Did Antec EVER fix these?

I had an Antec NeoHE 430, as part of a P150. I had read this thread before purchasing it, so I'm not surprised or anything... but now I want to return it and I find out that I'm to pay for the shipping. I don't think it's worth the time or cost RMAing it, which is a shame since it's a pretty poor move on Antec's part how they've handled this, and really do need a consumer reaction to put them in their places.

I take comfort in the fact that even with the broken PSU, the P150 still looks better and costs less than, say, one of those Lian Li cases. (but not as good as a Mac, though - heh heh)

Looks are subjective, of course, and I prefer the looks of the Lian-Li. I do like the Antec prices better, though!

I'm about to purchase an Antec Neo HE 2.2 PSU but I'm a bit stuck as to whether to buy a 430W or a 500W.

I only really need 430W so does the 500W unit have any advantages as far as connectors/noise at certain load levels/etc other than simply more room for expansion?

I have an Asus motherboad but I'm not expecting any problems with the 2.2 revision and I've never actually seen mention of problems with the Asus P4C800E Deluxe Socket 478 motherboards.

Any tips? Whichever unit I end up buying I'll report back here whether I had any problems or not.

Regards,
Michal

I was offered an A4 revised power supply when I sent my A3 back last week. I got them to give me a truepower 2.0 430 watt instead. I paid 8.00 to send it back, so I get a new truepower 2.0 for 8.00, of course I have to figure in the case cost of 125.00
Better than nothing I guess.

Well I just picked up my Antec Neo 430W PSU. It has no marked revision, the warranty sticker is intact and the serial is S05110069413.

I'll let you know how it goes with the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe.

Regards,
Michal

Heh heh, there's actually one of their top-of-the line models that is just gorgeous. Though the 150$ price difference sort of put that model off my list.



That seems quite decent of them. Did you talk to them on the phone or via email? And where were you mailing it from/to? Eight dollars isn't bad (though still worse than having to do it in the first place).

I talked with them. They told me not to post in here that they were doing the exchange, "otherwise everyone will want a truepower 2.0 instead"
I figured they should offer that to anyone who wants one, especially Asus owners. The RMA department tried to talk me into the A4 version, saying everything was fixed. I had my doubts. Funny thing is, I spoke with the same guy a few days later, and he said the truepower 2.0 was more stable than the Neo. Things that make you go Hmmmm.
I mailed it back via DHL from Texas to California

Ah, yes. I would be shipping from Vancouver, Canada.

I don't suppose the person you spoke to was W. Willis?

LOL, yeah, well that's what happens when you make a buggy PSU...

April 20th now. Does anyone know if it's safe to buy a P150 case and get the latest and greatest PSU? I was planning on purchasing from New Egg, as I assume their inventory turns over pretty quickly.

Robert

Don't assume Newegg only has the newer ones. I ordered the P150 case about a month ago. The power supply starts with 0511 which is an older model number. It shipped from the New Jersey warehouse.

So is the Antec HE better for silence than the Seasonic S12 series?

In most systems, the two are so similar that you won't notice a difference. Nitpickers might choose the S12 because its 120 mm fan makes its noise character slightly less tonal, but the difference is tiny in my opinion.

At Newegg, they make a point of showing that the power supply is version 2.2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129166

I assume that is what we want now?

Robert

It's not the PSU that's version 2.2, it's the ATX standard that it conforms to -- ATX 2.2.

Thank you very much for your answer, Devonavar! I guess I'll stay with Seasonic's S12-series in that case. Moreover, I think the Seasonics are actually cheaper as well.

What about overall quality between the two? That's probably most important after noise.

I don't think you can get a reasonable answer here about "quailty." All you can get are individual anecdotes along the lines of "I had this one, it was good" and "I had that one, and it was a problem." To really determine the quality, you need a statistically significant survey of field failures. I don't think that exists, or is at least public information.

My understanding is that NeoHE's are also made by Seasonic, if that tells you anything. On the one hand, you might decide that the quality is the same, since it comes from the same company. On the other hand, Antec may have different design requirements and/or quality standards they require of Seasonic, that might be better or worse than Seasonic's standards for their own product. So, again, I think you can't conclude much.

All that said, my impression of the quality of the PSUs is that they are about the same. I've built systems with both without any problems. The main known issue is of course the low-load shutdown issues that probably affect both brands.

??

The Seasonics have the same issue as the new HE Antec? I was thinking of getting a new P150 case and replacing the power supply with a Seasonic, but not if I could expect the same issue.

Robert

I'm only speculating based on the following. The apparent reason for the NeoHE problems is that systems are not drawing the minimum current off some of the voltage rails. Seasonic power supplies also have specified minimum loads. So in theory, both brands could have the same problems.

Because of the spotty information about the real nature of the issue, and a lack of a real clear expanation from Antec, all we can do is speculate.

To be clear, I have not personally encountered any issues with Seasonic. But I have read here-and-there on the 'net about some folks having some issues that sound similar to the NeoHE issue.

