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
Conclusion
Antec is marketing the EDGE series as "the pinnacle of power supplies". While that may not be very accurate, as there are several significantly more advanced products available, this is a 550W PSU with a "Silence Defined" marketing label. The intended purpose of the EDGE series is to provide low noise, high quality units to mainstream users, not to compete for the crown of the highest possible performance or technological superiority. If you are looking to power a behemoth with multiple GPUs or a cryptocurrency mining machine, none of the units of the EDGE series are suitable; for "normal" users, however, 550W-750W is more than sufficient.
In terms of quality, the Antec EDGE 550W is excellent, both externally and internally. It is hard to fail a quality check with Seasonic as your OEM, but the EDGE 550W unit that we reviewed today is perhaps the most well made <700W unit that we have seen to this date. Inside are some of the best components that can be used for a consumer-grade PSU, while the assembly/soldering job is immaculate. It is no surprise that Antec covers the units of the EDGE series with a 5-year warranty.
Antec also puts in a commendable effort to make the EDGE series aesthetically appealing. The modular cables, perforated chassis, stickers, and white LED lighting form an overall look that does stand out, yet not overly so. For those that dislike the white lighting or lighting in general, the installation of an on/off switch is a thoughtful choice.
The primary sales point of the Antec EDGE series is "Silence" and the 550W unit passed all tests with flying colors. Its high efficiency and low capacity account for very low thermal losses. Aside from a completely fanless unit, such as the 520W Nightjar, the Antec EDGE most likely is the next best thing that money can buy. It also has great electrical performance, with very good voltage regulation and line filtering characteristics. The high ripple of the 5V line is unusual but it is still well below the ATX design limit, therefore we cannot really voice any complaints about it.
The Antec EDGE series is very interesting but, due to the narrow wattage range, it only appeals to those with more moderate needs. These units are designed for the casual home/office user and the average gamer, the type of user that will install only one good CPU and GPU, a couple of drives, and work or casually play games. The EDGE also takes things a step further and targets silence/quiet operation.
This category, the "mainstream users", is undoubtedly the largest portion of the market, but due to their high price the Antec EDGE units will be interesting to just a small fragment of it. Even the 550W model that we reviewed here today, the least powerful unit of the EDGE series, has an MSRP of $120, a price that can easily get you an 80 Plus Gold PSU that's twice as powerful or even two Corsair CX600M units (for $10 extra). If the actual retail price of the EDGE units isn't significantly below MSRP when the series hits store shelves, the EDGE will have a difficult time competing in today's market. They may be quieter than much of the competition, but the price premium still looks very steep.
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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),.