Legit Power Supply Reviews

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Platinum 650W Power Supply Review

Manufacturer: Antec Inc.
Product: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Platinum
Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Emmanouil Filladitakis -
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A look inside


Antec chose a simple black 120mm fan, supplied by Yate Loon Electronics. This particular model (D12BH-12) features a ball bearing fan and can reach up to the ear-bursting speed of 2300RPM.


Many may confuse the OEM of this power supply due to the black PCB used by Antec; however the company behind this design is Fortron-Source (commonly known as FSP) and this is one of their designs they used to initially reach 80Plus Gold certification standards, which the company apparently has improved and is now using for their Earthwatts Platinum series.


The filtering stage starts at the back of the A/C receptacle, with capacitors soldered directly on its terminals, and continues on the main PCB. We encountered a textbook configuration of four Y capacitors, two X capacitors, two chokes and a MOV.


A single CapXon 390uF/420V capacitor has been installed at the primary side of the unit. CapXon is a fairly reputable manufacturer, although enthusiasts do not think of them as highly as Japanese brands, such as Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon.


The capacitors on the secondary side of the unit are mostly supplied by CapXon but we also found two Nippon Chemi-Con products as well. A DC to DC converter is being implemented to convert part of the 12V rail and generate the 5V and 3.3V rails.

Next Page - Test Setup


Review Index
Page 1 - Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W PSU
Page 2 - Unboxing the power supply
Page 3 - External Design
Page 4 - A look inside
Page 5 - Test Setup
Page 6 - Testing results (Regulation & Ripple)
Page 7 - Testing results (Efficiency, Noise & Thermal)
Page 8 - Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W PSU Conclusion