FWIW, I emailed NewEgg about their P150 case inventory and they have 99 of them. I don't know how fast they go through these things, or what is old vs new inventory, but that's what I could find out.

Now, if anyone can come up with how long it takes them to sell 99 of these cases, then I'll order.

-Robert

I just bought a Antec P150 case with the NeoHe 430w.

And i`ll buy the following components for it:

Asus A8V motherboard
Geforce 6800LE
2x512 Kingston DDR400
SoundBlaster audigy
Seagate 80GB
and some fans

Would my pc work with the NeoHe 430w? The sticker is broken, but theres the little A3 on in. Fast reply`s please!

There's no way of knowing except to try it. Put it this way, there's no guarantee that it will work.

There still seems to be some lingering questions or doubts about Antec’s NeoHE line of power supplies. Let us be clear:

Antec’s NeoHE are the quietest, most stable and most reliable line of power supplies that Antec has ever released. They have also received more positive reviews and awards in their first six months of release than even our classic TruePower series, so it’s not just us saying it. http://www.antec.com/NeoHEawards.html

Have there been some problems? Yes. But the problems are extremely limited in scope. The power of the Internet has certainly left a different impression with many but happy customers generally don’t post their problems in chat rooms and forums. Here are the facts: As of May 1, we have sold nearly 70,000 NeoHE power supplies (either individually or installed in our P150 case). We have replaced free of charge some 1200 units due to the incompatibility with some versions of Asus A8N or P5 family. While we are sorry that some people had problems—both Antec and Asus have worked together behind the scenes, made minor changes to both company’s products and resolved this issue—the fact is that thousands of users have used this combination and not experienced any problems.

Even many of the NeoHe reviewers were using this supposedly suspect combination and completely unaware that there was a “problemâ€

I wonder why there is no public confirmation about the problem with the NeoHE and MSI K8NGM2-FID if onboard GPU is used. MSI support have informed me that there may be an issue: "We recommend you use other brand PSU to have a try, as we here have received other customers' reflection, there maybe some compatibility issue between the Antec PSU and the board. Sorry for any inconvenience caused!". From my experience with two NeoHE 430 (and the store did test with couple other NeoHE) the problem still existed at least up to the A3 -rev (0512xxx) of NeoHE. I will expect Antec to offer me yet another NeoHE without delivery cost, this time I want to see a working NeoHE PSU in my hands before I will send the old PSU back.

Antec P150's NeoHE won't post but Antec won't RMA. Help?
Another board (MSI K8NGM2) incompatible with Antec Neo HE?
Help! NeoHE "minimum load of 1A on all +12V rails"

I would assume that most of the users do have a separate GPU adapter and therefore the power use of the PC is much greater than needed, but if you study systems that use only onboard GPU, I bet there is 50/50 change to run in problems, even the configuration meets the minimum load of 1A. Statistics do tell what you want.


Edit: Nice Antec did close my trouble ticked before I had time to request another RMA.

How many units were returned though for people who didn't want to go through the RMA process?

All in all though, I can't fault Antec for trying and living up to their promise. I sent my NeoHE430 back and I'm awaiting the replacement now. I have no doubt the new one will work fine.

Robert

It's funny you would mention that. I asked them a couple of technical product questions via trouble tickets, and in both cases, they responded but didn't really answer my question but closed the trouble tickets, so I didn't get a chance to ask a follow-up question. Really annoying that was.

Oh, how lame is that.

Not lame at all, especially considering that you already have the PSU. Just hook it up and test it, if it works, great. If not, what have you lost, 5-10 minutes of time?

First, I don't know if people here say it enough, but thanks for participating! I wish more manufacturers were "hands on" in these forums.

I appreciate everything you've said here in the way of a recap, but I want to tell you that I for one still don't feel I can "buy with confidence". There needs to be more formal disclosure from Antec. Phrases like "incompatibility with some versions of Asus A8N or P5 family" are still a little too vague for me (and perhaps a little sugar coated since, as has been born by the forums, the issue affects more than those two MB lines).

-What EXACTLY was/is the problem?
-What EXACTLY did Antec do to the design to "fix" it?

Since you link to the thread on minimum loading of high efficiency power supplies, we can only deduce that you are trying to say (but not actually saying) that that is the heart of the matter. If so, what have you done to fix it? Have you lowered the min load requirement, or did you just add a resistive load in the PS as a band-aid? Where on Antec's site is an official statement about which Serial numbers or revisions are fixed and which are not? How many pre-revised versions are still in the channel?

Please believe me when I say I WANT to buy a NEO HE, but because it is at the very limit of what I'm willing to spend, I cannot do so because of the "risk" involved: yes, if I buy one and it doesnt work you will repair/replace but the cost of shipping a unit back, even just once, puts the overall cost of the product above what I'm willing to spend. Sure, any power supply can fail down the road and need to be sent in but we are talking "odds" here and odds are not good enough on the Neo HE working from day one, or at least, odds are better on other products, including Antec's own SmartPower 2.0 for example.

Even if I hypothetically buy one today and it works with my current hardware (older P4 2.4), I'd be worried that when I next upgrade I'll run into an issue.