Hardware Secrets
Home | Audio | Case | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
First Look
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Forums
Gabriel's Blog
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search




Recommended Book
Power Supply Cookbook (EDN Series for Design Engineers) (EDN Series for Design Engineers)
By Marty Brown
Newnes
Price: $35.10

Home » Power
Antec EarthWatts 500 W Power Supply Review
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Reviews Last Updated: February 18, 2008
Page: 2 of 9
$ Check REAL-TIME pricing for Antec EARTHWATTS EA-500 500-Watt Power Supply Products $
Dell: $85.99 Circuit City: $94.99
AlishaTech: $68.27 Dell: $77.39
B&H Photo Video Pro Audio: $99.95

A Look Inside EarthWatts 500 W

Hardware Secrets Golden AwardWe decided to disassemble this power supply to see how it looks like inside, what is the design used and what components are used. Please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial to understand how a power supply works inside and to compare this power supply to others.

In this page we will have an overll look, while on the next page we will discuss in details the quality and rating of the components used.

We can point out several differences between this power supply and a low-end (a.k.a. “generic”) one: the construction quality of the printed circuit board (PCB); the use of more components on the transient filtering stage; the active PFC circuitry; the power rating of all components; the design; etcetera.

Antec EarthWatts 500 W
click to enlarge
Figure 3: Overall look.

Antec EarthWatts 500 W
click to enlarge
Figure 4: Overall look.

Antec EarthWatts 500 W
click to enlarge
Figure 5: Overall look.

As we mentioned on other articles and reviews, the first place we like to take a look when opening a power supply to have a hint about its quality is its filtering stage. The recommend components for this stage are two ferrite coils, two ceramic capacitors (Y capacitors, usually blue), one metalized polyester capacitor (X capacitor) and one MOV (Metal-Oxide Varistor). Very low-end power supplies use fewer components than that, usually removing the MOV, which is essential for cutting spikes coming from the power grid, and the first coil.

On this section this power supply is flawless, as it has more components than the necessary – one extra X capacitors, one extra coil and a ferrite bead on the main AC cable. It also provides one X capacitor and two Y capacitors after the rectifying bridge.

Antec EarthWatts 500 W
click to enlarge
Figure 6: Transient filtering stage (part 1).

Antec EarthWatts 500 W
click to enlarge
Figure 7: Transient filtering stage (part 2).

Now let’s have a more detailed discussion on the components used on EarthWatts 500 W.

Pages (9): « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »
Print Version | Send to Friend | | Bookmark Article | Comments (7)

Related Content
  • Antec NeoPower 550 Power Supply Review
  • Antec Sonata III 500 Case
  • Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology
  • SilverStone Strider ST50F 500 W Power Supply Review
  • Antec TruePower Quattro 850 W Power Supply Review

  • Compare Prices for PC Power SupplyPowered by Shopping.com
    Pc Power and Cooling (S47D) 470-Watt Power Supply
    Power: 470 Watt
    Read full description...
    $78 - $78 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling Pc Power & Cooling Silencer 610 Eps12v Power Supply (S61EPS)
    For: EPS12
    Read full description...
    $111 - $120 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling SILENCER® 470 (S47ATX) 470-Watt Power Supply
    For: ATX 12V, Power: 470 Watt
    Read full description...
    $65 - $65 Compare Prices
    Pc Power and Cooling PSU|S75CF 750W RT 750-Watt Power Supply
    Power: 750 Watt
    Read full description...
    $160 - $163 Compare Prices
    Shuttle (PC40) 250-Watt Power Supply
    For: ATX 12V, Power: 250 Watt, Single Fan
    Read full description...
    $68 - $68 Compare Prices

    RSSLatest News
    Transcend Releases aXeRam DDR3-1800
    July 4, 2008 - 2:06 PM
    Leadtek Launches WinFast PX9800 GTX+
    July 4, 2008 - 11:44 AM
    MSI Launches Factory-Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 Graphics Card
    July 4, 2008 - 9:22 AM
    Arctic Cooling Launches Accelero TWIN TURBO
    July 3, 2008 - 11:27 AM
    Cooler Mater V8 CPU Cooler
    July 3, 2008 - 10:59 AM
    New DDR3 Intel Extreme Memory Series From OCZ
    July 2, 2008 - 2:59 PM
    New AMD Phenom Processors
    July 2, 2008 - 2:21 PM
    OCZ Announces Core Series SATA-300 2.5" SSD
    July 2, 2008 - 6:45 AM
    Lian Li Launches PC-A77 Case
    July 1, 2008 - 11:48 AM
    BFG Announces Factory-Overclocked GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Cards
    July 1, 2008 - 7:48 AM
    .:: More News ::.

    RSSLatest Content
    Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?
    DirectX Versions
    All Phenom Models
    Everything You Need to Know About Serial ATA
    Sapphire HD 4850 Video Card Review
    How Things Are Around Here
    Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L Motherboard
    Zalman FPSGun FG1000 Mouse Review
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    Amazon Kindle Review
    Tagan A+ Black Pearl Case Review
    Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS Hard Disk Drive Review
    The new GeForce 9800 GTX+ and PhysX
    Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table

    Our Most Popular Articles
    Maximum CPU Temperature
    723,335 views
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    451,908 views
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    406,819 views
    ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
    401,764 views
    ATI Radeon X1600 XT Review
    396,676 views
    How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model
    347,823 views
    Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable
    317,733 views
    How To Correctly Apply Thermal Grease
    302,207 views
    Sempron vs. Athlon XP
    271,912 views
    Sempron 3400+ Review
    261,719 views

    Latest Threads in Our Forums
    Transcend Releases aXeRam DDR3-1800
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Leadtek Launches WinFast PX9800 GTX+
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Urgent, Asus My Logo killed my Mobo
    by Viper Masse
    Modding a PSU for hobby purposes, combining rails?
    by Vantskruv
    MSI Launches Factory-Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 Graphics Card
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    P5q Deluxe
    by BedCommando
    Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?
    by Cheetos
    Nu Build
    by Cheetos
    Arctic Cooling Launches Accelero TWIN TURBO
    by Cheetos
    Cooler Mater V8 CPU Cooler
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    .:: Visit Our Forums ::.

    © 2004-8, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)