The Power Supply Unit:

The Antec TX1050B comes with an very nice Power supply unit, the Smart Power 2.0 500W with modular cable management system.

Here’s some relevant information about it from Antec:

Features:

• ATX12V version 2.0
• Modular cable design, use only the cables you need.
• Dual 12V output circuitry provides added system stability and meets 240VA UL requirements and safety purpose: 12V1 for Motherboard and peripherals; 12V2 for processor
• ATX12V v2.0 compliance allows SmartPower 2.0 to consume up to 25% less power than standard power supplies, saving you money on your electric bill. 24-pin power connector with detachable 4-pin section for backwards compatibility with ATX 20-pin motherboards.
• 4 SATA Connectors support Serial ATA optical drives
• Flow-through dual 80mm fans (one intake and one exhaust)
• Unique Dual Fans Technology: exhaust fan starts to spin when the power supply reaches certain temperatures to ensure proper airflow, the second fan spins on power up
• Industrial grade protection prevents damage resulting from short circuits, power overloads, excessive current, low voltages and excessive voltages
• Increased 12V output capability for system components that consume more power from 12V rail
• PCI-E graphic connector
• Safety approvals: UL, CUL, TUV, CB, FCC Class B, CE, CCC
• Increased MTBF: 80,000 hours
• Size: 6.1"(L) x 5.9" (D) x 3.4" (H)
• PF value greater than 90% (EU only)
• Gold plated connector for superior conductivity

DC Output	+5v	+3.3v	+12v1	+12v2	-12v	+5v SB
Max	35A	32A	17A	19A	0.3A	2.0A
Min	0.5A	0.5A	1.0A	1.0A	0A	0A

+5v, +3.3v combined max. Output 180W

There is some decent rails on this Power supply unit, that surely will fit most people needs.

Here you can see the Power supply unit with all its accessories. What’s nice about this bundle is that it comes with four SATA connectors and dual PCIe connectors, with you SLI’ers in mind.

Performance of the PSU:

I won’t be delving into deeper detail about this PSU since I don’t have the equipment to measure the rails. And we all know that software can’t be fully trusted. But I can give you some readings taken from Asus probe. What did concern me about this PSU is that I got slightly low readings on all the rails. The 12v was at about 11.9v the 5v was at 4.85v and the 3.3 at 3.2volt. But it almost didn’t fluctuate at all, even at load. Considering that these values are well within the 5% margin I wouldn’t worry about it too much but I guess we are getting used to the adjustable offerings from OCZ and the like.

Further to the stability of the rails, I was overclocking during the whole time of this review, I had my A64 3500+ Newcastle core at 2,6ghz 1.58vcore at all times, and I never did see any signs of instability. Plus this Power supply is amazingly quiet too, only at heavy load did the rear 80mm fan kick in to aid with cooling. So overall this is a really good PSU in my opinion.

 

Previous: The Interior

Next: Installation