn limb from limb by enraged blood-thirsty zombies.
I was nothing short of livid. I had just put this thing together the day before. I spent amounts of money that would have been put to better use in the stock market or some crap on a computer that died on me after 24 hours. Enraged, I went back to the store where I bought the parts and demanded to know which one of the components had fried my entire system. He took it apart and tested everything. Until he found the reason behind the power failure. The power supply. Funny how that hadn’t crossed my mind before. There is a moral to this story. If you are going to get high energy consuming components, get a high wattage PSU. Lest ye be in the dark.
I give to you the Antec Neopower 650 Blue. The high efficiency modular power supply that will get you through hordes of zombies, and then some. The ultimate combination of high power, high efficiency and cool style for today’s high performance PC systems. 650 watts of pure power, with 85% efficiency, cable management, and dedicated circuitry with a super-silent 120mm blue LED fan. Figured out why they call it the 650 Blue yet? I thought you would get it quickly. You’re so smart..
Features:
- nVidia SLI Certified
High Efficiency, Super Quiet Operation - Highly efficient (up to 85%) with one super-silent 120mm fan keeps NeoPower cool and blue internal LED illumination
- Advanced Cable Management System
Improves internal airflow and reduces system clutter by allowing you to use only the cables you need - Universal Input with Active PFC
Use anywhere in the world without worrying about input voltages, Active PFC to reduce electrical waste - Dedicated Power Circuitry
Delivers safer, more reliable output to your system’s delicate components. Includes dedicated voltage outputs, triple +12V output circuits, voltage feedback circuitry, and tighter ?% regulation for improved system stability - Supports ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V systems
- Low-speed 120mm blue LED fan delivers whisper-quiet cooling and ensures quiet operation by varying fan speed in response to load and conditions
- Three +12V output circuits provide maximum stable power for the CPU independently of the other peripherals
- Accurate power rating allows NeoPower to deliver its full rated power, 24 hours a day rated at 50ºC
- One 8 pin and one 6 pin PCI Express graphics card power connectors
- Four SATA connectors for your Serial ATA drives
- Industrial grade protection circuitry prevents damage resulting from short circuits (SCP), under voltage protection (UVP), power overloads (OPP), and excessive voltages (OVP)
- Approvals: UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TÜV, CCC, C-tick.
- MTBF: 80,000 hours
Opening the box, I find the power supply wrapped in what appears to be recycled paper and padding. All you other people who don’t care about the planet could learn a thing or two from these Antec guys. Unless this isn’t recycled, then forget what I just wrote. Putting the PSU aside, there was also some extra cables for the connector ports on the PSU, in case you run out of power supply cables when hooking everything up, and a power cord to get the juicetricity going. And at the bottom was the instruction book and warranty info.
Here are all the cables and their lengths:
- Molex: 6 Connectors (modular)
o 2x 30” (3 connectors each) - SATA: 4 Connectors (modular)
o 2x 30 1/2” length (2 connectors each) - PCI-E 6+2 Pin: 1 Connector (modular)
o 1x 23” length - PCI-E 6 Pin: 1 Connector
o 1x 20” length - 4-Pin Floppy: 1 Connector
o 2x 6” length (dedicated cable can be attached to Molex connectors) - 20+4 ATX Connector: 18” length
- 4+4 Pin CPU connector: 19” length
- 4 Pin CPU connector: 21” length
I find that installing a PSU is actually about as easy as putting in new RAM, given that you know what you are doing. Unplug, screws out, PSU out, new PSU in, screws in, plug stuff in. You’re good to go. The 650 Blue is as easy as any other power supply to put in, so I feel safe in skipping the particulars. The 120mm intake fan pretty much covers the bottom of the PSU. I feel comforted knowing that a power machine like this has such a large fan. Power supplies can get very hot, but Antec has done a great job in making sure that this one is well cooled. The modular interface is extremely basic and the connectors can be used wherever you want. You can connect the modular PCI-E cable into any of these terminals as well as any of the Molex or SATA cables. Even the most novice builder would have no trouble with this thing.
Looking at its guts, you would think that this was a close relative to the Corsair 620HX. But compared side by side you would notice that even though this is a Seasonic built PSU, it is still very different. This PSU is closer to an Antec Truepower Trio 650W with chunkier components and a modular interface. Seasonic has build in a pair of aluminum panels which are used to transmit heat from the rectifiers to the primary heatsink. The primary cap is a single 85°C rated Nippon Chemi Con.
The blue glow from behind the fan is a set of three LEDs that were buried in the heatsinks. While this is great for those who are looking for the particular effect, if you want to pass on it you will have to look closer at the box to opt for the non-Blue version of the Neopower 650.
I used the Coolmax ATX Power Supply Voltage Tester to check the reliability of the Neopower 650. I think the results speak for themselves. No typical consumer has enough components that draw power from the +5V and +3.3V rails in order to stress them. I did conduct the tests with the system I had and the Neopower Blue 650W passed every test within +/- 2% of 5V / 3.3V. I noticed hardly the slightest movement in the +12V rail readings during the testing process.
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue Power Supply Performance
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I am confident that for the price, under $140, the Neopower is at the top of its class in performance and stability. Not many PSUs can boast the reliability that Antec has put into their power supplies, and the Neopower 650 Blue is certainly no black mark on their record. I would recommend this for medium to hardcore gamers without hesitation.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||