Antec’s NeoPower 480 Modular PSU

Impression

The NeoPower 480 is a very unique PSU. The first thing I noticed upon removing it from the packaging was the lack of a “rat’s nest” of cables. Instead, the only permanently affixed cables were the main 24 pin power cable (make sure you notice the “24 pin,” though Antec included the adapter for 20 pin boards), the four pin 12V connector, and the three pin fan connector (for powering and monitoring the PSU fan). The front of the PSU has four six pin sockets for the various power cables, as well as one separate two pin socket for running your system fans. The separate fan plug allows the NeoPower to control your system’s fans by need and load, a great feature that minimizes both noise and power consumption. Under no circumstances should you wire your CPU fan into this line, for obvious reasons (this is also clearly stated in the instruction manual). While the modular aspect of this PSU is an outstanding feature, I wish that the sockets were recessed in the PSU. In my opinion this would have created even more room and allowed for an even cleaner wiring configuration.

The NeoPower is cooled by a single 120mm fan placed on the bottom of the unit. Using a 120mm fan provides adequate cooling while keeping the PSU extremely quiet. The NeoPower’s 120mm fan is also load responsive, meaning that it will speed up or slow down based on the load placed on the system. This leads to an extremely quiet and energy efficient PSU.

The NeoPower comes in what I would describe as a “titanium” color, a non-reflective grayish/brown, and though there is no clear side panel or neon lights, I found this to be a very attractive PSU. Weighing in at just over 5lbs, the NeoPower is also a very heavy PSU, but when it comes to power supplies the old adage is “heavier is better,” right?