Introduction

Even though there are plenty of >1kW consumer power supply units available today, it is well known that these represent a very small portion of the actual market, as the power requirements of a typical home or office PC are far lower than that. After reviewing several top-tier products, such as the efficient Seasonic Platinum 1200XP3 and the ruthless Corsair AX1500i, today we will have a look at something a lot more sensible and appealing to the average user. In this review we examine the newest PSU series from Antec, the EDGE.

Antec is a company that has always been focused on efficient and practical products rather than developing numerous high output units. They do have one 1.3kW high performance PSU available but that's about it; the bulk of their PSU products exist in the 550W to 750W power range. This is the exact range of the newest EDGE series as well, which consists of three units starting at 550W and going up to 750W. We're looking at the least powerful model today, which still has ample power for the vast majority of home users and casual gamers.

Packaging and Bundle

We received the Antec EDGE 550W in a colorful cardboard box that clearly specifies the focus of the PSU: silence. The box is large and strong enough to adequately protect the unit during transport. For those that are shelf-browsing, the most important features are printed on the front and sides of the box, while details can be found on the rear side.

Antec kept the bundle relatively simple. Inside the box is an AC power cable, four mounting screws, a small leaflet with basic information about the unit, a very simple pouch, and anti-vibration dampers. It is noteworthy that Antec supplies two sets of dampers, one red and one black, allowing the user to select between an aggressive or subtle appearance.

The EDGE series is fully modular and the cables are all supplied in a nylon bag. Only the few pictured cables accompany the 550W model, effectively limiting the user to just one GPU as there are only two 6+2 PCI Express connectors available. On the other hand, there are eight SATA connectors, which is quite a lot for a 550W model. With the exception of the ATX 24 pin connector cable, all of the cables are black, flat, ribbon-like cables. The 24-pin cable also makes use of all-black wires but they are covered with a normal black sleeving instead.

External Appearance

Visually, the Antec EDGE 550W certainly stands out from the crowd. Actively cooled units with perforated sides are rare to begin with, let alone units with an output of just 550W. This is likely to be more of a decorative measure than anything needed for cooling, as a large portion of the openings are blocked by the plastic shielding. Despite the output, the chassis of the Edge is 170mm long, making it slightly longer than a standard ATX unit and that could pose a problem in very tight compartments.

Antec made numerous small modifications to enhance the appearance of the unit, including a parallel grid fan guard, badges on the sides and rear of the chassis, and a semi-transparent white LED fan. The badges on the sides are installed in such a way that their orientation when looking at the unit from a left side panel window will be correct, regardless of whether the unit has been installed with the fan facing upwards or downwards. On the front side of the chassis are the connectors for the modular cables, as well as a switch that can turn the LED lighting off.

Internal Design

The 135mm semi-transparent fan is supplied by Hong Hua, a common supplier of fans for use in PSUs. It has a fluid dynamic bearing engine and a maximum speed of 2000RPM. Our instrumentation reports a maximum unobstructed volume flow of 70.5CFM.

Seasonic is the company behind the creation of the Antec's EDGE series. The EDGE shares the same platform as the Seasonic S12G but there are notable differences in the selection of components. There are four heatsinks, with the smallest one holding the primary rectifier bridge, the one near the edge of the PCB the active PFC components, and those on each side of the main transformer handle the inversion and conversion transistors of the primary and secondary stage respectively.

A small shielded PCB is attached to the rear of the AC receptacle, housing some of the filtering stage components, while the rest can be found on the main PCB. There are a total of six Y capacitors, two X capacitors and two filtering inductors, which are more than adequate for a good filtering stage. Moving towards the APFC stage, we see the blue Hitachi 330μF/420V capacitor next to a large filtering coil that has been drenched in glue. The rest of the capacitors are a mix of Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon electrolytics, as well as many polymer capacitors from Enesol.

The build quality of the Antec EDGE 550W is outstanding. Not only is the soldering job flawless, but the factory also performed an excellent assembly job. Glue has been applied on all critical components, ensuring the mechanical cohesion of the unit and minimizing the risk of high frequency vibration noises (also known as "coil whine"). Plastic sheets and pins ensure that no component will short another. Our only complaint lies with the design. As this platform has not really been developed purely for fully modular designs, there are a lot of cables causing some clutter near the left edge of the unit.

Cold Test Results

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox, and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs - 2014 Pipeline post.

The performance of the Antec EDGE 550W unit at room temperature is excellent. The unit easily justifies the 80 Plus Gold certification, reaching a maximum 92.4% conversion efficiency at 50% load. The conversion efficiency is also very stable, with an average of 90.9% within the nominal load range (20% to 100% of the unit's capacity). Naturally, the efficiency of the Antec EDGE 550W unit drops at very low loads, dropping to 74.1% at 5% load. This is the expected behavior of any switching PSU and the Antec EDGE 550W has an output of just 28 Watts at that point; most systems will be closer to twice that power draw at idle, where the EDGE will be more efficient.

