Reviewed by: MikeofWestport on 24-Mar-09 Rating:

Strengths:good marketing gimmick

Weaknesses:cannot power today\'s systems

Summary:I had a problem with not enough power from Antec Earthwatt EA 500 and do not recommend it for today’s systems. My board wouldn’t boot, thought it was board but after much work determined it was power. I do not recommend you buy this for a new system.

Be careful as you spec out power for your new system and you have to pay attention to AMPs not just watts. I wasted a lot of time because of this and I understand it was my fault but Antec doesn’t help make it clear that this PSU is underpowered for today\'s needs.

I have MSI K9A2 Platinum, Phenom X4 9950, 4x1 GB DDR2, new GPU with 512MB DDR2, Intel 80 GB SSD and couple peripherals. I needed 25+ AMPs and EA 500 only had 21. I went with Corsair TX650W Model CMPSU-650TX, 52 AMPs +12Volt power to be safe.

Also highly recommend you use eXtreme PSU Calculator advanced version for $2 to calculate AMPs you need. That would have saved me about 10 hours if I had done it to start.

Reviewed by: ivan420 on 03-Mar-08 Rating:

Strengths:save the planet

Weaknesses:not for you if you drive a hummer and hate the planet

Summary:power supplies are the overlooked stepchildren of pc building. don\'t skimp. 80plus certified and a great price from a name-brand vendor, you can\'t go wrong with this p/s.

Reviewed by: jonlouisville on 29-Feb-08 Rating:

Strengths:500 watts, more than enough for most needs. 3 year warranty. It\'s an Antec!

Weaknesses:No modular cables. Not very attractive.

Summary:Cosmetically, there\'s no bling; it looks like older 250W power supplies with no paint or character. However, this is an Antec, and is performing as advertised; sucking much less electricity out of the power grid and less money out of my wellet. Some folks might want a higher wattage unit, but this is suitable for most non-gaming everyday systems. Other companies promise lifetime warranties, but that doesn\'t help you if it blows up your computer. Antecs are about the most solid available. I would have appreciated modular cables, but it is running 3 SATA drives and 2 IDE with nary a hiccup. Recommended.

Reviewed by: dk_apec on 09-Feb-08 Rating:

Strengths:Quiet, 500W power, stable

Weaknesses:none.

Summary:Bought it at good price after rebate. It is 500W , plenty of power, running with 2 SATA 7200 Hard drives, 2 DVD burners, PNY 7900GS video card, AMD 64x2 4000+, no problem at all. It is very useful for having those connectors for SATA, PCI-e, CPU, which also keeps my computer running more stable. The fan\'s very quiet. It will be a little hot after 2 hours game playing. Wish it has modular cables, so I can remove those cables which are not used. Furthermore, Antec is a great brand in power supply, and has 3 years warranty.

Reviewed by: mudfoot on 08-Jan-08 Rating:

Strengths:Does not get hot\" 80% efficiency \"switch is on top

Weaknesses:not modular. one fan

Summary:Replaced an old Antec with this model and the computer is working just fine. I hope the \" 80% efficiency \" will lower the power consumption.

Only one fan, but it does not get hot so really does not need a second fan. Also, It is version 2.2 (not 2.0).

Reviewed by: hurdlingreggie on 23-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:Cool, quiet, extremely efficient

Weaknesses:modular cables would be nice

Summary:Switched to this power supply from the Antec 500w Phantom. This power supply is just as quiet (which is to say, silent), but it stays much cooler than the Phantom. I assume this is due to the increased efficiency. At any rate, I am very pleased with this power supply.

Reviewed by: filburt1 on 15-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:Fairly quiet, long power cables (a plus if you want), four SATA hard drive power cables, several 6-pin accessory cables

Weaknesses:Long cables (a con if you want; they get in the way in small cases), cables aren\'t wrapped except for the 24-pin connector

Summary:This power supply is running in my home server with, at the moment, five hard drives (three SATA and two PATA, all 7200 RPM), a DVD-ROM drive, an Athlon 64 X2 2.1 GHz processor, and a very old PCI video card. I\'ve encountered no problems so far...unlike my last Antec power supply, which sort of caught on fire.

