Antec EDGE 550W Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on October 3, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- 550W
- Edge
Introduction
Even though there are plenty of >1kW consumer power supply units available today, it is well known that these represent a very small portion of the actual market, as the power requirements of a typical home or office PC are far lower than that. After reviewing several top-tier products, such as the efficient Seasonic Platinum 1200XP3 and the ruthless Corsair AX1500i, today we will have a look at something a lot more sensible and appealing to the average user. In this review we examine the newest PSU series from Antec, the EDGE.
Antec is a company that has always been focused on efficient and practical products rather than developing numerous high output units. They do have one 1.3kW high performance PSU available but that's about it; the bulk of their PSU products exist in the 550W to 750W power range. This is the exact range of the newest EDGE series as well, which consists of three units starting at 550W and going up to 750W. We're looking at the least powerful model today, which still has ample power for the vast majority of home users and casual gamers.
| Power Specifications ( Rated @ 50 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 20A | 20A | 45A | 2.5A | 0.3A |
| 100W | 540W | 12.5W | 3.6W | ||
| TOTAL | 550W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
We received the Antec EDGE 550W in a colorful cardboard box that clearly specifies the focus of the PSU: silence. The box is large and strong enough to adequately protect the unit during transport. For those that are shelf-browsing, the most important features are printed on the front and sides of the box, while details can be found on the rear side.
Antec kept the bundle relatively simple. Inside the box is an AC power cable, four mounting screws, a small leaflet with basic information about the unit, a very simple pouch, and anti-vibration dampers. It is noteworthy that Antec supplies two sets of dampers, one red and one black, allowing the user to select between an aggressive or subtle appearance.
The EDGE series is fully modular and the cables are all supplied in a nylon bag. Only the few pictured cables accompany the 550W model, effectively limiting the user to just one GPU as there are only two 6+2 PCI Express connectors available. On the other hand, there are eight SATA connectors, which is quite a lot for a 550W model. With the exception of the ATX 24 pin connector cable, all of the cables are black, flat, ribbon-like cables. The 24-pin cable also makes use of all-black wires but they are covered with a normal black sleeving instead.
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bsim500 - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Good review but I really don't understand the point of a low-mid wattage PSU that's 170mm in length when other brands on the market are only 140mm? Doesn't the target market for these also go hand in hand with compact short depth Micro-ATX cases?...PS: How about a roundup on the really low wattage stuff for increasingly popular Mini-ITX builds (ie, 40-160w "Pico-PSU"), and maybe Seasonic G360 (budget, Gold rated, 140mm length, ultra quiet) / X400 (totally fanless), etc, which are all a lot more interesting from a custom build HTPC / "netbox" perspective?
willis936 - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Well at this point the target market is everyone who isn't running SLI or an overclocked HEDT CPU. In most cases (figurative and literal) the smaller PSU is nice but some people still do mid ATX cases with ATX mobos rather than uATX so I guess this is the PSU for them.willis936 - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Also after looking at price and results I can't see why anyone would forgo a SS PSU if they care about sound and performance at this price.Bobsy - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Well, it this is indeed based on the SeaSonic S12G, then it's like a S12G but modular, for almost the same price. I can easily see how this can be appealing.bebimbap - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
I believe the size is due to the "silence" of the PSU.smaller/compact PSUs would be harder to cool with no/less air flow.
I have the seasonic G360 it is a beast. even with a highly oc'd 4770k @4.5ghz and gtx 670 oc'd to 1250 with boost. it doesn't have a single hickup. but that said, Most workloads are either high GPU with low cpu load (gaming) or the opposite no gpu and high cpu load. Not many workloads can max out a 4core with HT AND a upper tier GPU. So in the end i'm sure i won't hit the 360w limit. But I too would be interested in small PSUs in the 40-160w range.
TelstarTOS - Saturday, October 4, 2014 - link
There are more and more people that wants a quiet computing, and use midtower or even full tower cases where space is NOT an issue. It's a trend that Antec chimed in.kmmatney - Monday, October 6, 2014 - link
Yep - that's I I still have my huge Antec P182 case, with sound deadening panels. While I prefer shorter PSUs, I prefer silence even more, and with a large case it doesn't matter what I use. I've been using a Corsair 650W PSU for the last 6 years, which for all intents and purposes, is dead silent.The_Assimilator - Saturday, October 4, 2014 - link
This PSU utilizes the S12G platform, which is not designed for modularity. Hence additional space was needed for the modular cables' PCB.JoBalz - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Definitely one where you'll want to measure your available CPU space before ordering. Some cases the length would be a definite problem. I think I could get it physically in my case but having to attach or remove cables might be the problem as it's push up pretty close to the hard drive bays in the front of the case. Otherwise, it sounds like a good unit and a good price for most mainstream users that don't overclock and that have only one GPU to power.JoBalz - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Excuse me, I meant to measure your available PSU space before ordering (particularly if you're replacing an existing unit),.