Antec VPA500P Review

[c_hegge]

http://hardwareinsights.com/?p=5332

[Wester547]

The fan is a Yate Loon sleeve bearing part. Rather than oil, the bearing has thick grease. This is much less effective, as it often gets pushed out of the bearing over a few years and doesn’t flow back in.

....

...How many Yate Loon fans have you seen with this issue? Have you ever seen an ADDA fan with this problem as well? Also, the soldering looks average to me, about as good as the soldering job on the old Hipros. It looks decent but in those Hipros I was able to bend the heatsinks back and forth with ease, even the very chunky ones. Also, I have seen heatsinks that are far worse. I would say those are adequate. Maybe not for 500W+ but for a limit of 350W at least...

[c_hegge]

I've seen a few Yate Loon sleeve bearing fans get noisy and fail where all of the grease was on the end of the shaft and washer, and not in the bearing where it should have been. Probably not as many as ADDA, but it does happen.

Other than the blob, I couldn't see any issues with the soldering It wasn't quite as tidy as what we would expect from Delta, but not worth complaining about.

Yes, those heat sinks are fine for a 350 Watter, but this is a 500W, and not a particularly efficient 500W. The unit was quite loud, and still got quite hot.

[Wester547]

I've seen a few Yate Loon sleeve bearing fans get noisy and fail where all of the grease was on the end of the shaft and washer, and not in the bearing where it should have been. Probably not as many as ADDA, but it does happen.

Do you mean that every Yate Loon and ADDA sleeve bearing you've come across uses grease instead of oil for the lubricant?

[c_hegge]

No. Yate Loon just seem a little hit and miss. Some use better lubricant (and more of it) than others. ADDA usually don't use any lubricant at all

[Wester547]

Or very little lubricant, oil possibly? If there was no lubricant at all, I don't think ADDA sleeve bearing fans would work.

[c_hegge]

^
Maybe, but if there's so little that it's not visible, then it's very insufficient.

[LongRunner]

Nice try, Antec. (Note: Jun Fu WG = Fuhjyyu TM)

It looks...not gutless, but wimpy. The heatsinks are short indeed for a 500W unit of average efficiency and the main toroid doesn't look like much either. And the ventilation...they don't even have an excuse for.

The case itself is one of the flimsiest I've picked up in a long time...

Really??? Antec

There's a second (slightly smaller) solder blob near the low-side switcher.

[c_hegge]

I noticed that one the after publishing the review. I guess that one just caught my eye more because it was next to a hand done joint.

[Pentium]

Great review. How can it be 220V only if it has APFC?