Antec EarthWatts 500 Watts, Helping the Earth

Antec is one of the most important manufacturers of PSUs. It has had great success in the technology market and has been well known for providing excellent products for many years. The company has joined the urgent cause of saving the Earth, offering products with incredible energy efficiency.

Introduction

With its EarthWatts PC power supply, Antec has committed itself to saving energy and maximizing performance.

Antec is doing its part to preserve the environment. As we all know, It’s more important than ever to save our planet. That’s why Antec has brought out these PSUs, focusing on saving energy while it saves consumers money. They incorporate the EarthWatts Active PFC, which includes an advanced energy-saving system. You’ll see this reflected on your electricity bill, and it will also help protect the environment.

First Look

A quick look shows a simple package with earth tones, which probably refer to Mother Earth.

The back side lists the product’s more outstanding features. These days, one of the most important is that this power supply has an efficiency rating of at least 80%.

When taking the product out of its package, we see a power supply with a very simple finish, almost like those on generic products of this type. But the most important thing about this one is its efficiency.

When looking at the wiring, we see a panel-type grill (like the cells in a beehive). This type of grill provides better ventilation for the heatsinks inside the PSU.

Specifications

• · 80 PLUS ® certified. This reduces operating costs and protects the environment.
• · Low-noise 80 mm (3.15″) fan.
• · Dual 12V: 12V2 for the circuit board and peripherals, 12V1 for the processor
• · Circuit protection prevents damage from short circuits, voltage spikes, high voltage, and low voltage.
• · The EarthWatts’ precision power lets it deliver its full nominal potential (24 hours a day, nominal at 50ºC [122 ºF]).
• · Active Power Factor Correction (PCF) of up to 99%.
• · Dimensions: 8.6cm / 3.4″ (H) x 15cm / 5.9″ (W) x 14cm / 5.5″ (D).
• · Weight: 1.86kgs / 4.1 lbs.

Connectors

ATX main (20/24 pin)
ATX 12v (4 pin)
EPS 12v (8 pin)
2x PCI-E (6 pin)
4x SATA
Floppy Drive (4 pin)
6x Molex (4 pin)

Test and Results

Tests:

1. Voltages were read with a multimeter from each of the power supply’s outputs for over 20 minutes, to see if they were constant, and to determine the linearization curves of each of the outputs.

2. We checked to see if the voltage lines were constant when we overclocked our system.

As we can see in both the graphic and in the table, there are voltage variations in the 3.5 volt, 5 volt, and 12 volt lines. But these are not significant, because tension is always lost in every electric or electronic system. I think it’s good to mention that the electronic circuits that Antec uses to build its power sources have a margin of +- 10 % for voltage drops, so this doesn’t present any problem when operating the 500-watt EarthWatts power supply.

Test 2

Power Supply Capacity in Overclock.

One fundamental characteristic of a good power supply is that it can tolerate some good overclocking. For this, we used the power calculation tool provided by Antec at www.antec.outervision.com to see if our hardware falls within the parameters of the 500-watt EarthWatts PSUs.

After using Antec’s power calculator, which said that our system was within parameters, we then overclocked the system.

So far, so good. We just need to measure voltages in the lines to obtain the following graphic:

CONCLUSIONS

The results were very good. All voltages operated within limits. During the test, the power source’s fan remained calm. It operated at high velocity during the “overclock con carga” test (“overclock with load” — “sin carga” means “without load”), which can be very demanding. The test system remained stable and reliable throughout all load testing and in daily use. This was truly a very demanding test platform.

In general, the Antec EarthWatts is an incredible power source. It $80 price is somewhat expensive, but you’ll get great stability, and it works quietly, with low energy consumption. One thing we didn’t like, and that kept this unit from scoring higher, was the lack of things such as sleeving and/or modular cables, as well as the product’s finish, which could be confused with that of generic PSUs.

The final score is 86 out of 100 owls and we give the “Antec EarthWatts 500 Watt Power Supply” our Recommended Award.

Translated by Ed Winograd

Written by Juan Baldemar