I don\'t have a convenient way of rating the efficiency versus what it claims to deliver, but it seems to be functioning normally.

Reviewed by: aarontam on 12-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:80-plus efficiency rating.Very quiet.Reasonable price.Good quality and output.

Weaknesses:Plain look.Not modular.

Summary:Bought this from newegg for a very reasonable price after rebate. It is adequate power for an E6750, 2GB DDR-800, 8800GT and have had no problems with it at all. Love the fact that it is so quiet, paired with my Antec quiet-computing certified case, makes the computer hardly audible.

Reviewed by: garyad on 10-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:great value, efficient and quiet.

Weaknesses:cables not sleeved, but not a big prob for me.

Summary:Antec\'s Earthworks line stood out as I researched bang-for-buck PSs for latest build. Solid build, quiet and highly efficient. I have already used two EA380 with great results.

Reviewed by: asverlov on 05-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:Cheap, especially after rebates. Solid. Quiet. Active PFC.

Weaknesses:Not quiet enough for HTPC, compared to the similar Corsair or Seasonic units. Only 80mm fan.

Summary:The thing is very good for the money. Provides enough power to overclock CPU and run a decent video card. Not as silent as I would like it to be, but good enough for a normal gaming station and at least twice cheaper then competitors.

Reviewed by: scottegos2 on 01-Dec-07 Rating:

Strengths:Plenty of connectorsVery power efficient

Weaknesses:Connectors not detachableNot as quiet as som

Summary:This works fine, and it\'s a nice power supply for everyday work. It\'s not quite as quiet as my Corsair hX520, but it\'s not very loud, either. Good number of cables including two PCI-e connectors, but they\'re not detachable.

Reviewed by: spsciontc on 28-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:Energy Efficient, Quiet, Very good quality.

Weaknesses:small fan, but does not seem to affect the performance

Summary:Excellent power supply. >80% efficiency means that this PSU saves you money by not wasting electricity and produces less heat. Enough power to keep up this any high end system.
I was most impressed by how quiet it was compared to my other power supply.

Highly Recommend.

Reviewed by: newtech1 on 26-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:500W power, 80% efficiency with active PFC, reliable 3yr warranty

Weaknesses:Plain looking, 80mm fan, non-sleeved wires

Summary:Antec is a great brand, I\'ve been using Antec power and case for the past 7 years, they\'ve never failed me. This Earthwatts is their new series based on 80% efficiency using active PFC. It\'s suppose to reduce power bill, and also allow for cooler operation. It only has a 80mm fan, which is enough to keep up the temperature. The fan\'s also very quiet, comparable to other power supplies with 120mm fans. 500W is more than what you need on most modern system. 12v rail has plenty of power, all drawing from one even though the description says two rails. It does not matter since I\'d rather prefer all the power from the same source, less wasted power this way. Also comes with 4x SATA cables which is what you\'ll need in modern systems. It has 20+4pin motherboard connector, as well as 4pin and 8pin CPU connectors. Also has 2 PCI-e 6pin connectors, very nice if you want to run Xfire or SLI. I\'m running on it right as I type this. I haven\'t used it for long, but if my past experience with Antec is any indication, this will last me at least 5 years.

Reviewed by: SDTechDeals on 25-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:Plenty of watts; 80% efficiency; 3-year warranty

Weaknesses:Modular cables would be nice

Summary:This power supply works great! I was doing a new build with an 8800GTS video card, a couple of hard-drives, a DVD burner and an ASUS P5WDH motherboard. Installation was a snap, there were plenty of cables and no problems powering everything. There have been issues with the Antec NeoPower supplies and ASUS motherboards, but not this model. I like the fact that it is 80% + efficient, which means it should save on the power bills. I tested the voltages with a power-supply tester, and they were all within a few percent of spec. Very stable. Antec provides a 3-year warranty, which they do back up. Only downside is they do not allow for cross-shipment, so you have to send in your busted power-supply first, then they send the replacement.