oh well, it died. RMAing.

having some bad luck lately. started from the phantom.

I purchased an Antec Phantom 350 power supply (350W ATX12V V2.0 S/N: 04125432333) on 01/12/05 from securemart.com. On Saterday 03/26/05 (35 days later) it died.

Power was being supplied to the motherboard because the motherboard LED was lit but when the computer was switched on there was a brief quiet buzz from the power supply (PS) and the system would not power on.

I let the PS cool down over-night unplugged from the electrical mains. I tried it again on Sunday and on Monday. Same result. I tried disconnecting all other devices that the PS was powering. Same result. I replaced the PS with a spare PS I had; an Antec True Power 430W power supply and my computer now powered up fine.

Antec sent me a replacement but I it is still sitting in its box. I have been too scared to use it and instead and sticking with my Antec True Power 430W.

I came to this website because I was trying to get the guts to sell my True Power and use this new Phantom. The serial# of the new one is D05015567132.

Anyone know if the D05.. is more reliable than the 04 ?

D05 is supposed to be reliable. It's said even D04s with a purple sticker on the side r reliable.

Ah bollox.. my computer is currently as unstable as Charles Manson. I get BSODs several times a day, and som random reboots to top it off. Adding a new storage hdd is the only hardware mod i´ve done lately and all temps are fine.

Cant say im shure its the PSU though, if i dont report back you can assume its working fine and i´ve just forgot to tell you.

I reported the model number somewhere earlier in this topic. i have a crappy keyboard, some cheap ukltra-x rip-off i tookfrommycrappy partsbin when my normalboard broke.the spacebar is impossible,l

EDIT: after i posted this message,i closed the browser and doubleclicked the messenger icon, and the system reboots.. i log in and it reboots again. Idoubleclick the messenger icon again and the same thing happens, it reboots. Now it wont reboot when i click the icon.

I´ve checked all the connectors and they seem just fine. Oh well.. I guess ill have to wait for the next crash to do some further troubleshooting...

Big problem from hour one. It stared to smell in my room. I thought it was nothing serious but the smell was coming back every time I stared my PC.

The PSU get hot. About after an hour it's at maximum heat, when the case is also warm.

My main issue is the electrical burning smell that comes out from the internal PSU components. It smells afoul.
Even now just after 15 min of power, when the PSU is far from warm I get the smell. I don't get it. Ok the heatsink is cold but the internal part are sure already hot.

Even after 15 min it stings in my eyes. My eyes really hurt. Even my throat fells dry. After this I decided the PSU to be health risky for me so I'm deciding to send it back.

I have good case cooling, all my parts are also water cooled. But I don't get it when the PSU still is cold after 10-30 min it smells and eye's hurt. I have checked if it's something else but no, and when I go near and smell my PSU i nearly die.

I use a 24 > 20 pin adapter (now I have put back my old PSU)

I haven't noticed this kind of problem when readig posts.

My PSU and motherboard share the same side of the case. So all the heat the motherboard creates gets to the PSU as well, and the opposite way!

hm

some phantoms may have problems ( mine had a lot ) but Antec customer support really rocks!
If i only referred directly to them instead of relying on the local italian reseller it would have saved me 10 months of pain

OK, this is up and running and i must say I'm not that impressed with the workmanship to be honest. First off i had to do some major decoupling and organizing on the cables coming out of the PSU as they were a total mess that made it really hard to get into the lower chamber in the P180 and clear of the fan.
The second thing is the fan. When it finally turns on (i love the psu up until then) the PSU is already uncomfortably hot, and it's noisy. Not some gentle wooshing sound that can be heard, but more like a highpitched grating sound. Sounds a lot like a car-turbo when it's borderlining the kick in level and releasing pressure. The "slurring" sound. Kind hard to explain.
Third thing is the PSU chirps. I kid you not. While running Prime95, and only Prime95, it literary sounds like a bird chirping away. The noise is high enough to hear a room away with the case open, and it's a multitude of pitches. Gives a whole new meaning to coil hum.

First, for the records:

S/N: D04115401314
Ordered in November 2004 from FrontierPC,Vancouver. Was B/O and shipped in late December.

I have my Phantom 350 since january 2005 and it's still working fine. However, I recently started to get an annoying "buzz" when my vCore hits 1.5V. The noise really comes from the PSU, this one sits outside my case, so it's easy to figure out where the buzz comes from... The 3400+ and the Radeon X800XT PE are watercooled and my temperatures and voltages are fine at any load. I recently replaced my speakers to get rid of another hum from the subwoofer. Now the buzz from the PSU is even more apparent and highly annoying... If I force the vCore to stay at 1.1V all the time (by disabling the ACPI 2.0 support in the BIOS), the buzz is barely perciptible at full load (but with a lower vCore)... Am I the only one with this issue?

I have a question regarding this issue:

If I switched to a Seasonic S12 PSU, would I hear the PSU fan at all? Would I have the same coil buzz issue? And how quiet the S12 is compared to a Nexus 120mm undervolted at 7V? Right now, the only fan in this system is a Nexus 120mm @ 700RPM, and the system is dead silent at low load.

U will hear the PSU fan. coil buzz issue was non existent for me. Nexus @ 7V is quieter than the S12 Fan, which is a medium speed version of the Nexus (i assume you r talking about the low speed version).

in a word, if u get a S12, u'd probably want to get another nexus and swap the fan, maybe add some decoupling as well. otherwise, S12 could save u some headache, imho.

