Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

Felix · Post by **Felix** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:01 pm

I'm building my parents a new PC, and since it's been a few years since I last built one, I was looking forward to it, what with all the cool new technology and no setting IRQ jumpers.

Sure enough, just like others in this thread have experienced, my new Antec P150 case with Neo HE 430 power supply will not boot my ASUS A8N SLI Premium motherboard, revision 1.02. It powers up for a few seconds, then shuts down unceremoniously. I've only gotten as far as the BIOS setup screen once.

System specs:
Athlon X2 4800+
2 GB OCZ Platinum RAM, 2 x 1 GB
XFX 7800 GTX videocard (non-SLI)
Floppy drive

Nothing else is connected, but the system won't stay on for more than ~10 seconds.

Not yet connected:

Seagate 500 GB SATA drive
Plextor 716A optical drive

I picked some higher-end parts because this system needs to stay useful for >5 years without me messing around with it.

I'm usually pretty good with identifying and fixing all kinds of hardware/software problems, but this has me stumped. The system won't even stay on long enough to update the BIOS to the latest version.

I assume the MB is basically OK, so I'm surprised and upset that the power supply simply won't work with this motherboard. I like the case very much and want to keep it, so as far as I can tell, my only option right now is to buy a replacement power supply that actually works. I want a reasonably quiet, and very reliable power supply. I'm leaning towards the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 470 ATX, because I've used their power supplies since 1994 building my own quiet PCs. I've also seen favorable remarks about the Seasonic S12-500.

Can anyone recommend power supplies that actually work well with the ASUS A8N SLI Premium board?

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:42 pm

hravn wrote:I'll second that. I don't actually have to remove the MB to get at the PSU, but I have to remove the Ninja... which is really a hassle

another Ninja owner here.. AMEN to the removable bar.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 3:11 am

well, i'm back, and with bad news this time.

I've been running my PC (430 and sli-premium) for hours at a time idle or under slight load. i surf around in the internet, burn DVDs play n64 emulator and unpack rar archives, sometimes all at the same time. absolutely no problems.

but as soon as i start Call of Duty 2, it lasts no more than 3 minutes, depending on the graphical settings (as little as 10 seconds on 1280x1024) before just crashing.

It's been 5 months since the last BIOS update, so maybe it'll be getting time for the rev1.03, that might help something. but if not I'll just have to get a different PSU.

I've never RMA'd something, do i allways get the same product again? or is there someway to swap it for something that actually works? Otherwise I'll have to see if my father will buy it off me, and I'll have to increase my expenditures by another half a C-Note and get a Phantom.....

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:46 am

BTW, FWIW, I was reading just a smattering of the posts in the the A8N-SLI forums and there are more than a few people having the sudden shutdowm problems with PSUs other than the Neo HE. Names mentioned include Seasonic S12 500W, and Thermaltake 430W and 500W PSUs. Probably more too, as there's lots of posts that I haven't read.

jvrobert · Post by **jvrobert** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:42 pm

I'm having a problem with a brand new Biostar mATX board (based on the NVidia 6100 chipset). Basically, the thing won't even power on with a NeoPower 430. Nothing from the 24-pin connector, I can tell because CPU fan doesn't even spin when I power on.

I hooked up an old TruePower 380 and it powers up and works fine. Oddly, the Neopower is working to some degree because at least the fan power line is working, my front LED lights up when I turn it on.

I'm really hoping it's just a lemon, I just RMA'd it back to Newegg. I'll be quite annoyed if the next on doesn't work too.

I remember when Antec used to be quite a trusted name in power supplies...

egale · Post by **egale** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:28 pm

I got my Neo HE 430 in my P150 case. It wouldn't power up my Asus P5LD2 Deluxe mb so I swapped with an Antec SmartPower 2 450 which I pulled from a Sonata II case. The machine booted up fine so I figured the Neo HE was DOA.

Newegg would only exchange the PSU with a 350w unit (generic?) unless I returned the entire case so I contacted Antec. They are telling me there may be a compatibility problem with my motherboard but will check out my PSU.

Wonder what the incompatibility might be?

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:23 pm

egale wrote:I got my Neo HE 430 in my P150 case. It wouldn't power up my Asus P5LD2 Deluxe mb so I swapped with an Antec SmartPower 2 450 which I pulled from a Sonata II case. The machine booted up fine so I figured the Neo HE was DOA.

Newegg would only exchange the PSU with a 350w unit (generic?) unless I returned the entire case so I contacted Antec. They are telling me there may be a compatibility problem with my motherboard but will check out my PSU.

Wonder what the incompatibility might be?

not sure about what exactly is wrong, but my Asus P5GDC does the same thing. Everything else plugged to the NEO would powerup, but not the board itself.

