Antec Smart Power 2.0 500W

Performance:

To test the Smart Power, we used the following Venice nForce4 system:

We tested the power supply with a load by using CPUBurn v1.00 Linux for 30 minutes. A Craftsman digital multimeter was used to monitor the rail voltages for load and idle. Overall the performance of this unit was acceptable. The 3.3V rail was a bit low at 3.28 load and 3.29 idle, but it didn't seem to affect stability. The 12V rail was the most unstable however. While idle it stayed at a rather high 12.17V Once we subjected it to load, it immediately jumped down to 12.08V. A jump of .09V may not seem like much but it is definitely not desirable. Other than that however, the 5V rail was pretty stable.

Conclusion:

The cables are nicely sleeved and the modular features of this power supply make cable management much easier. The only problems we foresee with the modular features are that there are only four slots for cables. As mentioned before this limits the user's options, as only four of the six cables can be used at any given time. Overall this is not a bad power supply, but we wouldn't recommend it for overclockers or enthusiasts running SLI. The rails all dropped and fluctuated under load so it can affect stability. As for everyday use on a stock system, this power supply should be adequate. As always thanks to Antec for providing this unit for review.