First Look
It’s been a while since I reviewed an Antec power supply, but the last unit I reviewed (the HCG-750) was impressive. Now, we’re looking as a more budget oriented product – The VPA500P. This unit isn’t available for separate purchase, and comes bundled with some cases. Today’s review sample came with a VSK3500 case, which I will review shortly.
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The label claims that this unit has two 12V rails, but this is inaccurate. The controller IC doesn’t support OCP to separate them, so this is a single 12V rail power supply. The power supply itself is plain grey in colour, which is common on units which are aimed at system builders and not enthusiasts.
The cable configuration consists of the usual 20+4 pin ATX connector and 4+4 pin CPU power connector, one 6 pin PCI Express power connector, five SATA Power connectors, two molex connectors and one FDD connector. This cable configuration isn’t too bad for an entry level product, but I do think that the manufacturer could have used a few extra zip ties around the wires. As you can see, they do get a little messy near the power supply.
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The ventilation isn’t very good. The intake side only has a row of slots, and the fan grill is more restrictive than it needs to be. It would be better to use a honeycomb grille on the front and a wire grille for the fan.
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