Lessee, P5GDC, A8N-SLI and now the P5LD2. And yes, Newegg offered to give me a 'generic' 350w psu, in exchange for my NeoHE430 Antec. Yup, yea, right. Case is going back on Friday to Newegg, with no restocking fee. In fact I'm going to raise a little hell to get my shipping fee back from Antec for shipping it all back, or swap this POS Neo PSU for something else from their lineup, OR a check in a fair amount and they can buy the psu back.

egale · Post by **egale** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:44 pm

I'm hoping Antec will send me something else back that will work.

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:00 pm

egale wrote:I'm hoping Antec will send me something else back that will work.

I'm thinking good thoughts for ya, but I'll wager you that even if they send you a good one, that it won't power up that asus board. I tried other PSUs too, and they powered it up just fine.

Check out the comments/reviews about the p150 so far at Newegg. Seems half of the psu units in the ones they have sold so far are being called 'duds'.

I'm hoping they will go along with my idea of giving me another psu model from their lineup in trade for this Neo-POS.

w00dy · Post by **w00dy** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:16 am

I have mailed Antec Europe support about swapping the NeoHE for a different 430w PSU or a Neopower and they said they could only swap like for like

Doesn't look good to ever get one working with my board

egale · Post by **egale** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:53 am

Whose fault is the incompatibility? If it is Antec, they really should swap for a good psu that will work. If it is Asus' fault, they should have to make it right.

w00dy · Post by **w00dy** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:23 am

It seems Antec are blaming Asus atm. I have a Rev 1.02 board - as suggested by Antec - but get the random crashing.

I have to give back the borrowed PSU soon, so do I buy an new PSU for £50 or a new Socket 939 Mobo ?

My concerns are if I get a new board, will the Neo HE work OK with it?

TBH probably cheaper/easier to get a new PSU, than reinstall new mobo and all windows installation etc.

Will just end up with a dud PSU - there is no way I am RMAing the case because it is superb

egale · Post by **egale** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:27 am

Somewhere I read about compatibility problems with the Enermax Libertys also. I have ordered a Seasonic S12-500 which I will use no matter what Antec replaces it with.

w00dy · Post by **w00dy** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:29 am

Cheers mate - have edited my post to remove Enermax Liberty then

Shame, because I really wanted a modular PSU

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:03 am

w00dy wrote: My concerns are if I get a new board, will the Neo HE work OK with it?

With the number of boards that are slowly coming out of the woodwork that are'nt working, who knows? (Biostar, Asus, an Abit or two now).

It's funny that at least 3 other PSU companies have no problems with the same board (in my case), that the NeoHE stumbles and refuses to work with.

I see that the rails are pretty skinny on the neo, all on the lesser side, any coincidence?

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:59 am

update on my situation, I'm planning to order a s12-380 to replace my NeoHE-430, because it is straight up 30€ cheaper than the s12-430. but not before hooking myself up with a 28-pin PSU to test my rig on a different PSU.

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:39 pm

Well what an interesting call with Antec support:

As you may know, I received a p150 new in the box from Newegg with a dud power supply (will not post my asus p5gdc).

Was told by Antec "bad power supply" and they sent out a new one.

Got it today, plugged it all in, nothing. Same as before.

Tech support now says, "another bad supply it appears".

Won't swap for another from their line, won't buy it back from me so I can get another one somewhere, they won't consider reimbursing me the $28 it will cost to send back to Newegg. BUT he mentions about possibly compat. problems.

I didn't pay 160.00 USD for a case then toss the supply as others have mentioned.

Promised a call back in a few hours. We'll see what happens I guess.

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:45 pm

klankymen wrote:update on my situation, I'm planning to order a s12-380 to replace my NeoHE-430, because it is straight up 30€ cheaper than the s12-430. but not before hooking myself up with a 28-pin PSU to test my rig on a different PSU.

Klanky:

Let me get this straight I guess, you bought the case and are just tossing the PSU, and plunking down another 60-75 USD for a replacement for it?

GHz · Post by **GHz** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:47 pm

It's a real shame that the P150 only comes with a PSU. With the problems I've seen here and on other message boards, I wouldn't touch that case with a 10-foot pole. Antec needs to get their act together and fix this issue. They should also seriously consider offering the P150 without a PSU. Even if they fix the problem, many people are not going to risk buying a P150 with a dud PSU.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:28 pm

no, i was actually stupid enough to buy the HE for p180, fully knowing it might not work with the a8n.

but I'm going to sell the HE for pretty close to full price (only used it a week

), I already have 2 potential candidates, and then still end up with less money spent than if I had just left the system as it is. I'm making a slight loss, but at this point, I just want my GD pc up and running, so i can play CoD2, which has been sitting around for 2 weeks now.

jvrobert · Post by **jvrobert** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:38 pm

So the moral of the story is: do not buy, under any circumstances, an Antec NeoPower HE. Even if it will work with you motherboard why risk it?

I had second thoughts and was fairly sure my replacement 430HE wouldn't work either, so I changed the return RMA to a refund and instead got a SmartPower 500, which looks to be a pretty stable performer, and is a litle cheaper anyway.

