Conclusion:

We have been using the Antec Neo HE 550 for about three weeks now, and it has been put to stress a lot during this time. Powering an overclocked A64, a 12v water cooling kit, several hard drives and optical units. Never once did we experience any issues with this unit. It doesn’t have many bells and whistles like lighting or fancy colours, maintaining a simple aesthetic design this way. Additionally it doesn’t have adjustable pots, which if we recall well only the TrueControl 550W unit from Antec had. However on the other hand it is exceptionally stable, extremely quiet and particularly reliable. The good design continued with the sleeved cables which kept the case from being cluttered and restricting the airflow and the 80mm fan sitting in the Neo HE was not noticeable at any time during this review; this is a very quiet power supply unit. It’s also worth noting that the Neo HE does not need a foolproof design for the cables, as attaching any cable to any connector will simply work fine. The Neo HE will also reduce your electricity bill by being more efficient than most other power supply units which is an added bonus.

 

We have one minor concern about the Neo HE though, during real world testing and as you can see in the testing charts, the 5v rail was quite low at all times. It was still within the 3% limit Antec spec for however we would have liked to see it a bit higher. Since our overclocking was at the same level as with our previous PSU (OCZ Powerstream 520) and we didn’t experience any instability whatsoever we don’t see a reason to worry about it too much. The 12v and the 3.3v rails were pretty much spot on and hardly fluctuated at all during the entire testing session.
With all this said we can only congratulate Antec on another excellent product, this power supply should satisfy your every need for years to come.

Pros:

• Modular design and sleeved cables
• Exceptionally efficient
• Silent operation
• Extremely strong regulation
• Three separated 12V power lines, all power lines are independent

Cons:

• No adjustable voltage pots

Final Words

Not many power supply units out in the market are as strong as the Neo HE 550W. Most middle to low range units will not even handle their rated load and will get loud while trying to reach it. For those that do not need many bells and whistles, like fancy lights or UV cables, they cannot go wrong with the Neo HE. It is one of the strongest, most efficient and reliable power supply units out there. The price places the Neo HE inside the enthusiast market, but it is not irrational for a unit of its class. Hence we believe that giving the Neo HE 550W unit our Heavenly Hardware Gold Award would be the best way to end this review.

Our thanks to Mafalda Cogliani (Antec, Marketing Coordinator) for providing us the test sample for the means of this review. The Antec Neo HE 550W power supply can be found at Overclockers.uk for £82