The high efficiency and low output of the Antec EDGE 550W translate to low losses across the entire load range. As such, the cooling system can easily cope with the thermal losses of the PSU, maintaining very low operating temperatures without the need to speed up the fan. Even under maximum load, the fan of the Antec EDGE 550W at room temperature is barely audible.

Hot Test Results

The tables below show that the Antec EDGE 550W has very good, albeit strange, electrical performance. It has excellent voltage regulation, maintaining all voltage lines between 1.7-2% across the load range. The filtering is where things get a bit peculiar.

The EDGE 550W has exceptional filtering on the 12V line, with our instrumentation displaying a maximum voltage ripple of just 38mV; however, the filtering of the 5V line is mediocre, reaching 38mV as well, which is nearly 80% of the 5V line design limit. The filtering of the 3.3V is excellent as well, with the ripple peaking at just 20mV under maximum load. As the 5V line is being derived by a DC-to-DC conversion circuit similar to that of the 3.3V line, we investigated this result extensively and even searched the parts for a malfunctioning component, but nothing was found to be problematic. It appears that the filtering of the 5V line (at least on the sample we received) is rather weak.

Aided by its low thermal losses and internal temperatures, it appears that a high ambient temperature hardly affects the performance of the Antec EDGE 550W unit. The reduction of the average nominal load (20-100%) efficiency is minimal, just 0.4%, while the maximum efficiency is 92.1% at 50% load. With these performance figures, the Antec EDGE 550W could receive its 80Plus Gold certification even under this much higher ambient temperature.

The high ambient temperature naturally affects the behavior of the cooling system and the acoustic performance of the unit. However, due to the low output of the unit, the temperature of the heatsinks still remains relatively low. As such, the Antec EDGE 550W does not really need to make its fan spin faster in order to maintain safe operating temperatures. The only difference is that the fan increases its speed further while the unit is under maximum load, but the higher SPL hardly makes a change that would be easily noticeable by a person's ear.

Conclusion

Antec is marketing the EDGE series as "the pinnacle of power supplies". While that may not be very accurate, as there are several significantly more advanced products available, this is a 550W PSU with a "Silence Defined" marketing label. The intended purpose of the EDGE series is to provide low noise, high quality units to mainstream users, not to compete for the crown of the highest possible performance or technological superiority. If you are looking to power a behemoth with multiple GPUs or a cryptocurrency mining machine, none of the units of the EDGE series are suitable; for "normal" users, however, 550W-750W is more than sufficient.

In terms of quality, the Antec EDGE 550W is excellent, both externally and internally. It is hard to fail a quality check with Seasonic as your OEM, but the EDGE 550W unit that we reviewed today is perhaps the most well made <700W unit that we have seen to this date. Inside are some of the best components that can be used for a consumer-grade PSU, while the assembly/soldering job is immaculate. It is no surprise that Antec covers the units of the EDGE series with a 5-year warranty.

Antec also puts in a commendable effort to make the EDGE series aesthetically appealing. The modular cables, perforated chassis, stickers, and white LED lighting form an overall look that does stand out, yet not overly so. For those that dislike the white lighting or lighting in general, the installation of an on/off switch is a thoughtful choice.

The primary sales point of the Antec EDGE series is "Silence" and the 550W unit passed all tests with flying colors. Its high efficiency and low capacity account for very low thermal losses. Aside from a completely fanless unit, such as the 520W Nightjar, the Antec EDGE most likely is the next best thing that money can buy. It also has great electrical performance, with very good voltage regulation and line filtering characteristics. The high ripple of the 5V line is unusual but it is still well below the ATX design limit, therefore we cannot really voice any complaints about it.

The Antec EDGE series is very interesting but, due to the narrow wattage range, it only appeals to those with more moderate needs. These units are designed for the casual home/office user and the average gamer, the type of user that will install only one good CPU and GPU, a couple of drives, and work or casually play games. The EDGE also takes things a step further and targets silence/quiet operation.

This category, the "mainstream users", is undoubtedly the largest portion of the market, but due to their high price the Antec EDGE units will be interesting to just a small fragment of it. Even the 550W model that we reviewed here today, the least powerful unit of the EDGE series, has an MSRP of $120, a price that can easily get you an 80 Plus Gold PSU that's twice as powerful or even two Corsair CX600M units (for $10 extra). If the actual retail price of the EDGE units isn't significantly below MSRP when the series hits store shelves, the EDGE will have a difficult time competing in today's market. They may be quieter than much of the competition, but the price premium still looks very steep.