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:51 pm

jvrobert wrote:So the moral of the story is: do not buy, under any circumstances, an Antec NeoPower HE. Even if it will work with you motherboard why risk it?

I had second thoughts and was fairly sure my replacement 430HE wouldn't work either, so I changed the return RMA to a refund and instead got a SmartPower 500, which looks to be a pretty stable performer, and is a litle cheaper anyway.

Good move

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:53 pm

klankymen wrote:no, i was actually stupid enough to buy the HE for p180, fully knowing it might not work with the a8n.

but I'm going to sell the HE for pretty close to full price (only used it a week ),

Just make sure you sell it without a guarantee of compatibility, just to CYA.

Tumlehund · Post by **Tumlehund** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:54 pm

At last I (regretably) also came to the conclusion not to go for the Neo HE. It does indeed sound like a winner, but with all the duds floating around, it's too much of a chance. Also the way Antec is handling the situation makes me want to go look elsewhere.

For I think the Seasonic S12 500W will be a winner

I'm only concerned about cable length (gonna get a P180 + A8N32). I wonder if I can use cable extenders?

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:07 pm

Hellspawn wrote:
klankymen wrote:no, i was actually stupid enough to buy the HE for p180, fully knowing it might not work with the a8n.

but I'm going to sell the HE for pretty close to full price (only used it a week ),
Just make sure you sell it without a guarantee of compatibility, just to CYA.

hmmm... speaking of guarantees, the one thins really weird about the PSU is, I got it from newegg with the seal that says "warrantee void when broken" allready torn. either that, or it tore open on something in my case. which is why i was unsure about my warranty, and decided to sell it instead. anyway, like I said, 2 different people interested, so 2 diff mainboards, one Abit K7V, or something i think (its a P4 board, not sure what that would be called), and one asrock.

anyway if it doesn't work in either I'll have to see if I can arrange the RMA somehow anyway, otherwise just ebay it with out the guarantee of compatibility.

jvrobert wrote: So the moral of the story is: do not buy, under any circumstances, an Antec NeoPower HE. Even if it will work with you motherboard why risk it?

I concur!

kenoka · Post by **kenoka** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:32 am

klankymen wrote:no, i was actually stupid enough to buy the HE for p180, fully knowing it might not work with the a8n.

I'm in the same boat. Having read this thread, I thought I'd probably be okay with a Rev 1.02 board.

Luckily I'm within my vendor's return policy, but now the question is, what to replace it with? I'm actually quite happy with the noise levels on the NeoHE, and I like the modular cables.

Has anyone compared the HE to the Smartpower 2.0 500 as far as noise level? Is it possible to disable the intake fan on this PS and use the 120mm fan already in the P180 case? Also, has anyone had the shutdown issue with a Smartpower? Finally, does anyone have a different recommendation for a new power supply?

Edit: I just read the SPCR review of the Smartpower 2.0, and it looks like a no go.

The main complaint with the cables is the short length, which makes cable management more difficult. It also makes the SmartPower 2.0 unsuitable for use in a case where the motherboard is mounted upside down, such as the SilverStone TJ-06, or where the power supply is not mounted in the standard position, such as the Antec P180.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:49 am

well, like I said, I've decided to go with the S12-380, I should have it by monday, tuesday at the latest, I'll let you know then how the noise compares with the NeoHE (which, like everyone says, is awesomely silent)

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:42 pm

I should clarify that our Smartpower 2.0 article applies to the 450W model. The 500W model has modular cables which are quite a bit longer than the ones on the 450W model. There are successful reports of people using the SP2.0 500W in the P180.

Just out of curiosity, why is everyone replacing the PSU and not the motherboard? That ASUS board can't be that special, can it? There's plenty of other SLI boards out there...

jvrobert · Post by **jvrobert** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:57 pm

Devonavar wrote:I should clarify that our Smartpower 2.0 article applies to the 450W model. The 500W model has modular cables which are quite a bit longer than the ones on the 450W model. There are successful reports of people using the SP2.0 500W in the P180.

Just out of curiosity, why is everyone replacing the PSU and not the motherboard? That ASUS board can't be that special, can it? There's plenty of other SLI boards out there...

The PSU is actually bad.. It's not just the ASUS board. I have a brand new Biostar 6100 based MB, and it won't power up at all from a 480 HE. Old truepower 380 works fine, so I know it's not the MB.

It's possible I got a lemon, but reading here I think it's just fundamentally a broken product and I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole. It's a shame, too, because the biuld quality and other non-functional characteristics are great. If only it, like, worked

egale · Post by **egale** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:24 pm

Just a me too. The Neo He 430 wouldn't power up my Asus P5LD2 Deluxe but the Smartpower 2 450 does no problem.

Antec NeoHE "High-Efficiency"

Another A8N SLI Premium 1.02 vs Neo HE 430 disappointment