Havent got any weird reboots or BSODs anymore, it must have been a loose connector or something since it stopped after i poked around inside the case a bit.. im referring to my post above.

I have 2 spare 120mm Nexus fans with me. It's really not a problem. Right now, the PSU sits on top of a wooden cabinet that's part of my desk (behind the metal support). You can barely see the PSU led on this picture:



For more pictures, see this other thread.

The Nexus is almost inaudible right now, so a gentle whooshing noise from a PSU would probably be easier on my nerves than an annoying PSU buzz... My Sonata is also acoustipacked and is placed inside a wooden cabinet (with a good airflow), so I'm not sure a fan swap would be necessary, and it would void the warranty, so I want to avoid that...

I have to decide between 2 things right now...

1) Swap the Phantom for a Seasonic S12 430/500.
2) Put the PSU inside the case and probably add another Nexus to lower my HDD/CPU/GPU temperatures.

This buzz is really annoying to me, my hearing sensitivity is very low. If I put back the Phantom inside the case, keeping the Nexus @ 700 RPM, what would be the impact on the CPU/GPU temperatures? Maybe the acoustipack would help to muffle the coil buzz at 1.5V... That buzz was not there a few weeks ago...

try 2 first, it won't hurt.


i used to have 2 nexus @6v, one is my case fan, the other on a zalman 7700alcu, both cause air flow under the PSU. the setup is nearly silent from one step away, and the even during full load, the temp rise of CPU/GPU is only maginal, 2 or 3 as long as i can recall, almost negligible.

Had a new Phantom 350 running for about 3 hours driving:
Asus P5WD2, 3.2GHz uP, 2G Ram, Radeon X1900 video, two SATA drives.

Just exploded. Really loud, sounded like gunfire.

Video card still works, don't know about the rest.

Could you post the serial number and more details about the airflow setup in your case please?

Serial number: D04125445417
Air flow: Supply was sitting out on my desk along with the motherboard.
Room temperature: 67F

Another comment:
The supply was sitting on one side on my desktop. No cooling there. Maybe the temperature sensor was on the other side. I'm a power supply designer myself, so I should have known better. I have been using Antec supplies and have never had a problem. I just ordered a Phantom 500W, at least it has a fan, if needed.
-
Robert

Anyone had any troubles with the Phantom500 yet ? Mine is working in perfect condition. I've had my system running 24/7 since July, and yet, nothing to complain about it! I'm posting my update now because I saw that most Phantom350 died after 6 months.

Ciao,
Phil

No. In my case I think it's coming from the VRM's, but it could be the PSU. I normally run my CPU at 1.0V, but if I turn it up to 1.5V I can really hear a loud intermittent buzzing.



Probably the fuse blowing.

Oh, and to the guy who said his eyes started to sting when he turned his PSU on, that really, really shouldn't be happening and you made the right decision to RMA it.

I can say with confidence that if you have problems with this psu it is due to manufacturer's defect or your misuse of it.

been on for a year and a week with 2-3 days downtime total.

gaming bf2 on a clawhammer chip with 9800 pro going and 1 fan. water cooled zalman on cpu/gpu. yes, my case doesnt heat up hot, but, that's the point. I would open up the psu to check out the serial number, but its really jammed in there and I might spring a leak if I move it. (i have a mystery hose issue)

well, just had to say that to build some confidence in someone who might be considering one.

I would consider the 350 vs the 500 in most cases as we all know that 350 is enough for most anything.

One day soon i may open my case and read off the serial for you y'all. currently it is barely warm to the touch after gaming. 1 120mm papst on 7 volts in rear is all this SLK3xxxBQE case has.

A fuse blowing? Ha, It sounded like exploding capacitors, perhaps three of them.

500 been good. fan set to 2. play wow all day the fan never start.

Just passed the one year mark, and my 350 is still hanging in there.

type: Phantom 350
serial: D041154xxxxx
purchased: 2005-09-27 from endpcnoise.com
system: P180, A64 4400+, 2GB ram, asus 7800GTX TOP

For the PSU section I was using the original tricool on low, recently switched to a nexus hooked up to a zalman mfc1 running around 750 rpm.

Have had no problems.

My '05 phantom is still alive after 7 months, it's inside my case, doesn't have a dedicated fan. Works fine, i'm happy with it.

Phantom 350
Bought from Provantage.com in Early 2005.

Still works perfectly. No coil buzz or high pitched whine.

System:

Athlon 64 3500+ Thermalright XP-120 w/ Papst 120mm
Asus A8V Deluxe
3GB of RAM
ATi X800XT PE
SB Audigy 2
Seagate 'Cuda V 120GB
LiteOn 16x DVD-rom
Ducted Papst 120mm case fan.
Ahanix D.Vine 4 HTPC Case.

Played plenty of games on it.

-Ed

I purchased a Phantom 500 in August 2005, and it failed after about a week. It was probably my fault though: it died just as I was switching the settings on the P180 tri-cool fan switch. The symptom was that the motherboard LED would blink on and off in about a one-second pulse, and the system would not boot.

I bought a replacement (without complaint, since it seems to me that it's my own d**m fault that switching fan voltages without turning off the supply could cause problems). The new one has worked flawlessly.

I'm not sure how changing the fan voltage should or could kill the power supply? I alter the voltage of my PSU fan all the time with a fanmate while the power supply (and computer) is on and encountered no problems.

Well I might be wrong. Here's the deal: the main power was off, but the standby was on. I flipped one of the tricool switches, and the standby 5V supply started cycling.